Teaching Reading Comprehension through Story Mapping

Story mapping is a way of visually representing the major parts of a story. The focus is typically on the three main elements of a story: the beginning, middle, and end. The students are directed to concentrate on the most important events of the three main elements, and not get hung up with minor details.

1. The teacher reads the story to the class, or has them read it silently. The more familiar they are with the story, the more successful they will be
2. The teacher draws an outline of the story map onto the board. The middle circle will contain the title of the story. From that circle, the teacher draws three lines to connect to three other circles containing the terms; beginning, middle, and end.
3. The students recall and list the most important events connected to each of the three story element parts. This is done by drawing lines from the story element (beginning, middle, end) to another circle with the event written inside.
4. After the story map is complete, the students use it to orally retell the story, illustrate main events, write a summary, or act it out.