This monthly article will feature a different learning skill each month and instead of talking theory will ONLY give ideas for targeting/strengthening that learning skill for ages 2 to 102! Remember that you can find ALL the learning skills in a free interactive tool.

Rephrazing: restating—illustrating what was heard by honoring and then enhancing the message (also known as paraphrasing)

With little ones, this is about vocabulary-building as much as active-listening. Rephrase as you respond so that meaning is invested through action. Example: I’m sharing, I’m giving to both of us, I’m letting you have some of mine, I’m dividing it between us. Can you say it another way too? Should be a game, not a cause for frustration.

In the arts, it is also about building vocabulary but first and foremost a way to check if students are understanding. Answering the question, “How would you state or interpret in your own words…” demonstrates that a student is at Level 2 learning (Conceptual Understanding) and can be used in any course. Rephrasing is also a way to look at how ideas keep reappearing throughout history – in the humanities, philosophy, history, literature, etc. In art, artists “rephrase” other artists; we usually talk about “influences” on artists.

STEM students are generally familiar with the idea of “in terms of” where one concept (such as mass) can be expressed in terms of others (force divided by acceleration). Pushing this idea to beyond mathematics and formulae can be a challenge but, as with the arts, when students can rephrase or interpret in their own words, they’re demonstrating conceptual understanding. This is a skill that instructors can usefully model so that students are comfortable with paraphrasing.

Here’s an idea for a game: Say it another way! Pause a show or film and everyone rephrases what has just been said, but everyone has to say it a unique way. It’s most fair for the youngest to go first! The classic board game Password was based on providing 1-word clues for another to guess the “password”. So for poet, the clue might be bard. This isn’t exactly rephrasing but does help build synonym skills.