Can we talk about narration?

[jeninok]

Last year I could barely get a sentence out of DS, he is 11, and in 5th grade. He is also dysgraphic and/or NVLD, so the physical act of writing is very difficult for him. He is very bright, and VERY verbal, with wonderful descriptive language, and an ear for inflection, but has problems relating a story in any kind of logical order.

 

I tried WWS, but could tell by the second excerpt that he was going to really hate the selections, so I am working on narrations using a book of parables from world religions.

 

I did a lot of reading over the summer, and I think I really understand the philosphy or copywork, dictation and narration, and I really want to get him into outlining soon since we are covering high level science and he needs note taking skills.

 

Can you guys look at his narration from today and see if we are on the right track? I didn't correct it for perfection, as I don't want to nitpick and stop him from writing again.

 

Ok, I tried to upload it directly, but my file is too big? Here is the link to his page as a google doc.

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RO_bYJTK8Np0c9MEPl7zfhde3W5VaYZLg2vALoNjZao/edit

 

He did this all on his own, with only a little bit of prompting from me to pick out the main points, and even erased a whole sentence when his words were much too close together.

 

Does this seem like we are on the right track?

[pageta]

Yes, I think you're on the right track. It isn't where you are, it's where you are going. Are you making progress? Narration has been a challenge for us, and I've tried various ideas. You just keep throwing money against a wall until something sticks, and then you throw more of that type of mud (or at that spot on the wall, LOL!). Every kid is different and even with one kid, no one formula is going to work. It's a process over time to be able to summarize the story and repeat it back. Some selections are more difficult than others. The more you practice, the better you get.

 

So hang in there - keep up the good work!

[Mrs Mungo]

I think you are on the right track. With his issues? *I* wouldn't necessarily have him write out a narration every day. There are other ways to do narration. I used this blog post to create a narration jar for our homeschool. :)

 

http://thecommonroomblog.com/2005/08/narration-jar.html

[jeninok]

I am glad to know that I seem to be on the right track, He did way more than I expected today, and I jumped up and down and gave lots of high fives for his effort. That page of work only took about 30 minutes total, reading the story, discussing it, and working through the main ideas and getting it on paper.

 

I want something down on paper everyday, since writing is where he struggles most. I am thinking of a narration like the one today a couple of times a week, then maybe copying an important point and then drawing a corresponding sketch or diagram from science on our notebooking printouts. We are working on making a science notebook that will be worth keeping, and showing off.

 

My goal for him is a quality paragraph by Christmas, and a longer essay by the end of this school year.