"Narration is considered the sum total of Charlotte Mason's philosophy and practice of education" (p.128).
When I first began to explore Charlotte Mason's philosophy, narration was the first thing that struck me. I was intrigued, and also, honestly, a bit scared. On paper, I agreed that children who listen and read carefully should be able to tell back in detail what they just learned. But....would that happen in reality? How could I really know they were learning if we just read and narrated all day?
Maryellen St. Cyr lays out the details on narration in this short section, and also includes some testimony from teachers who have given narration a try in their classrooms. First, narration is retelling and not memorizing and parroting back. The student must pay very close attention on the first read or listen, and then, in his own voice, tell back what he heard and learned. Detail is encouraged, are feelings and reactions. The teacher and other students must respectfully listen and not interrupt. If the student has misheard or remembered something, the teacher can gently correct, or ask the others if they have anything to add.
There are myriad benefits to narration: gives the learner an active role to play, it exercises the mind and provides wonderful food for its growth, it gives plenty of detailed evidence of the student's learning, and it encourages the relationships students have with the author and the text. We are trying to educate with ideas, not information, and we tend to remember the ideas we have intimate connections with, the ones we have worked through and put in our own, accurate words.
There are some wonderful questions for prompting narration in this section as well, but they are mostly geared towards older kids.
As a side note, my big girl had her first day of Kindergarten at home with Mama today, and we began Charlotte's Web. We read one chapter, and my little guy, who is three, joined us, too. Much later in the day, we retold the chapter to Daddy, and I was completely surprised by what the kids remembered. I thought the 5 year old would be able to recall quite a bit, but even Little Man was able to narrate back lots of details, and he was quite wiggly during reading! So, even the tiny ones can absorb and narrate, though I'm not requiring this of either of them, of course, at this young age. It was just an informal thing, but quite telling, especially as it speaks to my initial fears about narration.
When I first began to explore Charlotte Mason's philosophy, narration was the first thing that struck me. I was intrigued, and also, honestly, a bit scared. On paper, I agreed that children who listen and read carefully should be able to tell back in detail what they just learned. But....would that happen in reality? How could I really know they were learning if we just read and narrated all day?
Maryellen St. Cyr lays out the details on narration in this short section, and also includes some testimony from teachers who have given narration a try in their classrooms. First, narration is retelling and not memorizing and parroting back. The student must pay very close attention on the first read or listen, and then, in his own voice, tell back what he heard and learned. Detail is encouraged, are feelings and reactions. The teacher and other students must respectfully listen and not interrupt. If the student has misheard or remembered something, the teacher can gently correct, or ask the others if they have anything to add.
There are myriad benefits to narration: gives the learner an active role to play, it exercises the mind and provides wonderful food for its growth, it gives plenty of detailed evidence of the student's learning, and it encourages the relationships students have with the author and the text. We are trying to educate with ideas, not information, and we tend to remember the ideas we have intimate connections with, the ones we have worked through and put in our own, accurate words.
There are some wonderful questions for prompting narration in this section as well, but they are mostly geared towards older kids.
As a side note, my big girl had her first day of Kindergarten at home with Mama today, and we began Charlotte's Web. We read one chapter, and my little guy, who is three, joined us, too. Much later in the day, we retold the chapter to Daddy, and I was completely surprised by what the kids remembered. I thought the 5 year old would be able to recall quite a bit, but even Little Man was able to narrate back lots of details, and he was quite wiggly during reading! So, even the tiny ones can absorb and narrate, though I'm not requiring this of either of them, of course, at this young age. It was just an informal thing, but quite telling, especially as it speaks to my initial fears about narration.
