melissel Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 So DD6 and I did our first narration last night. We read The Magic Pillow by Demi, and then DD did the narration and I wrote. I'm not kidding when I say, I think she narrated more words to me than are actually IN the picture book. She nailed every detail and even quoted parts back to me. I was amazed and impressed, and by the end, my arm was practically falling off from writing (seriously, three full pages of my crabbed, tiny handwriting :001_huh:). At this point, do I just let her think and talk and write down every word as she gives it to me? Do I instruct her at all in conciseness? Do I invest in a transcription course?! Is there a way to make it at all easier on me, or is the goal here simply to take the hit for the greater educational good? Honestly, this kid is going to have noooo problem with book reports in a few years. Sheesh! :lol: TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in AUS Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Great questions and i am keen to know the answer. My DD blows me away exactly the same ways as yours. Cindarella was a 3 typed pages narration which included every adjective known to man lol. Seriously tho i can't type that fast! I am on the look out for a digital voice recorder then i can let her go for it and type it up after. At least that way i am not trying to keep up with her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I think it depends on what you're going for. The CM style of narration is to give as detailed a retelling as possible. The WTM style is to give a summary of the main points. Somewhere on the WTM or PHP site there is an article about doing narrations with young kids. Ok, here it is. Susan recommends starting with a few sentences or a paragraph and having your child give you the main points in one sentence. My dd is like yours in that she will give me every single point in the passage if I let her, down to what color socks the main character was wearing. For history narrations, I read my daughter a paragraph and tell her to give me the most important parts in two sentences. When we read literature, I ask her questions about the story (a la Writing With Ease) and then ask her to tell me one thing she remembers from the story (preferably something I didn't already as her about). I focus on helping her construct complete sentences for her answers and, in her history narrations, we also work on defining the main point. We go with the WTM style of narrations because I think that learning to highlight and summarize the main points will be more useful to my kids than being able to retell a passage as completely as possible. Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Although I've never used IEW, I know they do a 3 word summary--I've seen the history sentences from Veritas, and they use this technique also. Read a sentence (a rich sentence from history, say) and have dd write down or tell you three words that are most important in that sentence. The goal is to be able to recreate that sentence using the three words as a memory aid. It's a helpful way to begin narrowing down to the main idea, as main ideas are used in writing (write your main idea as a topic sentence, then give supporting details). I like the WTM way of summarizing via narration as a first step in doing your own writing. Realizing how to weight ideas--some are heavy, as in topic sentences, and some are lighter, as in details--helps in writing papers/essays. That said, 6 is just at the beginning for narration. I'd let her tell you all she wants, then go back every once in a while and look at what she's said, and help her condense it to two or three main idea sentences. Don't make it a big deal yet, but work towards that concise summary that's going to help her in the long run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omma Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Just as an aside... I had HUGE problems with book reports when I was a kid, and it was because I knew too many details of the story and couldn't figure out how to narrow down a report of an entire book to be only a one-page summary! Thus, I would say that it is a wonderful and useful skill to be able to recount endless details and quotes from what is read, but this skill doesn't necessarily make a person good at book reports! For this reason, I am very happy to use WWE to help my dc learn how to summarize a narration into just a couple of sentences. And, I agree, both skills (detail analysis and summarizing) are wonderful, useful skills. Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 (edited) At this point, do I just let her think and talk and write down every word as she gives it to me? Do I instruct her at all in conciseness? Do I invest in a transcription course?! Is there a way to make it at all easier on me, or is the goal here simply to take the hit for the greater educational good? TIA! At this age, I'm letting kiddo have free rein, however, he has to go slow enough for me to write in good print, and he has to read it back to me at the end. When something is run on or clumsy, I point it out, but I don't make it overwhelm the content. I intend to advance, ASAP, to him copying what I write, and I'm betting that is a motivation to be more concise. Just copying the title has already changed his choices. I also found that he runs on more if he is twisting and wiggling and moving around the room. If he seems to be "getting revved up" for a huge tome, I have him sit next to me and sound out the words as I write. Edited January 9, 2009 by kalanamak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningirl71 Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Wow! That is great that you had a positive experience with narration and all details were remembered! What I've done with my kids at that age is kept written narrations for History and Science texts only. I would read SOTW, go over the questions and then have ds or dd tell me the main points in four sentences. One written for History and one written for Science a week. All other narrations for books read I kept oral. Like you said, it can be tiring writing it all down! And, like another poster mentioned, you'll have to figure out what your goal is in doing narrations. When I would ask for a narration over a picture book or short biography, I wanted to know they were listening so I wanted the details. And, them relating the story back to me orally helps with retention and processing. My goal for written narrations for Science and History were that they grasped the main points, not necessarily that they could tell me every single detail. That isn't what I wanted. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In the Rain Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Like Tara, I prefer a narration that summarizes the key points. My dd has always been able to retell stories with great detail and use of precise wording from the book. I think it is valuable to discern the main point, which is sometimes a struggle for my dd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friederike in Persia Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 :iagree: So I let ds tell me all that he remembers (which is lots!) and then work with him on making it shorter. My aim is for him to be able to summerize it by himself in a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inashoe Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 WWE is a great help with narrations. My dd gives too much detail, all the detail, but not knowing how to pinpoint the "main idea". WWE 1 starts with just tell me what you remember, anything is acceptable at this stage. WWE 2 guides the child in finding the main idea of an excerpt, the parent asks pertinent questions to guide the child to finding the main idea. My boys have no problem zoning in on the main idea, while dd can't see the woods for the trees. I was actually surprised how much WWE helps the child along. We had been doing narrations before we got WWE, I thought it was a test to see how well the child had been listening :tongue_smilie: WWE makes it much easier for the child, guiding them through the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 Thank you all, that was extremely helpful. I had a feeling that was what you all were going to tell me. I'll start working toward the goal of conciseness and summarization. I intend to advance, ASAP, to him copying what I write, and I'm betting that is a motivation to be more concise. Just copying the title has already changed his choices. Excellent points! I never thought of having her copy the title. Thanks! I also found that he runs on more if he is twisting and wiggling and moving around the room. If he seems to be "getting revved up" for a huge tome, I have him sit next to me and sound out the words as I write. And you know, this is exactly what was happening while she was dictating to me. Very interesting! It was actually driving me nuts, but it was late and I figured I'd let her work off some energy since she was focusing on the task at hand. I'll keep that in mind, for sure. Thanks for the discussion, everyone. I'll evolve my approach accordingly :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I would let her go for it but don't write it down. Just write down one a week or so. You could also ask her- instead of "tell me that story in your own words", you could ask all sorts of other questions instead at different times- so for one story, you could ask her to tell you about the main character and everything she remember about her. Or, ask her to tell you about a part of the story instead of the whole thing. You can refine the narration process, which also helps to keep it interesting. Here is a list of narration prompts, CM style: http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/narration/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.