At a universal (Tier 1) classroom level, many students benefit when you introduce and use mental state terms (refer to Table 1 below), and encourage students to think about what story characters know, think and feel. Knowing how a character thinks and feels can help students understand what the character intends to do and to use this knowledge in their story retelling and social perspective taking. 

Including mental state terms in story telling with your students will help them to understand the reasons for the characters' actions (Bang, Burns, & Nadig, 2013). This then leads to greater understanding of how the events in the story are related.

To retell a story students need to understand:

• the plot
• the characters' mental states
• why story characters choose to take the actions they do
• language of the text describing the characters' mental states

This practice works best as a Tier 2 approach with small groups, however, it can also be used as a Tier 1 approach.

Tier 2 : for small groups of students who need support with their social perspective-taking in their story retelling. For students in these groups it is recommended that a pre-assessment task be completed to help you gather formative data on social perspective-taking to identify areas of support and scaffolding. 

Note: If using this as Tier 1 approach - whole of class- either the Teacher or the students can read the story aloud.  As for Tier 1, the teacher asks the students to retell the story from a character's perspective. The students' responses will determine if a Tier 2 approach is needed.

A note on inclusion

To deliver these Tier 2 sessions inclusively, create diverse student groups. The sessions were developed for students in Years 4 and 5 but the researchers suggest they can be used with younger students, who have shown an interest in story reading or would benefit from story-retell extension activities to help them build social perspective taking. The session resources have also been developed using the framework of the Story Grammar Marker (Moreau & Fidrych, 1994).

The pre- and post-assessment tasks provide important information to allow you to identify those students who may require a Tier 2 approach to social perspective-taking.  It is important that the student has not engaged with the story prior to the pre-assessment.

A story tool resource and assessment rubric can be used with a range of stories, not only those mentioned in the practice. We only recommend using the assessment if you are planning on delivering both Story tool practices.

Tips for assessment

• use an audio recording device such as an iPad or other recording device
• sit beside the student so you can both use the same copy of the story
• describe to the student what is going to happen in the session before you begin
• use verbal or written instructions
• remind the students that there is no time limit for the retelling
• ask the student if they would like to turn the pages as you read
• pace your reading to suit your student 
• provide positive feedback and support to the student throughout the process

See the assessment rubric and instructions in the resources section.

The resources in this practice are used to explicitly instruct students how to describe events, characters, and settings and, to explain points of view and take these into account during group discussions and oral and written story retelling activities.

Appreciating the perspectives of others is a learning outcome of the Australian Curriculum* and the teacher and student resources within this Practice will provide evidence-informed opportunities to support your students to do so. Using the same structure and building on skills targeted in Practice I, students will participate in joint reading, retelling and discussion of a simple story. The focus of these groups is on the social behaviours and perspectives of the characters. between mental states and behaviours and build their understanding of characters in different contexts.

This practice uses the inclusionED Story tool resource. Story Grammar has long been used in different ways to scaffold student story retells and the inclusionED version was informed by the resources used in the research.

Learning outcomes align with Level 3 learning outcomes in social awareness within the Personal and Social Capability learning continuum.

*https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/1078/general-capabilities-personal-and-social-capability-learning-continuum.pdf