A drawing of a girl with her name Serena Bialkin at the top and characteristics written around her.

Teaching Strategy

Storyboard

Help students track a story’s main ideas and supporting details by having them illustrate important scenes.

Published: May 12, 2020

Teaching Strategy

Language

English — US

Subject

English & Language Arts
History
Social Studies

Grade

6–12

Overview

What Is a Storyboard?

The Storyboards teaching strategy helps students keep track of a narrative’s main ideas and supporting details by having them illustrate the story’s important scenes. Storyboarding can be used when texts are read aloud or when students read independently. Checking the thoroughness and accuracy of students’ storyboards is an effective way for you to evaluate reading comprehension before moving on to more analytic tasks.

Lesson Plans

Step 1

Share with students the storyboard template in the handout section below, or design your own. The template should have several blocks that are large enough for students to draw pictures, with room for captions below.

Step 2

Ask students to draw the main ideas of a story. Students could do this after hearing a story aloud or while reading a story to themselves. Each drawing should have a short caption explaining what is happening in the picture. You could also have students use relevant quotations from the story as captions.

You can ask students to compare storyboards with a partner or a small group. How are their storyboards similar? How are they different? This discussion can help students clarify basic ideas in the text and can also help them analyze which ideas are most important.

Materials and Downloads

Download the files below.

Download the Files

Handout

Storyboard Template

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Handout

Storyboard Template

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K-W-L Chart template that can be printed out and used in the classroom.

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— Gabriela Calderon-Espinal, Bay Shore, NY

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Storyboard

At a Glance

Language

Subject

Grade

Overview

What Is a Storyboard?

Lesson Plans

How to Use Storyboards

Materials and Downloads

Quick Downloads

Download the Files

Get Files Via Google

You might also be interested in…

Connect, Extend, Challenge

Connect, Extend, Challenge

Toolbox for Care

Connecting the Past to the Present Using Oral History

Media and Strategies for Teaching Farewell to Manzanar

K-W-L Charts

K-W-L Charts

3-2-1

3-2-1

Alphabet Brainstorm

Analyzing Images

Annotating and Paraphrasing Sources

Storyboard

At a Glance

Language

Subject

Grade

Overview

What Is a Storyboard?

Save this resource for easy access later.

Lesson Plans

How to Use Storyboards

How are you planning to use this resource?

Materials and Downloads

Quick Downloads

Download the Files

Get Files Via Google

Was this resource useful?

You might also be interested in…

Connect, Extend, Challenge

Connect, Extend, Challenge

Toolbox for Care

Connecting the Past to the Present Using Oral History

Media and Strategies for Teaching Farewell to Manzanar

K-W-L Charts

K-W-L Charts

3-2-1

3-2-1

Alphabet Brainstorm

Analyzing Images

Annotating and Paraphrasing Sources

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