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More challenging written narration
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I have just a quick minute to post this before I forget…
Both of my children (ds10 and dd9) have really grasped the concept of written narration. They each do a great job with retelling what they’ve read. Some days narrations are longer than others, but almost always, they are able to write clear and concise narrations with good details. I’m wondering what comes next?
Surely there must be some way to give them a challenge. I know that comparing/contrasting is one way to go about it, but I’m wondering what other ways you have used to challenge your children with their written narrations.
Thanks,
Lindsey
Hi Lindsey,
Have you seen the narration bookmarks?
http://simplycharlottemason.com/store/narration-bookmarks/
They might give you a jumping off point for stretching your kids in different directions while they are writing.
There was a thread recently that spoke of high school writing prompts, I think. That mat give you some ideas. (BY THE WAY, I may be the one who started it =)
If you don’t find it, I’ll try to find it for you.
I have two strategies when I want to “push for more” on written narrations. One is to increase the amount of content for narration. i.e. Where I usually have DS provide a written narration for one chapter, when I can see that we’re in a book where one chapter is very easy for him, I’ll increase the amount of material to 2 or 3 chapters. In fact, given that chapter lengths are so variable I’ll often base it on time. i.e. instead of narrating after 10-15 minutes of reading, we’ll push it to 20 minutes worth of reading. That’s usually a LOT of content. I make sure I’ve read the portion of what he’s narrating so I can clearly see whether he’s leaving out too much, or whether he’s leaving out any truly key events to plot or character development.
Sometimes, the discussions we have on the chapter(s) AFTER he’s completed the written narration are the best learning, and it’s especially the case when my own reading of the chapter or book was very recent. We’ll talk about what events/characters he enjoyed most in the chapter, or what moved him deeply (typcially this is everything he included in his narration). Then, I’ll ask him whether such-and-such an event/character was also memorable for him, or what did he think of such-and-such (something he left out of his narration). If whatever example I’m citing gets a thumbs down from him, we’ll chat about that a bit. I find it fascinating to find out why/how an event/character is worthy of inclusion in a written narration. It’s actually great fun, and gives me amazing insight into how he forms opinions and makes decisions on his content! Sometimes after our discussion, he’ll take it upon himself to add/change his written narration. I don’t make this a requirement, but I like that he is open to wanting to do more with what he started.
My second strategy when I see that written narrations are a breeze is to change the book/reading level. My DS (finishing 5th grade next month, but reads at a 7th grade level based on assessments) can provide written narrations on his 5th grade reading assignments with total ease, but when I push him to try a written narration on a higher level book, I can see that he’s putting a completely different level of thought into it.
HTH, this is just our experience!
Angie
Angie,
My kids are reading at an appropriate level, I think. They both read well above grade level. Ds10 can read and comprehend up to 9th grade; dd9 is right around 7th-8th grade. My struggle is with moving past just the re-telling. Narration is re-telling; I get that, the kids get that. But I want to see if I can push them to read more into it–getting into feelings, heroes, injustices they see, good deeds they admire, etc. I’m sure this comes with maturity. The kinds of conversations you’re having with your ds is exactly what I want to prompt in my children’s written narrations. I haven’t read all their books myself, nor do I have the time to pre-read everything before I assign it to them. The ones I have read I try to have those conversations, but I have yet to have a child want to go back and revise a narration. LOL
http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/hs-world-history-still-undecided
This thread has links to narration prompts. Scroll down to find Bloom’s link….that’s the first of many. I need to print some of these myself.
Hope this helps.
Another idea, http://centerforlit.com
I’ve just ordered, so I’m not terribly familiar.
I found very interesting the Afterthoughts blog series on adapting the “progymnasmata” to Charlotte Mason’s principles: “CM-ing the Progymn.” (The progymnasta was a series of ancient classical writing exercises “structured so that the student moved from strict imitation to a more artistic melding of the often disparate concerns of speaker, subject, and audience.”) It seems like an interesting and challenging way to move from mere retelling to working more ceatively with the material in order to make new connections and improve ability to communicate.
I was going to suggest Center for Lit’s Teaching the Classics too. I attended several of his.workshops at convention last month, he offers several.free.audios.on his site, and I am partway into TTC.
We have a narration ideas page with more suggestions.
I like to ask for how they feel someone’s character changes in the story or some other question similar to that. I also have them tell me why they see it that way. I’d love it if they just wanted to look deeply (for narration purposes) without my asking, but it works out for me to ask them to think about it–especially if we haven’t had a natural conversation about it already.
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