Narrating with more than one student

Tiffini · Post by **Tiffini** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 7:58 pm

How do you all deal with this? If I read a passage from our history book to three students and then ask for a narration - do you have one at a time go or do you only have one child per day narrate? I am thinking it will take quite a while for me to have all three narrate to me each time - and I would have to have the other two leave the area or they would just copy what the first one said. Hmm... what works best for you?

Post by **Carrie** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:09 pm

Here's a link to a similar thread that may help until the ladies chime in!

Link:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=657

Blessings,
Carrie

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:44 pm

I am not a CM expert at all and this may be off on the gentleness department.

But I tell them they are all responsible for being ready to narrate and sometimes I call on the one who looks like they have it and sometimes I call on the one who looks like they are not paying attention. Keeps them on their toes.

Sometimes I let whoever want to answer answer and if one is not answering then I call on them. Sometimes I have a few narrate just to get a different perspective but I tell them they have to tell about something different than the next. That's what I do and those are just some ideas. But just to let you know I am reading to try to get some of the CM stuff down better. My ideas could be a little off and shall we say not "gentle" enough but it does seem to work.

For my dd that has reading delays I have her read to herself then aloud to me and then narrate it to me. That has been huge for her. Again slightly different but she has special needs and I have learned whatever it takes, whatever works is the way to go for her.

lil' ladies · Post by **lil' ladies** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 4:25 am

I usually ask for one child to tell me what happened in the beginning in the story, one the middle and one the end.

Melanie · Post by **Melanie** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:17 am

I do the same as Annie....ask one child to tell the beginning, next child the middle and then the end. I also tell them to feel free to add anything they wish at the end. However.....

I was just thinking about this last night though (so I thought it was funny to see it on the board this morning

) and I think I'm going to go through my manuel and pencil in each child's name on the different boxes that could be narrated (history and storytime) so that I can be sure I'm "mixing it up". I have one dd who loves to narrate and she will just take over with a word for word replay if given half a chance and my ds is just so short and sweet and to the point that he has a tendency to get overlooked.

So there's something elso for all you gals who write in the book!

Tiffini · Post by **Tiffini** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:52 am

Great ideas! Thanks for the help. I think I will have to work on the gentleness approach, too, rather than calling on the one who is not paying attention!!

Post by **Carrie** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:12 am

water2wine,

I just wanted to pop-in and say that ALL of the things you mentioned go right along with Charlotte-Mason style narrating. She did the same thing.. all were to be prepared to narrate at any given time. She rotated the narrating as well, but did use the colored bean idea I linked, so it seemed more random.

It is also VERY CM to have the child read their books to themselves, as soon as they are able, as this produces better retention and narration (especially for those visual learners who need to see the words rather than just hear them).

The narrating from different perspectives is also very CM. So, you're right on track!

Blessings,
Carrie

Melanie · Post by **Melanie** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:21 am

Here's my favorite "narration" link....enjoy!!

http://home.att.net/~bandcparker/narration.html

Mel

beandip71 · Post by **beandip71** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:29 am

That is a great link Melanie. Thanks!!

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 12:50 pm

Carrie wrote:water2wine,

I just wanted to pop-in and say that ALL of the things you mentioned go right along with Charlotte-Mason style narrating. She did the same thing.. all were to be prepared to narrate at any given time. She rotated the narrating as well, but did use the colored bean idea I linked, so it seemed more random.

It is also VERY CM to have the child read their books to themselves, as soon as they are able, as this produces better retention and narration (especially for those visual learners who need to see the words rather than just hear them).

The narrating from different perspectives is also very CM. So, you're right on track!

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you Carrie for letting me know that.

I honestly did not pick HOD because it was CM at all. I really did not know enough about CM. It all sounded good but it did not really make sense to me to be honest. I just picked it because it matched my values and looked like I could pull it off.

So we are really just flying by the seat of our pants. I have to say though that this CM stuff does seem magical. And though I really do not understand why it works but very happy it does.