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Uncovering narrations
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In the first volume of Charlotte’s books (I only have the modern English set) #231 she writes:
Narrating, like writing poetry or painting, is an art that’s inherent in the mind of every child. It’s just waiting to be uncovered. The child doesn’t need to go through an educational process to develop it because it’s already there. The child only needs a reason to narrate and he does–easily, generously, with events in the right order, using appropriate illustrative details, with the right choice of words, without flowery wordiness or redundant phrases, as soon as he’s able to speak easily. This amazing ability lies within every child, yet it is rarely tapped into to serve his education.
Is there a way to help a dear child uncover this ability? My 8 year old son, who is very verbal, has the hardest time with narration. I’d say he is almost afraid. On the otherhand, it could be laziness. I sometimes get a sense that it is a dreary thing for him – a task Mom makes me do. Is there anything I can do to make it a natural thing – expressing a sense of wonder? He struggles to give me one sentence. But, he’ll go on and on about discoveries he’s made while exploring outside or playing etc. He’s the child that can’t seem to stop talking outside of when I ask him to narrate so why does he clam up during narration?
Thank you!
Your son IS narrating. All that talking he is doing about discoveries is narration. I suspect that narrating a BOOK feels like work to him, and not like natural talking. Do you think he is paying close attention? Some things that worked for my kids if they started to feel like narrating was a drag were: Wait until later. Try to bring up the topic of the book casually later. Ask him to tell Dad at suppertime about what he read. Try some different forms of narration occasionally–a picture, acting out a story using people or possibly even action figures. We don’t want to fall into the trap of asking lots of questions, but sometimes a “narration-starter” can help. Try asking him about his favorite part of the story, favorite character, or something, very casually. Don’t ask a barrage of questions, just sometimes give him a “place” to get started. Try giving a little bit of a narration yourself–do the first bit yourself, then say “Hmm, then what?” and see what happens.
Oh, a fun thing we just tried. My 9yo gives fairly good narrations, but he has trouble remembering what order things happen in. I tried last week to have him just say to me things that happened and not to worry about the order at first. I wrote down what he said and cut up the paper. THEN he worked on sequencing. It seemed to help him to divide the “what comes next” part from the “come up with the words” part. He really liked it, and I think I’ll try it a couple times a week with him and see if he improves.
Pollysoup,
I don’t know if I’ll be much help, I have all girls schooling. My first boy is only 1:)
Is there something he could do with his hands while narrating to you? Could he narrate while being outside playing? It just seems like boys esp. and even some of my girls need to be doing to help their brain function. Does that make sense? Perhaps he could build with legos or blocks when he gives a narration. Even building to show the narration.
Another thought came to me. My 7 1/2 yr old daughter does not like to “perform” in front of any of her siblings. So I have to get her alone for certain things, and then she’ll open up. She narrates, gives memorization, and reads better without any eyes other than moms around. That is hard with a big family, but I can usually do that for her. Is he afraid/shy to speak and possibly make a mistake.
I once heard Andrew Pudewa speak on boys. He talked about how their brains are made differently than girls (I know, duh); but it was the details that I didn’t know. Temperature of a room can make it hard to think. Boys do better in cooler temps, and girls better in warmer. Boys think when experiencing pain(really) and girls shut down. That is why our boys need to wrestle etc….it stimulates thinking. Boys typically have to be moving. It kills them to sit still.
I hope some of what I’ve mentioned will help. I know, I may have been a bit off topic; but I thought something might help you figure out what to do.
Some different things we do to narrate are: 1)share the narration-(I or a sibling starts, and another sibling finishes) 2)they draw a narration (a favorite here) 3)act out the narration 4) type the narration, or mom starts typing and child finishes 5) draw a comic strip
God Bless. In Christ, Bridget
I think he is paying attention (most of the time). My husband lives in another state and he has read some of the books for us this year and put them on CD. That way he’s a part of our lives day in and day out. My son loves listening to him. He will tell him (very short!!!) about what we’ve read when they talk, if my husband asks. They only talk about once a week though. I’m constantly wondering how I can “draw him out” and help him feel comfortable with narrating that it’s like he’s telling me about a cool find in the backyard. Instead I get the shorthand version of narration, if that.
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