Narration Example

Well, we are in week 5 of Year 1 with Delta - and I thought I would share his latest narration. Keep in mind that he was my reluctant narrator that would always say "I can't remember". I had him draw a picture first - mainly because I had to check on Foxtrot right then. He then narrated while I wrote (I had to tell him to pause now and then because I couldn't keep up!) - and he more than filled the page...

How the Camel got his hump.

At the beginning of the world there was a camel named Bubbles. He didn't do any work and the dog came by and said "Will you fetch" and he said "Humph" and the horse came by and said "Will you carry stuff" then he said "Humph" again. Then an ox came by and he said "can you plow" and he said "Humph" and all of them said "the camel won't do anything and just says humph". and he said he has to work again. And the man came by and said "Bubbles, you have to work" then he magically made his hump there. When Bubbles saw his back he saw his hump.

(Delta noted afterwards that he got it backwards - the horse came first, then the dog, then the ox.)

Narration with the not-natural narrator

Charlotte Mason emphasized the importance of Narration in the learning process. Narration is the process of telling back in your own words, in detail, a story, event, or other information. Narration is important because it causes the person to truly process the information in their head, and kind of sets it into the memory.

However, narration is a learned skill. Many children are natural narrators, although when first introduced to it in a "Schooling" setting, they may freeze with a type of "test anxiety". There are a few children out there that normal oral narration does not come naturally.

Delta is one of these children. He was a late talker, and then stammered for years. Even now, he has a hard time expressing his thoughts in everyday life. He has improved a lot. (His speach has been evaluated a few times along the years, and he is in the "normal" range - so it isn't a "problem" - but it is a bit of a challenge.

So for years, when Mike would ask Delta "What did you do today" - the answer was (and is) almost always "Nothing" or "I don't know". At times I think we could see a huge crash, watch the fire fighters put out the fire - and when asked what happened today, Delta would answer "I don't know". So I knew that narration would be a challenge.

We have completed week 2 of year 1 with Delta so far. I have gotten a couple of good narrations from him, and a few with almost nothing. I am so far just having him narrate 50 Famous Stories, and Aesop as I feel those are the easier readings. (Next week I will be including the Blue Fairy book).

For Aesop - if he can't narrate directly, I have found that asking him to draw a picture, then tell me has helped. For 50 Famous Stories, I am trying having him act it out with finger puppets. Asking questions like "What was the best part of the story" seems to work better for Delta than asking "What happened". I have also narrated some stories for him, to demonstrate what I want.

It can be frustrating working with the children that don't naturally narrate. It can be easy to feel that they aren't retaining anything. Keep doing the readings. Keep working on the narrations, knowing that this is an area that is a weakness. Trust in the process - it will happen. Trust that some of the information is going to stay in the brain, even if not obvious immediately. Some of it will start coming out while they are playing.

Finally, I try to keep in mind that what we are doing is better than what I think he would be doing in school.