Narration

Narration is, simply put, the art of "telling back" what has been learned. It is an integral part of the Charlotte Mason method, and is often used by Classical educators and other homeschooling families who employ a "living books" approach to education, rather than a textbook approach. A living book can be defined as one that captures the imagination, makes its subject matter come alive, and becomes a beloved and formative influence in a young person's life.

The art of narration begins early, before a child has learned to read. Even a preschool child can "tell back" the favorite stories read over and over by parents. When our young children "read" their favorite books, turning the pages lovingly and repeating the stories to their dolls, that is an unprompted narration. :-) Continuing this pattern into our more formal schooling is a natural progression.

Later, as the words of the Bible, literature, history, and biography become a part of our educational curriculum, narration becomes more structured, and we build little by little, precept upon precept, having our grammar stage children "tell back" what they remember from our joint readalouds and their own reading time. We begin with a short paragraph, a brief passage, and then a single page, and gradually build a child's memory and language skills. Through narration, a child learns to think, to sift information and to choose what is important to remember and what is not. Gains are also made, in a natural way, in the areas of composition, reading comprehension, grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and expressive language skills.

Narration usually goes hand-in-hand with copywork and dictation, and as a child's ability to write quickly and effectively increases, the skills learned through the mental exercise of oral narration and the technical proficiency of writing are able to be combined into written narrations. We begin by having our child copy out the narrations she has previously dictated for mom to type, so that she can see what her words look like on the printed page. As she gets older, she will grow into writing her narrations herself, without the "middle man".

As the subject matter of the narration becomes more complex, so does the narration itself. Instead of just "telling back" the story, the details and underlying themes of a reading can be drawn forth. The influence of the author's time, a prevalent worldview, the motivation of the characters, examples of conflict, religious themes, and the struggle of the human spirit are some of the areas that can be analyzed as a child grows older. By moving from a basic, concrete telling to a more abstract analysis, the child gradually moves onward from the grammar stage through the dialectic, and beyond. This basic training will stand him in good stead all the way through essay-writing at the collegiate level, as it is pursued faithfully and consistently over time.

The following is a list of narration tips collected by my friend Lauri, who has graciously shared them and given her permission to include them here.

1. Introduce a new selection, define new words, or review as necessary.

2. Remind your child that a narration will be expected at the end.

3. Read the portion once. (This can range from a short paragraph for a young child to an entire chapter for an older one. An intermediate rule-of-thumb might be to read a 10-15 minute passage.)

4. Have your child tell all he or she remembers about the passage.

5. Write down the narration as your child dictates it, for copywork and/or portfolio.

6. Don't correct your child while he or she is narrating. Make a note of weaknesses to review in future grammar lessons.

Some examples of "narration starters" might include the following:

"Tell me all you remember about the passage."
"Tell it in your own words."
"Wasn't it funny when ___! Tell me what else you remember."
"What do you think about ___."
"Explain how ___."
"Describe our ___."
"Describe anything new you just learned from the chapter."
"Tell me five things you learned about ___."
"Tell me all you know about (a particular character)." (Analyzing Character)
"How did Character A behave differently than Character B?" (Parallel Characters)
"Why did (a particular character) do ___?" (Character Point of View)
"What did you learn about (a particular character) in this chapter?" (Analyzing Character)
"Tell me all you know about ___." (Location)
"Tell me all you know about ___." (Occurance)
"How did (a particular character) feel?" (Analyzing mood)
"What makes this story "pretend"?" (Fantasy vs. Reality)
"What clues told you that ____ was about to happen?" (Making Inferences)
"Why do you think ____ happened?" (Drawing Conclusions)
"Tell me exactly what happened in order." (Sequence of Events/Steps in a Process)
"What do you think of ____? (Making Judgements/Decisions)
"Describe the person telling the story." (Narrator's Point of View)
"Tell the most interesting thing about ___." (Fact vs. Opinion)
"Describe what happened because of ___." (Cause and Effect)
"Tell me all the ways ___ and ___ were different/same." (Compare and Contrast)
"Is the ending/chapter good or bad and why?" (Making Judgements)
"Compare the actions of (two characters)." (Comparing/Contrasting)
"Compare this book with another of similar style." (Comparing/Contrasting)
"Compare this book with another by the same author." (Comparing Works of Same Author)
"Why did the author write the story this way?" (Author's Purpose)
"How did the author know about these kinds of things?" (Author's Point of View)
"What was the author saying about ___?" (Author's Point of View)

Sometimes narrations can take a different form, and can incorporate a variety of skills and interests. Some of these variations might include:

--Record on cassette tape
--Create a mural
--Draw sequence pictures (Sequencing)
--Dramatize the selection
--Draw a picture about selection
--Make a book jacket with an inside summary (Main idea)
--Make a lost/found ad for a person/object
--Make a movie script of the story
--Make a poster to advertise the book
--Use a map to chart routes
--Make a timeline to show events
--Make a map showing where the story took place
--Tell about the author or illustrator (Learning about Authors)
--Tell the story on a flannel board to siblings
--Make a beginning/middle/end mobile or diorama (Sequencing)
--Review the book for a newsletter (Synopsizing)
--Illustrate a "travel poster" showing the setting
--Write a biographical sketch of one character
--Study the location for Geography
--Chart the route to the location from your house/city
--Study any animals mentioned