Story Frames for Teaching Literacy: Enhancing Student Learning Through the Power of Storytelling

Mastering the art of storytelling isn’t just a goal for professional writers. Analysing and creating stories can boost critical literacy skills for all learners—and this comprehensive resource will show teachers and SLPs how.

Aligned with the science of reading, this innovative guidebook reveals how to unlock literacy and learning skills by captivating K–12 students with the power of stories: how they’re structured, how they reflect and change lives, and how students can create their own original narratives. Using dozens of diverse fiction and non-fiction books as vivid examples, you’ll discover how to teach 12 key story elements (Story Frames) in dynamic, fun, and highly visual ways, including Quick Draws, storyboards, and icons that make narrative structure easy to grasp. Then you’ll get in-depth guidance on how to use knowledge of story structure to build core literacy skills—from oral language to reading comprehension—and empower students to write their own personal stories in a variety of genres.

Enhanced with more than 35 adaptable lesson plans and a complete package of online support materials, Story Frames is an accessible pathway to structured literacy that any educator can start using right away. You’ll use it year after year to strengthen your students’ skills and instil a lifelong love of reading and writing in every learner.

Story Frames will help you:

• Get started with structured literacy in a fun and engaging way
• Build core literacy skills, including phonological awareness, reading comprehension, oral language, vocabulary, grammar, syntax, narrative development, and expository writing
• Strengthen your existing curriculum with flexible lesson plans and activities aligned with the science of reading
• Effectively teach narrative structure to both struggling and advanced learners
• Teach students in any setting, with practical tips for teletherapy and virtual instruction
• Boost executive function skills by making the writing process comprehensible, meaningful, and manageable
• Empower students with and without disabilities by giving them the tools to tell their own stories

Implement Story Frames effectively with a full package of downloadable materials, including:

• sample storyboards and templates
• 40+ handouts and worksheets
• game cards
• slide decks to use in instruction
• 30+ sample story analyses of books for children and young adults
• brief literature guides for applying Story Frames to picture books and to chapter books and novels.

Download File

Table of Contents

About the Downloads

About the Author

About the Contributors

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Section I  Your Story Frames Toolbox

1. The Story Frames Approach: Introduction and Tools
2. The Twelve Elements in Depth
3. Getting Started with Story Frames

Section II  Using Story Frames to Build Literacy Skills

4. Understanding Narrative Development
5. Oral Retells: Vocabulary, Sequencing, and Grammar
6. From Speaking to Writing: Sentences, Paragraphs, and Stories
7. From Story Writing to Expository Writing: Bridging the Gap with Narrative Nonfiction
8. Toward a Deeper Understanding: Comprehension Skills
9. Function Trumps Form: Sentence-Level Instruction - William Van Cleave
10. Poetry: Exploring the Power of Language and Story Through Verse
11. Enhancing the Learning Experience: Coherence and Executive Functions - Paula Moraine

Section III  Shaping Writers, Shaping Lives: The Power of Personal Narrative

12. Introduction to Writing Personal Narratives
13. Memoir: Writing Our Lives - Lesley Roessing
14. Fostering a Growth Mindset: Strengths-Based Superhero Stories - Amy Miller
15. Advocating for Students: The Family Story - Mary Jo O’Neill
16. The Influence of Culture on Storytelling - Carol Westby

References

Index

"Story Frames captures the rich possibilities of using written language instruction for teaching language and life lessons."
- Nickola Nelson, Developer of the TILLS (Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills)

"Story Frames offers students a concrete and fun way to create stories. Using visual supports and the basic building blocks of stories, it makes it possible for all children to create stories others will enjoy reading."
- Steve Graham, Regents and Warner Professor of Educational Leadership and Innovation, Arizona State University

"Provides insight into how to teach narrative structure in a straightforward manner, making story elements concrete for students. This is the instructional support all teachers have been waiting for!"
- Darcy Dycha, Senior Project Manager, Children’s Learning Institute