Using storyboards with historical fiction

This is a technique English teachers frequently use to help students to gain an overall grasp of the narrative of any text being studied. It was used by Paula Kent (currently of Sandford Middle school) at Wareham Middle school in the early stages of the Each historical fiction project. As her Year 7 students (aged 11 years) were reading 'A Little Lower Than the Angels' by Geraldine McCaughrean they produced a series of story boards, each summarising a chapter. Here different students created a storyboard for individual chapters. In other schools each student created a whole series of storyboards for every chapter.

These storyboards perform a number of useful functions. Firstly they enable the student to firmly establish their understanding of the chapter, what happened and what was important. Secondly, they serve as a summary of the book. The storyboards can then be used by the teacher to allow access to the narrative for other students, especially weak readers. They could also be used to fill in the gaps when the teacher does not want to read every chapter, either because of time constraints or because students' interest flags at particular points. Thirdly they can form the basis of a class display and can be actively used during the reading. "Remember back in Chapter 3 where Gabriel ...".

Story boards are also a way of developing students' writing. After creating them for a published author's book, students could then use them to develop their own storylines.

The story boards below were produced by Year 7 students at Wareham Middle School. As you can see they provide an effective summary of the narrative.