13 year old-need suggestions for narration

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  • November 18, 2015 at 3:19 pm
    pjssully
    Participant

    Hi,

    I have a 13 year old boy that seems to be struggling with narrations.  We have been doing narrations off and on since he was 9 or 10.  He now does written narration and prefers these.  However, he really struggles with getting details down-or even saying details in oral narrations.  He gets the main action/point of what he is narrating but seems to leave out so much!  He brother, same age, consistently does twice as much!  I have had them adding in an introduction for the written narration, and he is o.k. there, but the entire narration is 1 paragraph for about 8-10 pages of reading.

    How do I help him develop the skill of remember more details??  I am really lost on this one since all three of my other kids just “got it”

    Thanks for any suggestions!

    pj

    November 18, 2015 at 3:26 pm
    Tristan
    Participant

    It sounds to me like he is reading too much at one time before narrating.  Yes, kids develop differently.  If I were to guess, he reads quickly or skims and so details don’t ‘stick’ for him, just the overall picture of what happened.  Again, everyone is different, so this isn’t wrong, just not what you would like to happen at this stage.

    What to try – have him write or orally narrate after every page or 2.  He can even keep adding to the written narration so it ends up longer overall.  Meaning he reads the first two pages and writes the narration. Reads the next two pages and adds to the same narration what has now been covered.  Read the next two pages and add to the written narration.  You get the idea, I’m sure!  Is this what you want him to do always and forever?  No, but it may be a way to get him to slow down and notice the difference between his narrations after reading the whole selection at once vs. the details he finds when he slows down to narrate after every two pages.

    November 18, 2015 at 3:37 pm
    Melanie32
    Participant

    When my daughter turned 12, I had a talk with her about paying more attention to exact places, names, dates, etc. as she reads so that she can include some of these facts in her written narrations so that she can better retain them in the long run. I also allow her to take keep the book she is narrating from beside her so that she can look back for exact details (like dates and spellings) to include in her written narrations. They have improved dramatically over the past year.

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