The other day I was reading Narration – Getting Started over at Higher Up and Further In. I’ve always liked the idea behind narration and how it works. But I have found myself not doing it quite correctly. I will repeat things for fear that she won’t get all the informaiton that she needs to (at 6-years-old – how silly is that?!). So, I came across this in the post I reference earlier:
Don’t read a passage more than once, no matter how badly it has been narrated. It is permissible to ask, e.g., ‘Don’t you remember the bit about the horses?’ If the children say ‘No’ the proper response is: ‘What a pity! Now you will never know that bit. You must listen better next time.’ The children will miss something, but they will have learnt a lesson in concentration.
So on Thursday we were reading The Child’s Story Bible and each chapter (usually) is divided up into 2 sections. I read one section, ask for a narration and then move on to the next section. But I’m usually really bad about repeating or rereading. Not that day. I asked her, “Don’t you remember ________?” and she said, “No.” So I then said, “What a pity. Now you will never know that part. Let’s move on.” She was shocked. And guess what? When we read the next section her narration was pretty complete! She realizedthat I wasn’t going to repeat it and paid close attention to the next section. I was surprised as well. But it worked!
If you want to learn more about narration, you can read some posts on Higher Up & Further In here.
