Narration for Every Child: Know and Tell

Know and Tell: The Art of Narration

by Karen Glass

Anyone who wants to understand and follow Charlotte Mason's philosophy in education today, in a home or in a school, should read this book. I selected it for our book club a few months ago and read it over a few days myself. Three friends have already borrowed and read it as well.

It begins with an explanation of what narration is and how the practice integrates ideas and knowledge in a mind. She quotes Charlotte Mason extensively, but a reader would need no prior introduction to Ms. Mason to appreciate and understand the author's assertions.

To make an art of narration, we begin with children's natural interest and ability to tell about something. We accustom them to tell accurately, consecutively, and fully. In due time, we encourage them to write narrations. They begin by learning to write the same thing they would have said in an oral narration, and when that becomes natural, we teach them to take what they have written and shape it into familiar forms of writing, such as essay.

Ms. Glass explains the difference between narration and the kind of assessment we find in many classrooms today.

The usual kind of test with predetermined right and wrong answers is essentially contrived to discover what children do not know, rather than what they do. 

Rather than asking children to figure out what someone else (a teacher or textbook publisher) thinks is important in a text, narration requires a student to read, comprehend, and incorporate knowledge into their own understanding of a book or text. It is deceptively simplistic to ask a child, "Tell me what you remember about this reading." In reality, it is incredibly challenging and rewarding.

I've been reading and living the Charlotte Mason philosophy, at least in part, for almost a decade. There was not very much in the early chapters that I had not already read or learned, but I have never had a source in my hands that outlined everything as clearly and thoroughly as this book. A newcomer to Mason's methods will glean from these chapters a rich understanding of narration in its ideal form.

In later chapters, Karen Glass provides examples and explanations of exactly how to implement the methods of narration from the youngest children to the most experienced in high school and college.

The examples are taken from real narrations by real children. Some of them are magnificent, but some of them are much less impressive. I have had children give what can only be described as "abysmal" narrations; including the struggling narrators in the examples is a great asset to teachers whose children are early in the journey or struggling narrators.

Consistently requiring narration is difficult, but essential. Reading or listening alone is only the beginning. The narration is the work of learning.

It may be difficult to accept at first, but what a child recalls in any single narration is of small importance in the greater scheme of nourishing the child's mind...What a child takes in and makes her own will be unique for each one.

There's an excellent graphic on page 85 that shows a spectrum of the skills of oral and written narrations aligned with fourth through seventh grades, providing a clear picture of the expectations a teacher should have and the goals as children perfect their narration gradually over the years. Ms. Glass even provides word counts, which help immensely when trying to determine a long-term goal for a student in a years-long process.

There are also specific chapters in the book addressing beginning narration with older children, narration and special needs, and narration in a classroom.

After reading this book, I intend to adjust our homeschool narrations. First of all, we're going to add exams. (I actually added a few at the end of the year last year.) Ms. Glass explains that narrations are for the child, not the instructor, and therefore can be great advantage in learning.

[The] real value lies in the children's mental effort to think back and relate again the material they have learned. It is the process, not the product, that is most valuable, although the product--the collected narrations of a child who has attended to his work--can be impressive.

There's also another wonderful resource in the book: a table a student can use to record briefly what happens in each chapter of a book as he or she reads in, providing the scaffolding for a longer narration at the end and guiding a thoughtful understanding of the basic events in the book. I intend to use this chart for the books I ask my children to read that are more challenging or thought-provoking but from which I don't require regular narrations.

On page 100, Ms. Glass has written a note to students, explaining narration and how integral it is. I intend to copy this and share it with all my students next year. There's another such explanation on page 127 on introductions and conclusions. My daughter may be ready for this page sometime in the coming year, but I intend to share it with my high schooler at the beginning of the year.

I have a commonplace book and my children receive two books at the beginning of sixth grade, one for copying poetry and one for prose. (They decide which book is which and whether a quote is poetry or prose.) I'm not sure I've every really explained the purpose of the books, though, other than to say it's for copying quotes of things they like, so we're going to talk about that as well.

Encourage your students to appreciate a well-written sentence as they would appreciate the brushwork of a fine painting or the enchanting flourish of a musical composition.

Over the page few years, I've used a variety of writing and composition programs and resources. With this book in hand, I feel much more confident in my ability to guide my children as they read and narrate and write and I feel more confidence in their abilities as well. The chapter entitled "Becoming a Writer" is going to be the backbone of our writing curriculum from now on and will be mainly implemented in the high school years. I'm certain I'll struggle as we make this adjustment, but Karen Glass has outlined a simple but profound plan that covers everything we need.

I will be returning to the processes and strategies outlined in Know and Tell for years to come. I recommend it to anyone and everyone interested in Charlotte Mason's ideas and philosophy and I'm sure you'll see me repeatedly refer to it in the Mater Amabilis™ facebook discussions.

I purchased this book myself and have received nothing in exchange for this review. The link to Bookshop is an affiliate link.

School Week Highlights: Week 2

The highlights of our second week of school, because we're trying to focus on the positive, the learning that's happening instead of the book-reading that might not be happening...

1. First Daughter had her first band class last week! She's learning the saxophone, because my aunt had one we could use and First Daughter is a good sport about that. I should really have a picture of her with it, She's practiced diligently every day despite her siblings' groans.

2. Second Daughter created a paper dog for a project in her art book (Artistic Pursuits K-3 Book One). She gifted it to Second Son and the proceeded to create a menagerie (and accessories like a Santa hat for the puppy shown below) by cutting up all our construction paper and leaving bits of paper all over the living room floor. They did eventually pick all the mess up.

3. First Daughter had her first meeting with a family from our parish for whom she will be a mother's helper this year. She loves children and helping around the house and I love being able to share her with those who have more children than hands and need a bit of breathing space. They seem like a lovely family and hopefully they will find joy in being together.

4. First Son has his first PSR class. They meet on Wednesday nights, beginning with dinner together. We also have dinner as a family before he goes, so he has "second dinner" there. Sometimes "third dinner," too, if any of his friends isn't particularly hungry. He loves this time with his friends each week.

5. All the children joined me for my dentist visit this week. First Son stayed in the waiting room and focused on some lessons he brought. No cavities for me! Yay! Then we went to the zoo for nature study. First Daughter and Second Daughter are both studying Africa this term, so we visited lions and meerkats and gorillas. We were able to see the lion close-up and both daughters sketched wonderful pictures. (First Son sketched a lion, but he's more interested in finishing than artistic flourishes.)

6. Second Daughter wrote an amazing narration of her catechism reading this week. She's reading The Mass Explained to Children by Maria Montessori because I have a lovely copy I picked up at a library sale. (We used to read Faith and Life but our parish did that with them, so I dropped it. Now they've just started using the new Sophia program but I sold all our books so...not going back.) Second Daughter has no assigned written narrations, but she often decides she prefers to write a narration than wait for me to have a minute to listen to her orally narrate. I have never had a child do this before, but I like it!

It's probably hard to read, so I'll type it here, just as she's written it:

When you go to mas you go inside a bilding. the bilding is called the church. once you are inside the church you will see lots and lots of benches. the benches are called puoes. you walk down a alise and kneel down on one knee and make the sign of the cross. this is called genuflecting and you do it to show respet to God. after you genuflect you go into a puoe. then you kneel down on a cushon. the cushon is called a kneeler. it is there so your knees will not hurt after you kneel becuse God dose not whant you to be uncomfertible. and you look at the alter. the alter is a table at the Front of the church. but it is not a ordinary table it is speshal becuse Jesus is on that table after every mas.

7. First Daughter made a delicious chocolate angel food cake for the Feast of the Nativity of Mary on Friday. (recipe from Marian Devotions in the Domestic Church)

8. We ate the delicious angel food cake as we settled at the park to watch a free outdoor production of Twelfth Night, from which the children have memorized many passages with How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare. We couldn't always hear everything and it's a shame there aren't more men in our area interested in performing Shakespeare (necessitating casting women in important male roles), but live Shakespeare is always a treat. Sir Toby was magnificently played.

9. Not a school highlight, exactly, but Second Son and I went on his outing on Saturday. This was an outing I'd promised we'd do as soon as the play ended...(cough) on April 1st. We had lunch, frozen custard, visited the science museum, saw a movie there (which we never do with all the kids), got something at the snack bar (which we never do), played at the park, and I let him pick a book at the used book store. He focused his energy at the park on the funky monkey bars (set at odd angles) and succeeded! An afternoon well-spent!

Second Daughter and the Gettysburg Address

Second Daughter was begging to do a written narration and I finally relented. I didn't realize she intended to use the laptop to type it up so I think it was a play for more screen time rather than an actual desire to write.

Nevertheless, she wrote an adequate paragraph for a second grader.

A, Lincoln was a busy man. He had lots of things to do. There were lots of people who wanted to shake hands with him. And there were also lots of people who had problems. Tad was his son. at least that was his nickname. it was war time and he had to make a speech for the dead soldiers. he did.

First Daughter's Narration of Theseus Versus the Bad Guys

Overall, it was not a banner day here on the Range. The low point was an accident which involved a girl sitting down with roller skates that then flew up into the air and smacked Second Son in the face, right on the lip line. Due to a combination of factors, we couldn't get him from one parent to the other and to the doctor, so my generous mother-in-law met me to pick him up and drive him to Kansas Dad who took him in for his single stitch. Yay - first stitches in the family! (First Daughter had her head stapled, but no stitches.) Sigh. I suppose it was bound to happen sometime.

There were other less-low points, but there was one highlight: First Daughter gave a heartening narration of The Story of Theseus, part one (from Classic Myths to Read Aloud).

There was a guy who was a king and he was very young so he found more fun in going around his country than ruling it. Then he met a beautiful lady who he married. He left their tiny son one day to go back to his own kingdom but before he did that he left his golden sandals and sword under a boulder and he said to his wife that when his son was strong enough to lift the boulder he would take the sword and the sandals to his father in his castle. He grew up very strong, the boy, and one day he did lift the boulder. Then he left his mother. He decided to go the long dangerous way to Athens where his father ruled. He met one robber who liked to kill people by throwing them down a cliff where a giant tortoise would eat them. He took the robber and threw him down the pit so that he would die just as many others had as a tortoise’s meal. There was this other robber he met who liked to torture people by putting them in one spot, taking two giant tree branches from either side, tying them to the person, and then letting the branches go so they would be torn apart. When Theseus found out about this, he took the bad guy and he tied the two tree branches to him so he was torn apart. Nobody else would get torn apart in that place, Theseus felt sure of it. He went on his way for a little while. Then he met a man who was trying to collect some firewood. Nobody else would help him, but when he saw him, he helped carry his load. When he had helped him, the old man asked where he was headed. He told him he was headed toward his father’s palace. The old man begged him not to go because there was a bad guy who liked to claim that he had a bed that would fit all sizes and he would rest people there for the night. It would fit all sizes because when you laid down on it, if you were too tall he would cut off your feet but if you were too short he would stretch you. So if you went into his house, you would die. If you were just the right size, he would kill you anyway. He met this bad guy on the road and he invited him to come to his house. Then Theseus said “And do you happen to have a special bed that would fit me?” The bad guy looked worried because he could not catch Theseus on surprise. Then he drew his sword but Theseus used his strong arms (did I mention he was very strong?) to squeeze the life out of that guy. Then he went into his home and found great treasures stolen from the people. Then he called all the people from the country around and divided the treasure between them. The people were delighted because it’s not every day a stranger gives you treasure. Then he went on his way. When he finally came to the palace, he saw a bunch of boys feasting, weird people. He figured out that they were the king’s nephews and that when he died one of them would succeed to the throne because the king had no sons (which by the way is not true). He jumped up onto the table and said, “I am Theseus and I demand an audience with the king.” Because he had killed so many robbers that everyone knew him. His fame had gotten to the castle in much shorter time than he had. The king did not know him until he knelt before the king and handed out the king’s golden sandals and the sword and said "You left me these under a boulder long ago.” The king cried because he realized it was his son and the prince cried (now finally I can call him prince, not Theseus). He met his father and they lived happily for now.

She wanted to say they lived happily ever after, but then remembered there is a part two, so she decided to leave the ending less final.

First Son's Narration: The Riddle of the Sphinx

There once was a king and queen that really wanted a son and at last the queen gave birth to a baby boy. Then when the king brought his son to the temple of Apollo, the priest there said that he would kill his father and have his father’s queen for his wife. Then when the king heard this, he ordered one of his servant’s to kill his son, but when the servant got where he planned to kill him, he pierced his ankles and hung him up on a tree.

A shepherd came and found him and then he went to the city where he came from and gave him to the king and queen of that city. Then he grew up to be a good sports player, racing and boxing and wrestling. When he went to a temple to pray, the priestess there said that he would kill his father and take his father’s queen for his wife, just as his real father heard when he was just an infant.

Then he ran away through the city, tried to escape. He saw a chariot coming. The rider on top said “Get out of the way and let me pass.” And when he would not pass the servant tried to whip him, but the prince was too fast. He grabbed the whip, struck the servant dead and also knocked the man off the chariot and his head landed on a rock and then he died. Little did the prince know that this man was his real father.

Then he heard of a giant monster called the Sphinx which had the wings of an eagle, the head of a woman, and the body of a lion. Then he dared to go and try to answer its daring riddle. He solved it. Then the Sphinx went out of the city, cawing and flapping, cawing and flapping. And then he returned to the city and had a queen for his bride. Little did he know that this was his real mother, the second part of the prophecy.

Then a giant plague ran through the city which he was in. He sent messengers to go to the temple, to go into the hills, and see what they wanted them to do before the plague stopped. Then when all the other people didn’t know who, there was an old blind man who knew. Then the king said it wasn’t true. Then suddenly the story of his life unraveled and the truth came crashing down on him. And then he stabbed his own eyes to blindness. Then everyone started robbing from him. All he did was stumble and beg through all the streets. Only his own daughter cared about him. He drifted away in peace.

 -- narrated by First Son today (in third grade) after a reading of the myth in Classic Myths to Read Aloud

I resolve to read this post every time I despair of First Son's ability to narrate.

What Is a Complete Sentence?

Narrations should be done in complete sentences. Questions should be answered in complete sentences. This seems like a simple requirement, but I found myself struggling to explain to First Son exactly what makes a stream of works a complete sentence rather than an incomplete one. He would consistently answer my questions starting with something like "so that..." or "fighting..." or "loving God..." (the last is his standard answer for why someone is a saint). In the beginning, when I prompted him to respond in a complete sentence, he would often look at me in dismay.

I finally resorted to examples:

"St. George fought the dragon."
"fought the dragon"

Eventually, First Son seemed to pick up on the idea and could consistently correct his phrases when I pointed out they were incomplete.

I was delighted to discover what is likely the answer to my problem in Charlotte Mason's Towards A Philosophy of Education. I imagine this particular idea is addressed in lots of other books about Charlotte Mason's methods, but somehow I missed it.

Every sentence has two parts, (1), the thing we speak of, and (2), what we say about it.

The first part of a sentence, of course, is the subject. 

How simple it would have been to say to First Son, "Who or what are you speaking about?"

Now that I think about it, I'm sure I will be saying that to him in the future.

Homeschool Review: Writing with Ease, Year One

Writing with Ease: Strong Fundamentals by Susan Wise Bauer

This book provides a four year course (generally for first grade through fourth grade) in writing skills. It's a well-constructed hardcover nonconsumable book that may be used in conjunction with four workbooks (one for each year). I remember being a bit dismayed at the initial cost, but it is a book that will be used for the entire family, four years for each child.

Last year, when First Son was in first grade, I attempted to implement writing preparation beginning with dictation and copywork. To be blunt, it was a complete disaster. We kept up the copywork a little, but I eventually gave up on dictation entirely.

This book would have made all the difference. I purchased it last summer and began the Year One exercises in second grade. After the first term, I sped up our work a little because I saw such enormous progress in First Son's abilities. We recently completed Year One and have begun Year Two exercises for our last term of second grade.

Ms. Bauer (famous for The Story of the World and The Well-Trained Mind) has outlined a course of study that begins with the most basic skills, guiding students as they learn to recognize the main points of a reading and formulate those thoughts into their own words (narration) as separate from the physical act of writing their own thoughts (both moving the hand and learning proper punctuation and grammar).

In Year One, students alternate days of narration practice and copywork. There is no dictation in Year One. This is not a book that follows Charlotte Mason's philosophy. Parents (as it is written specifically for homeschoolers) are encouraged to ask leading questions after a reading and to re-read sentences or paragraphs to guide children to the answers. I have mentioned before how horribly First Son fared at narrations. For nearly a year (all of first grade) he could only successfully narrate Aesop's fables. A narration of anything longer or more complicated nearly always resulted in tears. (I won't say whose.) I am loathe to admit I sometimes eliminated narrations completely. More often, though, I was using this strategy - asking questions to help him form an answer. I discovered he often knew exactly what happened in the reading but was unable to begin his narration and follow through from one thought to another. It was, therefore, a relief to see Ms. Bauer encouraging that very strategy. First Son's narrations have improved dramatically. Though we maintain a stricter narration practice for our Writing with Ease narrations, I often let him narrate entirely on his own for other readings and he does significantly better than last year or even the beginning of this year.

At the end of each narration, the parent writes out one or two sentences as the child narrates. The child watches and parents can then explain as how words are spelled or punctuation is used. One day a week, the child then copies their own sentence.

The book itself contains excerpts for narrations and selections for copywork for the first week of any new unit. There are workbooks available for each Year that provide the substance of the exercises for each week. For those who wish to select their own readings, Ms. Bauer provides guidelines for the lengths of passages and suggested elements for the week's copywork selections. For example, one week she may recommend finding sentences that use the pronoun "I" or days of the week.  By the end of the year, the students has encountered a wide variety of grammatical situations with little effort. No elaborate grammar lessons are required. It is enough to say (for example), "Notice how the I is a capital letter when it appears by itself in a sentence." I have found these small statements complement well the Primary Language Lessons we have also been using.

I opted to choose our own selections from our history, science or literature readings. In general, I use our Saints for Young Readers for Every Day (volume 1 or volume 2) for at least one Writing with Ease narration each week. I found selecting my own to be a bit time-consuming. I might spend as long as an hour (though usually much less) reading through our upcoming week to find appropriate selections for in-depth narration practice and copywork. As the year progressed, I became more proficient at it. I liked choosing my own because it allowed us to narrate selections in context rather than use books we may not yet have encountered. Also, it allowed me to incorporate Writing with Ease without really extending the time we would spend on lessons as the readings were ones we would do anyway. I also saved money by avoiding the consumable workbooks.

Have I mentioned Year One includes no dictation? (Yes, I know I did but I dreaded it so very much I still relish its absence.) Dictation begins in Year Two but it begins with a sentence the child has already encountered, one used for copywork the day before. Importantly, the child is not left alone to complete it. According to Ms. Bauer, the child should not be allowed to spell or punctuate incorrectly, so the parent should sit with the child, answer any questions and immediately point out mistakes. I'm not entirely certain what Charlotte Mason says about dictation, but last year I felt like First Son should write his dictation as well as he could all on his own which frustrated First Son and myself. I am much more comfortable with Ms. Bauer's recommendation.

I find Ms. Bauer's explanations and responses in this book encouraging and sensible. I appreciated many of her recommendations in the Troubleshooting Appendix. I intend to finish Writing with Ease by the end of fourth grade (completing it in three years instead of four). I highly recommend this resource, especially for a student who struggles with narration or a parent-teacher who would like some guidance in selecting passages for narration or for copywork.