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Can narration drive you crazy sometimes??
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So I have this ds (9) who likes to narrate, well, I can call it narration but sometimes it’s more of a word for word from the chap. Sometimes his narrations are really a retelling in his own words, other times, like today, I notice that he is telling me back the chap. with all the dialogue that goes with it. I’m not in the mood today to type all of his retelling and have asked him to finish it himself. He wasn’t too happy about that, he says he likes the typed versions (I don’t do the typing thing all the time, btw). He is very creative and verbal (unlike his older brother), but sometimes it’s just too much and then he gets his feelings hurt when you don’t want to listen to aaalllll of the narration/story, etc.
I try to remind him of what a retelling is, but he just can’t stop all the “telling”. When I ask for a condensed version he acts like I am just not “letting him be himself”. The funny thing is, I think the condensed version is actually a true narration and his version is a parroting of the text. Does that make sense?? Am I squelching him?? We had to take a break on his “retelling” and we’ll go back to it later. I did suggest him finishing it, but I think he knows that his writing is not as fast as my typing so he may miss something since his writing can’t keep up with his thoughts.
This usually happens with his literature (he’s reading The Land of Oz) and sometimes history. This narration could turn out to be 2 full typed pages from a 3-4 page chapter.
Help!! What am I doing wrong?? He is very sensitive about his creations (has to describe in much detail), unlike his brothers.
On the other hand, his older br. (13) could use help in drawing out his narrations (especially written). I guess you could say that both boys are comfortable with the oral part, but getting this on paper is proving to be a challenge. Maybe it depends on the day and our moods.
Thanks for reading my ramblings and any help would be helpful.
It sounds like your son has a great capacity to remember details and dialogue. He obviously has no problem paying attention. I can see it’s frustrating for you to have to listen to the entire thing over again, but I don’t think what he’s giving you is not narration. You are looking for a concise summary. You are frustrating each other, so I think it’s time for a new approach. Here are some thoughts:
1) Does he remember as much detail a day after he has read the passage? Would delaying narration give you a better sense of what he really remembers?
2) What are you actually asking him to tell you? If you are saying “retell” or “tell me everything you know”, well, that’s what you are getting. Maybe try some of the alternate narration suggestions (look for the SCM post or the recent Narration Jar thread). You know he paid attention to what he was reading, so the question now is, what can he do with it? Ask him to compare characters? What he would have done differently than a character in your read aloud? What are five questions he would like to ask a character or five questions he would ask if giving someone a quiz on the material? There are tons of options and looking at the narration lists will help give you some great ideas. This is where you get to find out what he really thinks about what’s going on in the book and how he can relate it to his own life experience, not just that he paid attention and can give you an instant replay.
My son loves the one where you ask the child to design an amuzement park based on the novel (adventure novels are great for this). It’s a really good one towards the end of a book. He really lets his imagination soar then.
My oldest is this way. I only want details on things like history or science readings. Any literature I sometimes have him give me a paragraph (orally, hold up a finger per sentence), which is much harder for him to do. 😉
That is a good one for history and science reading — just five sentences (or whatever is appropriate).
Ah, that is good info, thanks.
Yes, when asked to tell what he can remember, it is everything (especially lit. books or history). This is the ds that draws each character (during or after reading the book), draws maps, tells you what he would do differently if he was the author, reads the chapter order (over and over, gets that from his mom), creates voices for each character (you should’ve heard Dorothy’s :), compares the movie version and has to tell you over and over the differences…I’m LOL while I type this, he’s so much like me…..haha. Poor kid. He has a need (like me) to memorize certain things (he’d like to have the order of our President’s memorized) and reading the back of the book to see if the description matches how the story is unfolding (drives me crazy if it doesn’t sound like how the book reads).
I agree that a delayed narration may be needed and I think he would love to pull a narration idea out of a jar/hat. He would think that would be sooo much fun, and in turn, narrow it down a bit for me.
Thanks so much for the help. This area sometimes feels like we are “two steps forward, one step back” but I feel I have a better plan.
Be thankful you get a lot out of him. I got this narration the other day, “It was a dumb book about a stupid horse that went to war and stuff happened and then he went home.”
Yeah, we need to work on that.
LOL.
And, I do feel better. Sometimes just typing out what is going on and getting some feedback can give you a new perspective or at least help you feel you are on the right track.
Thanks….now off to print out some narration ideas.
@crazy4boys – I laughed so hard over your narration that I got tears in my eyes. Those are exactly the words I get when someone is NOT in the mood to give me a narration! That doesn’t help you – but it sure made me feel better (the laughing part). I need a nap, being tired makes me silly.
There were so many ideas in that narration thread – I’d bet you and your son would be relieved to try something different. I am going to use it too, as my dd goes on at length as well.
Crazy4boys – I am cracking up over that narration! My ds gets like that sometimes. My dd does the parroting word for word thing. It drives her brother crazy. She’s only 5 and it infuriates him how she can remember every minute detail. I am like that too. I think it’s a visual-print learning thing. She doesn’t forget it either. She begged for a journal for her narrations and I got so tired of writing hers out I hid the journals lol!
Tara
@crazy4boys, I too laugh till I cried and am trying not to draw attention to myself!
@my3boys: my son (11) is like this as well. Your description of your son reminds me of mine. He makes voices and acts things out, doens’t care to draw, but loves his maps (his favorite present last year was hi Atlas of Middle Earth) and reads the prologues; he also breaks down differences between books and movie versions. His attention to detail is amazing and it does get wearisome. I haven’t tried to restrain it, too much; except I do get to a point, when the “school day” is over (as in at 7:30 at night and I’m tired) I have to say please, no more about that today, I can’t listen anymore.
I have tried to keep it succinct by asking specific questions.
My dd is capable of doing the same thing, though not as often during the day. My son is so verbal and he tells me most of what comes into his mind.
Here’s just a little something you could do if you need a day off from listening to your child’s wonderfully detailed narration:
Buy a small handheld voice recorder (I bought one from Amazon) and have him narrate by himself. You can listen to it later (and even fast forward on the long parts LOL!!)
Of course I don’t recommend this for regular use, but just whenever your mommy ears need a rest. 🙂
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