Oral Retell Directions
DRA 4-8
Retelling can provide valuable information with implications for instruction. It gives the teacher a firsthand
opportunity to observe the student and the level of understanding about the passage that was just read. To do this,
the student must recall important ideas and events.
For an oral retelling of informational texts, students should include the major ideas with supporting facts and key
vocabulary in their retelling. During reading students may use a graphic organizer to help recall information later.
Only first and second year ELL students may take the graphic organizer with them to refer to during the retell.
For an oral retelling of literary text, students are expected to include characters’ names, story setting, the problem,
beginning and middle events, and the ending solution in their retelling.
After the student has finished reading the selection silently, the teacher should:
1. Set the text and graphic organizer aside.
2. Ask the student to retell the passage as if it were being told to someone who had never read or heard it
before.
3. Put a check mark next to the main ideas or details that the student recalls during the retelling on the Record
of Oral Retelling sheet.
4. Consider whether the retelling is sequential and recall is accurate and make notes at the bottom of the
record sheet.
5. Use one or more of the following prompts to gain further information, if needed:
 Tell me more.
 What happened at the beginning?
 What happened after ____ (an event mentioned by the student)?
 Who else is in the selection? What other main ideas were talked about?
 How did the selection end?
 Is there anything more you can tell me about ____ (name a subheading or main idea)?
6. Use the scoring guide below to determine the level of comprehension.
Score
Oral Retell
~
Literary
Passage
Score
Oral Retell
~
Informational
Passage
1
Tells 0-2 events
2
3
4
Tells 3-4 events with
some details from text
Tells 7 or more events with
significant details and key
vocabulary from the
beginning, middle, and end
of text, in sequence
Refers to all characters or
topics by specific name
(Old Ben Bailey, green
turtle, Sammy Sosa)
Problem clearly stated
Refers to 1 or 2
characters or topics
using pronouns (he,
she, it, they)
Problem not stated
Refers to 1 or 2
characters or topics by
generic name or label
(boy, girl, dog)
Problem limited
Tells 5-6 events with
many important details
from the beginning,
middle, and end of
text, in sequence
Refers to many
characters or topics by
name in text (Ben, Giant,
Monkey, Otter)
Problem stated
Solution not stated
Solution limited
Solution stated
Solution clearly stated
Requires many
questions or prompts
Requires 3-4 questions
or prompts
Requires 1-2 questions
or prompts
Requires no questions or
prompts
1
Tells 1-2 details
Requires many
questions or prompts
2
3
4
Tells few main ideas
with 3-4 details from
text
Tells some of the main
ideas with 5-6
important supporting
details from text
Requires 2 questions or
prompts
Tells most of the main ideas
with 7 or more significant
supporting details and key
vocabulary
May require 1 or no
questions or prompts
Requires 3-4 questions
or prompts