Structured Reading-Logic Stage

[stlily]

I need some clarification for the structured reading hour for the logic stage.  Is the student to read a portion of the book and write a narration (3-4 sentences) daily, then write a longer summary that includes a two sentence evaluation once the book is finished?  Or is the student to read the book in its entirety, however long that takes (a few days or a week) and then write the summary that includes a two sentence evaluation?  The recommendations in TWTM I'm referring to are the following (I own the 3rd edition):

 

p. 344, "During the logic stage, plan to spend thirty to sixty mnutes, four days per week, reading and creating narration pages and reports (I'm assuming 'reports' refers to the 1 page summary with the two sentence evaluation... what do you think?)"

 

p. 348-349, "The fifth grader should continue to write one-half-page to one-page summaries of each book read during reading time. As she moves on to longer and more complex books, she may take a week or so to read a single book and write a on-page summary... At the end of the narration (now we're calling it a narration), ask the child to write a one- or two-sentence evaluation of the book that includes specific reasons why she did or didn't like the book."

 

I know that a narration is a type of summary.  We use Writing With Skill as our writing program and in it narrations are defined as "brief summaries of stories and non-fiction narratives." Also, for all of the narrations she was required to write, she is instructed to combine her notes or phrases into four sentences.  Because of this, narrations and summaries seem to me to be two different things (when mentioned in TWTM).

 

I love TWTM and we use it almost exclusively to guide our homeschool. The interchanging of the words "summary, report, and essay" throughout the language arts and history chapters for the logic stage has really been confusing to me.  How do you understand these recommendations?

[LanaTron]

Here is what I would do, if I were actually having my middle schooler write about what she is reading (long story as to why we are not).

 

She is a slow-ish reader, 7th grade, not such a great memory, who is just really getting her sea legs under her w/ regards to reading things appropriate for her level. So, I would probably have her write each day about what she has read, hitting the highlights of the plot. Then, at the end of the book, I would have her write the evaluation including if she enjoyed the book and why or why not. I would probably encourage more than two sentences of that evaluation.

 

A stronger reader, who can read a book more quickly, could possibly read the whole book, then write a summary of the plot and then the evaluation.

 

Right now we do this orally... when I remember to do it!

 

Hope that helps at least a little.

[Colleen in NS]

I need some clarification for the structured reading hour for the logic stage.  Is the student to read a portion of the book and write a narration (3-4 sentences) daily, then write a longer summary that includes a two sentence evaluation once the book is finished?  Or is the student to read the book in its entirety, however long that takes (a few days or a week) and then write the summary that includes a two sentence evaluation?  The recommendations in TWTM I'm referring to are the following (I own the 3rd edition):

 

p. 344, "During the logic stage, plan to spend thirty to sixty mnutes, four days per week, reading and creating narration pages and reports (I'm assuming 'reports' refers to the 1 page summary with the two sentence evaluation... what do you think?)"

 

p. 348-349, "The fifth grader should continue to write one-half-page to one-page summaries of each book read during reading time. As she moves on to longer and more complex books, she may take a week or so to read a single book and write a on-page summary... At the end of the narration (now we're calling it a narration), ask the child to write a one- or two-sentence evaluation of the book that includes specific reasons why she did or didn't like the book."

 

I know that a narration is a type of summary.  We use Writing With Skill as our writing program and in it narrations are defined as "brief summaries of stories and non-fiction narratives." Also, for all of the narrations she was required to write, she is instructed to combine her notes or phrases into four sentences.  Because of this, narrations and summaries seem to me to be two different things (when mentioned in TWTM).

 

I love TWTM and we use it almost exclusively to guide our homeschool. The interchanging of the words "summary, report, and essay" throughout the language arts and history chapters for the logic stage has really been confusing to me.  How do you understand these recommendations?

 

Funny - I just replied to your other thread about the "differences" between summaries and narration!  I totally hear you on being confused - I worked so hard on understanding the teaching details in TWTM because I love it, too!

 

Have you ever listened to the writing and literature audios that SWB made?  They helped me SO MUCH to understand what she was trying to communicate in the book.  In the audios on literature, she insisted on one thing: "preserve the love of reading."  So, the WTM instructions are suggestions on how to go about it, but you can tweak it around.  If your student will absolutely hate a literature book if you make her read a daily portion and write a daily portion summary, then don't do it.  Let her read the whole book and savor it first before you make her do any writing about it.  Then have a discussion about the book using the questions in TWTM - the beginning questions are about the content of the book, and the later questions are about developing an opinion of the book.  Your goal is to help her learn to analyze a story, and then develop an opinion (which will be simple at first and get more complex in high school) about it, and then write down the summary, analysis, and opinion.  (Also, side note:  Writing With Skill 1-3 will teach her how to do this, and teach much more than you see in TWTM logic stage section.)

 

As to what exactly she meant by the different terms...I'm not positive.  I think that possibly "report" meant a summary-plus-two-sentence-opinion paper.  So maybe:

 

narration = summary

report = narration/summary plus two opinion sentences

essay = a more nuanced opinion paper in high school, if I am recalling my audio notes correctly.  I do remember her talking in the high school writing or literature audio about different types of essays that were not part of logic stage study.

 

hth

 

 

[LMD]

At the moment I'm having my 5th grader write a couple of narration/summary sentences per chapter of her history book (shortish chapters).

We'll use these notes to create a report when she's finished the book.

I don't do this with all her books.

I've been listening to the audio writing without fear and trying the outlining point, picking up the main point of a paragraph.

[stlily]

Thanks Colleen.  After I posted this question I listened to both the Middle School Writing lecture as well as the Great Books lecture and, you're right, they did help tremendously with understanding what she was trying to communicate in the book.  My daughter is in the 6th grade this year and I had her write daily narrations (3-4 sentences)  of the books she was reading-- "Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the Canterbury Tales retold by Geraldine McCaughrean--but I decided not to have her continue the daily written narrations with the remaining books on our list (we're still doing the summary once she completes a book and including a 2 sentence evaluation).  She is a strong reader and a good writer and I didn't find it necessary.  Like you said, I didn't want to squelch her love of reading and she wasn't having trouble comprehending the stories.  Thanks also for the definitions of narrations, reports, and essays you included.  After reading TWTM several times and listening to the lectures I came up with similar definition so your post helped to confirm what I thought.  Thanks again.