Narration Question

Hmm. Is narration fairly new to this child? It may be that she is just needing to skill-build for a while. A page is actually a lot of information to begin with; I begin my littles with a SENTENCE. Then work up to short paragraphs. THEN a page, but often this takes a while. A 9yo might progress through this more quickly than a 6yo, but still, she might need more time.

Another issue–the material you are asking her to narrate. What sort of book is it? I recommend for beginning narrators, simple short stories, like an Aesop’s fable. Something with clear “events” or a clear beginning, middle, end. If you are asking her about a book with more ideas or facts and less events, this may also be part of the difficulty. She may need to work up to that sort of material.

Can she narrate what is read to her orally? Or are you just having her narrate what she reads herself? Again, if she is struggling with the reading herself, I think I’d try switching gears and teaching some narration skills by reading short sections aloud to her. Perhaps she is an auditory learner and needs to begin this way. That doesn’t mean you don’t also expect her to narrate her readings, but build up to it as she gains skills.

OK. One more thing. Narration is a complex thing, and it is not just identifying main ideas or spouting back the facts, although this can be part of it. Narration is a merging of the material and the mind of the child, and what comes out can sometimes be unexpected and not what you “think” it ought to be. I’d really urge patience with this, and use the skill-building ideas and give it some time. Modeling a good narration occasionally might help, but you don’t really want her to narrate like YOU, you want her to narrate like HER. This might not end up like you expect. 🙂 Now, you want this ability to build and progress, so that when she is in college, she doesn’t make up a story about her history book during an essay exam. 🙂 It might be perfectly OK for her to mention things she thinks OUGHT to be in the book that aren’t. And I wouldn’t expect all the “main ideas” or facts to come out. I think in this child’s case, in the beginning, I’d be glad for anything I got that WAS in the reading, and then praise that, and don’t mention the “flights of imagination” unless they are really impressive. 🙂 Over time, she’ll improve in this. Some material can be tough to narrate. I often ask my youngest, who is now 8 and who has had an interesting path to narration, including making up his own stories as we went, 🙂 to come prepared to talk to me about his ONE favorite thing in his reading. When we were beginning a year and a half ago with an Aesop’s fable, I was delighted at first if he could tell me what animals were in the story. LOL But he did grow in ability.

I think note taking is an important skill. However, it is a different skill than narration. If you want her to narrate, I think writing lots and lots of notes may not be helpful. Exception: a difficult name or place. I often let my kids write that down, or else they would tell me about “this guy whose name started with an A but I can’t remember it exactly” 🙂 Ideally what you want is her attention to what she has just read to increase and her memory of what it was to increase also. And it will. Shorten what she is expected to narrate until she can do that well, then work up. Think of it like running–you wouldn’t expect your child to be able to run a mile at first. You’d start much shorter until he did well at a shorter distance. Then he’d increase until he was running a mile.

Also, if you shorten the reading time for narration, she may get very frustrated if you give her a paragraph, she reads and narrates, you give another paragraph, repeat, repeat, repeat. I’d do it a few times, then move on to something else, and perhaps let her read the rest and just tell you her favorite thing or part.

Hang in there. This isn’t a skill everyone is born with, but it is one of the most important foundations you can lay.