Story+Map

During-Reading Strategy Demo: Story Map Julia Berry University of New Haven What is a story map? A story map is a during-reading strategy that uses a graphic organizer to help students identify and comprehend the elements of a story. A story map allows the students to identify and sort out the story’s characters, plot, setting, problems, themes, and solution. This during-reading strategy makes students actively engage the text by having them organize the text’s details into the Story Map while they are reading. This strategy offers a lot of flexibility in that an instructor can omit certain story elements if he or she wants to give their students a narrower scope to focus on. There are many variations of the story map, which makes the strategy compatible with different types of stories as well as different content areas.

When should a teacher use a story map?
 * When a teacher wants to improve the students’ ability to recognize essential details and be able to organize these details into a graphic form.
 * When students are having trouble with comprehension, having students identify key details and organize them aids their understanding.
 * When a math teacher wants students to create their own word problems, the teacher can use a story map to help the student organize the various components needed to make a word problem.
 * When a math teacher wants to help students understand a complex word problem, he or she can break the problem down into story map.
 * When a history/social studies teacher wants to assess the students’ understanding of a historical event, the teacher can have the student sort out the details in a story map.
 * When a science teacher is teaching components of a complex system, the teacher can have the students identify and organize the details of each element of the system.

How should a teacher use a story map?
 * Review and discuss the components of a story: characters, plot, setting, theme, problems, and solution.
 * Provide students with visual representation of the story map, via a handout or overhead projection.
 * Model how to complete the story map by reading the text aloud and filling out the graphic organizer on the overhead projector.
 * Have students complete the story map while they read the text either individually, in small groups, or as a whole class.

Benefits of the story map:
 * It is a flexible strategy; it can be tailored to an array of different types of lessons.
 * It is compatible to different content areas, not just ELA.
 * It can be used as an after reading strategy or as a type of assessment.
 * It can be completed with the whole class, in small groups, or as an individual assignment.
 * It can be modified to offer additional support and guidance to students who need it.

References All About Adolescent Literacy. (2014). //Story Maps//. Retrieved from []

Reading Rockets. (2014). //Story Maps//. Retrieved from []