Narrating

[titus2]

Sorry for all the questions lately. My ds is10 and in bigger. I found he wasn't understanding what he was reading for history so I decided to read 1 paragraph and have him narrate that but he still has problems doing it that way. I thought about placing him in beyond but he is 10 any suggestions?

[mom23]

We got over a big hump in narrating at our house when I spent a few weeks modeling narration for my dd. Before that she was so frustrated with it, I think just not really understanding how to take those more difficult readings and pick out what was important. She would spend the time I was reading aloud worrying about the narration to come, rather than listening to what was being read .

What we did for a few weeks (although I was prepared to do it several months if it would help her!) I read the reading and then handed her the manual. She got to play teacher and ask me to do whatever narration or questions were required. It was a fun game for her, and she was listening to the readings again to see if I was right in my answer, and then before she knew it, she was listening because she was interested in them. We gradually transitioned back to having her do the narrations required, but now she knows that if she's stumped I'll help her out instead of being mad at her for not listening... .

I don't think that going back to Beyond will help you. It just doesn't have the narration practice that Bigger does. It's a tough thing for some kids to get (it's a tough thing for me to get, for that matter!) When I was struggling with this and someone suggested modeling it for as long as she needed, they pointed out that in a public school a kid is not required to answer each and every question the teacher asks. They have the benifit of listening to other kids model whatever the teacher wants, before raising their own hands to give it a shot when they feel ready to give it a go. I made the mistake of seeing it as a stubbornness, or a laziness in my dd, rather than realizing that she just really didn't know what I was asking for. Things got much better around here when I took the pressure off her and she felt able to listen and enjoy without the stress of the argument that was sure to come.

[LynnH]

Narrating is most definitely a skill that has to be learned. I am finding with my ds as he moves up in guides we hit bumps with narration in the beginning as he gets used to the harder books. I would go ahead and read him the reading in Bigger. I know he is 10 and technically he could read it on his own, but the guide is written for you to do the reading. Also like the pp said you can model the narration. Make sure to emphasize to him that there isn't a right or wrong answer. Everyone is going to pick out something different to emphasize when they narrate. Once my ds figured that out it was freeing to him. I think he was afraid to narrate for fear of doing it "wrong". Another thing that helped my ds was to have him stand up and act it out as he narrated. We will still do this if he seems to be struggling. I think as moms the struggle is to expect them to do get it right away, but really I think it can take years to perfect narration. It really is a process. I wouldn't move him back to Beyond, unless he is struggling in other areas.