Beginning Narration

[dsbrack]

I am just beginning narration exercises with my son in preparation for scheduled narration with WWE next year.  If I ask him to tell me one thing he remembers from the passage, it is usually some obscure detail that is not that important to the message.  Is that okay for his first attempts at narration or should I be redirecting him to the main point of the passage?  My son can be very sensitive to correction so these early days can set a tone for him to be excited about narration or dread always being "wrong."  Any ideas on how to move him toward finding the main point in a passage?  Should I be giving him very specific questions to answer after I read the passage instead of asking for one thing he remembers?  Am I making this harder than it needs to be?

[Kathleen.]

Try reading Aesop's Fables to him.  They're short and simple, so they'll keep his attention and should be easy for him to remember.  Another option is to only read a few sentences from the story you've selected and ask him to narrate just that portion. Keep it short so he doesn't tire from it.

[La Texican]

At first I asked him to "tell me the story and pretend like I've never heard it before.". If he can't, then those stories I say, "then just tell me one thing about the story that you remember.".

[reign]

I think that is fine. I would make sure he is using complete sentences that make sense. This is how we mostly use WWE 1. Sometimes I tell the child to find out the main character and tell me what they did using a sentence. WWE 2 is when they get to summaries. Then the child needs to be more on point.

 

Another way to do narrations would be the Charlotte Mason like retellings. I mainly do these with fairy tales or stories the girls are familiar with.

[dsbrack]

Thanks for all the input.  I think I'll read through the descriptions on how to do narration from a few resources to try and get a better feel for what's needed.  I'm just nervous because it seems to be so important in building foundational writing skills and I feel like I don't know what I'm doing.  I'll get it though with a little more practice and research.  :001_smile:

[Goldilocks]

When I ask the question that way I usually get weird details as well. 

 

However, if I ask him to tell me what we just read, I get way too much!

 

They do get better at narrations.  

[La Texican]

Right now I'm looking at writing with ease, year two, week one. She tells a cute little story, a few paragraphs long. Then she asks several listening comprehension questions. If the answers are not in complete sentences then you rephrase the answer in a complete sentence. Next you have the goal of getting the kid to summarize the story in two to three sentences, but you have to guide them there. You ask them two to three leading questions whose answers summarize the bones of the story. After they answer these two questions then you ask them to tell you in 1-2 senrtences what the story was about (or 3 short ones). Let the kid watch you write down the summary they just said.

This is year 2 of wwe, so not at all necessary to prepare before starting wwe. The beginning narrations in year 1 are listening comprehension questions answered in full sentences and "one thing you remember". The year one exit test for narrations is comprehension questions. Obscure details are accepted in year one narrations, and year two shows you how to teach them how to find the meat of the story.