What are Story Impressions?
Story impressions are a pre-reading strategy designed to engage students with a text before they actually read it. This technique involves providing students with a list of key words, phrases, or concepts from the story in a specific order, allowing them to make predictions about the plot, characters, and themes.
The process of using story impressions typically follows these steps:
- The teacher selects 10-15 significant words or phrases from the text, maintaining their order of appearance in the story.
- Students are presented with this list and asked to create their own story using all the given words or phrases.
- After writing their predictions, students share and discuss their stories with the class.
- Finally, students read the actual text and compare it with their predictions.
This strategy offers several benefits:
- Activates prior knowledge: Students draw on their existing knowledge to make sense of the given words and create a coherent narrative.
- Enhances prediction skills: By encouraging students to anticipate the story’s content, it develops their ability to make informed guesses based on limited information.
- Increases engagement: The creative aspect of crafting their own stories piques students’ interest in the actual text.
- Improves comprehension: When students read the actual story, they’re more attuned to how the key words and phrases are used, enhancing their understanding.
- Promotes critical thinking: Comparing their predictions with the actual story encourages students to analyze similarities and differences, fostering critical thinking skills.
Story impressions can be adapted for various grade levels and subjects, making it a versatile tool for educators. This strategy not only prepares students for reading but also turns the act of reading into an active, engaging process of discovery and comparison.