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Narrations for Speech
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I’d love your input on an idea. I thought about using selected oral narrations to help develop speaking skills. My thought was this:
On Monday, record one oral narration and then have my daughter listen to the narration and write it out word for word. Then we would discuss maybe one area that needs worked on for speakings skills. We would also proof and edit the written narration.
On Thursday, have my daughter re-write Monday’s narration employing the edits made on Monday. This, or course, would help in grammar. Then have her practice reading it to present it on Friday. Work on tone, etc. when reading out loud.
On Friday, she would present the written narration for speech.
What do you think about that idea? Do you think that would hamper oral narrations in any way? We wouldn’t do this with every narration, just one chosen narration on a Monday. My thinking is that we’d do this periodically, not every week. On a week that we choose to do this, we would then take several weeks after that just to work on that area of improvement. In other words, for several weeks, I would pay attention to her oral narrations to see if there are any improvements in speaking skills (not necessarily say anything to her but just observe myself). Then the next time we choose to do another “speaking skills” week with a narration, she will be able to see if she has improved in that area or not when she writes down her narration. Does that make sense?
What I don’t want to do is hamper oral narrations in any way by her feeling like she has to focus on improvement rather than telling me about what she’s read. Another thought I had was to just do a chosen piece for her to read out loud or have her prepare a written speech to present. But doing either one would not provide the benefit of having her improve with just speaking from reading. What I mean by that is when she’s narrating orally, she is simply telling me what she remembers. Right now, she has a lot of “uh” and “whatever” when she narrates orally. This is very conversational in style. I’d like to see her not using the words “uh” and “whatever” so much. If I had her prepare a speech, she would most likely naturally not include those words in her writing and then she would practice it as such instead of it being unprepared like an oral narration. Am I making any sense at all? Are you confused?
I’d love your thoughts or any suggestions on how you work on speaking skills in a CM way.
I thought I’d bump this to see if anyone had any imput. The forum has been busy and sometimes unique posts can get missed.
It’s an interesting idea; I’d have to think on it. You’re combining oral and written narrations, essentially, then transferring the written to speaking aloud practice. On the surface, I see nothing problematic in that method. Then you’d use a rubric style of grading, perhaps?
I will be emphasizing speaking skills as well and if this is doable, then no need for a speaking “curricula”.
Rachel
I’m going to type this stream-of-consciousness style since I have some extra wee ones about today, so please let me know if anything isn’t clear to you. I think it will depend upon your daughter. I have one who would melt into a puddle if she thought her narrations were to be used in this manner and would ultimately shut down during narrations. On the other hand, I have another who would probably handle this idea w/ no problems whatsoever. Because of this, I would keep speech separate.
Another thing to consider is that a true speech isn’t just about sharing information. A good speech has points that sway the audience in the manner that the orator desires. While you could study these areas in detail, I’m having some trouble picturing the narrations that my daughters have given recently as a true speech, IYKWIM. There is a difference in the approach… You don’t necessarily want to tell all that you know about something in a speech like you would for a narration, but would definitely make connections like I encourage my dd’s to do in their narrations.
You could listen to some great speeches and have your daughter identify the elements that make the speech great, using a guide to help with this, and then allow your dd to try out a section, if it is particularly long, or the whole thing if it is short enough. After this you might have your dd write her own speech on the same general content and present it to you. Keep doing this for the various kinds of speeches.
Blessings to you as you contemplate incorporating this into your curriculum.
~jacqleene
Jacqleene,
I wasn’t thinking about this approach being used necessarily for formal speech lessons. Mainly because, as you pointed out, speech has definite points to learn in how to make a speech effective. I was thinking more in a general sense to help work on things like using words such as “uh” or “whatever.” But like I said, I wouldn’t want it to hamper oral narrations in any way so it may not be the best idea. I’m still thinking on it. 🙂 It might take away from the purpose of narration which is, as you said, making connections with the reading as well as processing the material and gathering one’s thoughts about what was read.Copying and recreating a great speech is a good idea. You could also have her read them and read them aloud, looking for correct pausing, inflection, and eye contact, among other things.
I think I understand better what you are trying to accomplish. I sort of do this with poetry. I always have them read their poetry aloud 2x a week, looking and listening for correct reading and presentation.
Mine have been doing narrating for 3+ yrs. so we don’t have the “uh” and “whatever” problem. For that matter, that doesn’t come out in their speech any other time either when just talking. Anytime it has in the past, they are stopped and required to start over, without those.
Has she just started doing narrations? If so, maybe shorter passages till she grows more confident.
Do you find that she has a bad habit of those ‘fill-ins’ daily, even when she’s not narrating? If so, perhaps tackling it as a habit issue within her general speech may be more productive and not possibly turn her away from the difficult skill of narrating.
Rachel
Rachel,
Yes, she does tend to us “uh” and “whatever” in general talking at times…not all the time though.
She is not new to oral narration as we have been doing that for at least a year.
Maybe it would be more effective to just address those “uh” and “whatever” moments when they occur in general.
The more I think about the idea I presented with the speech and narration, I think it would possibly detract from focusing on narrating what she’s learned.
Thank you all for such great input!
You’re Welcome. I know with some retraining she’ll get rid of that habit. Both of mine tried to start doing that in general, but between my husband and I we were able to nip it. Unfortunately, it’s such a problem across the board in our society.
The lousy speech habit I hear everywhere is “like”, “you know” . Makes me want to pull my hair out!!
Every so often I hear one of my children start to use it frequently and often and I have to address it.Lazy speech is everywhere and it’s contagious-like tuberculosis.
Rachel
BTW, if you were actually looking for a speech program; this is the one I was looking at, the Speak Up! one specifically as an intro.:http://www.tfths.com/speech.php
Thanks for the link Rachel! I briefly checked it out just now and it looks like it would be good. I like the description of the Speak Up! However, I would probably need something on the high school level since my daughter is going into high school. I’ll look more at the site and see what they have to offer. 🙂
Every so often I hear one of my children start to use it frequently and often and I have to address it.Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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