Tracy - these ladies have given excellent counsel already!
In regard to your comment here...
theruffs wrote:... I had heard that stopping throughout the reading will break the flow and make it harder for them to follow...
You are right - stopping throughout the reading does break the flow and make it harder for them to follow. But, if they are not listening and comprehending what you are reading, the flow has been lost already. In this case, building listening skills will build narration skills, and it would make sense then to shorten the section a child is narrating upon accordingly. A good way to do this is to stop at a natural breaking point. So when you can tell the next paragraph of the reading is moving onto a different topic, it works to stop before that paragraph, and encourage a short oral narration on what has been read thus far.
It may be overwhelming for ds to do this for every section, so I'd start by having him be responsible for one of the sections, and I'd model a good narration for the other sections. He can then work up to several sections, and eventually the entire reading selection.
I wanted to share this from another thread I'd responded to, as I thought this may also be helpful...
It is quite common for dc to be able to remember best the last section of what has been read. It helped my ds to give the example of the VCR tape (though maybe now they only know DVD's ). To get back to the beginning, you have to rewind. For an oral narration, you have to rewind in your mind back to the start of the reading too. I tried to show the thinking that goes into this while modeling my narration. I stopped after about a third of the reading and said, "Now, I am asking myself what were the most important parts of what I read so far? Well, it is that Wilbur and Orville Wright owned a print shop and put out a local paper. I'll have to remember that for this finger." (And I held up my index finger to show "1"). Then I read the next third, and said, "Now, I am asking myself what were the most important parts of what I read in this part? Well, it is that Wilbur and Orville Wright opened a bicycle shop, and learned from others that filling the air with tires was a successful way to make bikes more lightweight. I'll have to remember "1" (and I repeated the first part), and now I'll have to remember this for #2." (And I held up two fingers.) Then I read the last third, and said, "Now I am asking myself what were the most important parts of what I read in this last part? Well, it is that Wilbur and Orville Wright became interested in researching flying, and that others had crashed in their gliders. I'll have to remember "1" (and I repeated the first part), and "2" (and I repeated the second part), and now I'll have to remember this for #3". (And I held up 3 fingers.) Then, I said, "Now, it's time for me to share my narration, and I know just what I am going to share". Then, I did my narration, holding up "1" finger as I said the first part with a detail or two, holding up "2" fingers as I said the middle part with a detail or two, and the last part holding up "3" fingers as I said that part with a detail or two. This seemed to really help my dc, and at first they held up their fingers to do this until they began to be able to tell longer oral narrations, and the fingers weren't necessary.
I think it's important to know that they may not perfectly pick the big things that happened at first, and that's alright. The goal is not necessarily a summary narration, but rather a narration that has a good sequence and preferably something from the beginning, middle, and end. What stood out to our dc may (and probably will) be different than what stood out to us. This is the beauty of narration - each person gets to share what struck them the most, and really make the narration their own. Now, if a child shares something like "Katherine likes dolls" for their part of the narration (a part of the Wrights' story, but not an important part, it is helpful to lead dc to more of the main ideas of the story). However, encouragement is the best way we can lead our dc to become good narrators. So, balance the helpful tips with the "way to go's"!
HTH!
In Christ,
Julie
