Narration
by
Catherine Levison
Narration is assimilating information and retelling it. Anyone would listen
closely if they knew they were going to retell what they had heard. Just
like when you've seen a documentary and tell your friend all about it the
next day, you will remember it better.
Charlotte Mason uses an illustration of a doctor visiting a sick person in
the hospital. The patient is in extreme pain and the doctor has written the
remedy on a three-by-five card. He tells her this will alleviate the pain,
however, he's only going to let her look at the card for a few minutes.
Then the card will be destroyed permanently, and he won't be writing it for
her ever again. Can you imagine the attention you would give to that card?
This is the kind of attention Charlotte wants the children to pay to their
reading. When they are retelling they have to leave some information out
and that's one of the choices being made by their minds. Charlotte says it
is not a mere act of memory because we let their minds act on the material
in their own original way. They will classify and connect information.
Remember, you cannot narrate what you do not know. If you can narrate it,
you know it.
Narration can be used in all school subjects and in all experiences.
Charlotte says years later the child will be able to narrate the same
passage with "vividness, detail and accuracy of the first telling."
HOW TO:
You read aloud to them one single reading, only about 10 to 13
minutes for each book. This is very important to have their full attention.
Don't stop to define words during the reading; they'll usually understand
the sentence or paragraph anyway.
Ask one of the listeners to tell you what
you just read. If they hesitate, ask them if they remember one thing of
what you read. If they seem reluctant and I know they understood, I'll
usually make a joke like, "Oh, I see, well I guess it was about a pink
rabbit who met an elephant?" This always makes them laugh since this
probably was not what Robin Hood or Gideon was just doing in our story and
they start telling you what it was about.
Only let one child narrate per
reading. You don't correct them, but if another child points out an error
that's okay.
Charlotte says to not interrupt a narration. Most kids narrate
easily because we tend to do this as people we relive events (or books)
with others. Your child has probably told you all about some event he
witnessed or every detail of a show he saw. This is the same thing. It's
casual and natural, which is why it differs from a book report. So, don't
make more of it than it is.
Narration is a very powerful learning tool. Charlotte Mason tells us (and
she's right) that perfect attention and absolute recollection is an asset
to employer, teacher, and the nation. She says adults read and forget but
her students "have the powers of perfect recollection and just application
because they have read with attention and concentration and have in every
case reproduced what they read in narration."
She also points out that many
professions wish they could grasp the content on a single reading. For some
children it takes a little more practice. One child, whose test results
showed he was behind one full grade level in "listening" on the IOWA Basic
Skills test, is now narrating with a "photographic memory."
They begin narration at six years old, and they do it orally. They tell,
you listen. You may take dictation if you care to and file those as often
as you desire. Don't let it become a burden to you though. To prevent that
I often take down the narration at the end of the book with only an
occasional chapter narration. Most books take us three to four months to
read. If I wrote out each oral narration they ever told me, I would not be
doing much else. I know one mom who uses a tape recorder as a time saver
and a way to not have to stop or slow down the child while she takes
dictation. This could be useful with many children, but I would take the
time to listen to them narrate in person as often as I could.
At ten years old they begin to write out their narrations. This can be a
long process. Give them all the time they need (I mean a year if needed) to
make this transition. The Hon. Mrs. E. L. Franklin wants us to be cautious
not to begin too early with written narration or nature notebooks. Accept
their written work without undue concern for the punctuation,
capitalization, or the spelling. These "skills" will improve with practice
and with the reading the child will be doing. I will, on occasion, point
out in a lighthearted way one very important error such as the pronoun "I"
not being capitalized. Keep in mind these narrations are not done for the
purpose of spotting errors.
You see, the young child is being read to before he can read. They can be
learning the Bible, history, and geography before they are six years old.
Charlotte says a child of six has begun his education; it doesn't matter
whether he understands each and every word. It matters that he learn to
deal directly with books. That's why what you choose to read to them is so
important. Charlotte Mason wants them exposed to the best in literature,
poetry, music, and art. She most definitely does not want them in what we
call "dumbed-down" books. She calls literature written down to the child's
level "twaddle."
Return to: A Charlotte Mason Education
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