| Author | |
kristacecilia
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 05 2010
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 677
|
| Posted: Sept 19 2011 at 3:16pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
Here is my original thread.
Narrations are proving to be the death of me.
DS age 7 is still struggling with narrations. This is how it usually goes:
(We read a small selection from a living book)
Me: So what did you think of that story?
Son: <blank stare>
Me: Can you tell me anything interesting you remember?
Son: <deep sigh> <blank stare>
I wait a few minutes during which Son gives more deep signs and blank stares.
Me: Do you remember anything?
Son: <blank stare> <deep sigh>
About half the time we do narrations I eventually drag ONE thing out of him. Sometimes that leads to a few more things he remembers. The other half of the time, though, I just give up after 10, 15, or 20 minutes of deep sighs and blank stares.
WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?
__________________
God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Mackfam
Board Moderator
Non Nobis
Joined: April 24 2006
Location: Alabama
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 14656
|
| Posted: Sept 19 2011 at 4:25pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I remembered from your original thread, and I reviewed quickly just to be sure, that your son has some sensory processing issues. I have one son that has some sensory issues, but I've never had him diagnosed. He narrates well so I don't think that would preclude him from narrating, but it does bear keeping in mind, and as always, trust your Mommy instincts! My sensory sensitive son is highly prone to distraction, and cannot focus if there are other sensory issues going on. I do my best to offer an environment that is a help to him, and over the years, have gently and consistently challenged his environment because he won't always be working within a perfect environment - he'll need to have some tools he can bring to the table to work with. It's an ongoing process, but I wanted to give you a quick insight into how a child's narrations might be affected by his sensory issues. (I
So, before I throw some ideas your way, let me ask some questions:
** What are you reading to him and asking him to narrate? Can you list all the living books you would ask him to narrate from in a day? A week?
** Give me an idea of how much you're reading from each book before you ask him to narrate.
***********************************************
Right off the bat, I'd say take a deep breath and relax! Each child narrates differently, and some kids (boys especially) prefer to offer a most succinct narration, offering only basic points, and scant few of those at that! That's fine at first. You're still building this habit!
Personalities and temperaments do come into play here - and they should, really! My 3rd child is 6 1/2. I began asking him for narrations this year. He is a no-nonsense kinda kid! Don't try to buffalo him, because he sees you coming a mile away! Don't offer schmooz, fluff or syrupy sweet stuff. He doesn't have time for it, and what's more, this child will tell you!!!! So.....me....asking him to tell me about something I just read to him seemed remarkable to him? He was incredulous at first - what? you want me to tell you about something that WE JUST READ TOGETHER? weren't you here? didn't you hear yourself reading?  I stayed cool. Yes, I told him. I heard what I read, I was interested in hearing what he thought.
Here is an example of a narration from today:
ME: So, that was an interesting story. What did you think of it?
HIM: It was ok.
ME: Glad you thought it was ok. What can you tell me about the story?
HIM: Mose was a fireman. (We read a tall tale from American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osborne.)
ME: He sure was! I thought he did some great things in our story today. Was there one you remember?
HIM: He saved that baby....from the fire. And he was sad when the steam powered fire trucks came along. I think he pouted too much.
ME: (laughing) Why do you think he pouted too much?
HIM: Because instead of helping the steamies out, he just pouted and left.
ME: What would you have done?
HIM: Helped them!!
ME: I'm glad! I believe you! Ok - great job narrating our story! Let's move on to something else for now.
Now, if I had been reading a chapter from an ongoing chapter book, and asked for a narration from the chapter, or the few pages we read today, I ALWAYS begin with a simple review of where we were to help start off the narration. And, for a reluctant narrator, I might ask an open ended question/or make an observation and invite their thoughts...something like...that Mitchell family - they are always getting into trouble! What did you think of the mess they got into today?
******************************************
So, with the above you see my new narrator - my no-nonsense-don't-try-to-schmooze-me fella. And, you know from above that one of my children has some serious sensory issues and we've worked hard to overcome that.
I have another child with a near photographic recall. This child, for years, offered narrations that were nearly word-for-word details of the reading. I let that build and gently encouraged the child offering their insight. This comes naturally as a child grows, by the way. This child is now an AMAZING NARRATOR, and brings their gift for photographic recall into their narrations in an amazing way, while also offering their own thoughts.
What I'm trying to illustrate is that no two children are alike, no two narrators are alike, and children's skills, talents, gifts, abilities, etc ALL vary greatly across the spectrum...even within a family. Narrations can be accomplished within this great spectrum, but I have found that a relaxed, neutral, inviting attitude (on my part) allows me to be open, accept what they offer, and be able to brainstorm how I can help them gently stretch their habit of attention and the ability to narrate.
***********************************************
It's possible that he is overwhelmed and doesn't know where to start. Help him a little. Prompt him with something open-ended. If he gives you a little information and seems done - STOP RIGHT THERE!!!!!! Call it good enough and close the book and move on! Remember, you're building this habit! Give it time to develop! It develops best in a non-threatening environment and you may need to help this kiddo out with some confidence in his ability to offer you a narration! Narrations are NOT EASY to do!
************************************************
Offering these ideas before I see your answers to the above questions:
** Keep the reading EXTREMELY short and interesting for this guy!
** Ask for only ONE narration a day, maybe even every other day for a while.
** Don't panic or react or get upset when you ask for a narration - keep it light and neutral. If you need to prompt him a little bit to get a thought or two that's fine. If he's done after that, he's done. Great work. Moving on.
** He may not do well with read alouds and then a request to narrate - some kids do much better when they start reading more independently and then they narrate from there. This is a visual learner vs auditory learner thing. It's good to develop both skills, but just be aware that if he's more visual, reading independently will yield better narrations. If he's more auditory, reading aloud will get you a better narration. And if he's super hands on, get some puppets involved, or art materials, or have him tell you a narration as he elaborately gestures. It's about trying to work with him, and then building layers of habits from there. For example, if I had a SUPER auditory learner, I'd really help him get in the habit of narrating by building on his strength and reading aloud a lot. But, from there, I'd begin stretching him because he should be able to narrate from his own reading, too. Does that make sense. I'm suggesting you go with your son's strengths right now!!! And in the future, you will be able to offer opportunities for him to stretch and grow his skills.
******************************************
This is something you'll see results with over time, Krista, and it may be a year or more before you can come back here and re-read your thread and see some little bit of progress. It's one little, consistent step day after day. Keep it neutral, not a hill for either of you to die on. Even if it takes you to 4th grade to assist this habit and its formation, you'd still be helping him significantly!! Those beginning narrations are really all about learning their way, learning the habit of attention, and being able to act on their reading, organize their thoughts, and give information back in some form. NOT EASY STUFF, but so worthwhile to form these habits now!
__________________
Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JodieLyn
Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 06 2006
Location: Oregon
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 12234
|
| Posted: Sept 19 2011 at 4:52pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
My daughter's speech therapist will often do other things that get the kids talking so that they have nice sentences or longer that they're coming up with and saying. Easier to create natural speech that way.
I think she was teaching this skill. and she started out by having the kids work at identifying all the little bits.. so less opened ended questions.. like
who was this story about?
where did this story take place?
What did ______ do?
And she would help the children learn to take apart the story and identify the different pieces before asking them to narrate.
And it's not a quick process.. you go through the tearing apart until that's easy and the you help them put it back together with the more open ended questions.
Also if you don't have an auditory learner you may find that a visual learner needs visual input to process what they're hearing.. a picture book may help more because they can see the pictures as well as hear the story. Or if he's more hands on.. he may be able to listen better while playing with playdough or building with legos or something. And attention does not necessarily follow looking like you're paying attention.. you can learn to sit nicely and look at the person reading and the story just goes in one ear and out the other.. but on the other hand.. a child that looks busy and like they're not paying the least of attention can repeat back verbatim what you'd just read. So don't be decieved just by how it looks. Sometimes demanding that it "look right" only means that it doesn't work right.
And mostly from what I've read.. he's still pretty young and you need to just give him lots and lots of time. You're developing a skill that can take quite some time for your son to "get".
__________________
Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Mackfam
Board Moderator
Non Nobis
Joined: April 24 2006
Location: Alabama
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 14656
|
| Posted: Sept 19 2011 at 5:18pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
How about just forgetting this is a narration, and see if he'll just discuss a book with you?
And, from your other thread - did you try some of the ideas?
** Choose books for narration that are not too meaty?
** Choose books that are sure to be hits?
** Offer opportunities for others to listen to his narrations? Grandmother? Dad?
** Did you really examine your expectations? Are you able to be relaxed and let this develop at his pace (which may be well outside of your expectations, and will certainly be unique in that his skill in narrating will develop on his timeline)?
** Are you approaching this in a conversational/casual way so that he is not intimidated with this idea?
*****************************
Right here:
kristacecilia wrote:
Me: So what did you think of that story?
Son: <blank stare> |
|
|
STOP RIGHT HERE. Consider: You've just asked a wide open question! If that gets a blank stare - narrow your focus a bit for him. So instead of another WIDE OPEN question like this:
kristacecilia wrote:
| Me: Can you tell me anything interesting you remember? |
|
|
Which gets this:
kristacecilia wrote:
| Son: <deep sigh> <blank stare> |
|
|
Try this instead:
Quote:
| I couldn't believe it when Mose climbed down that ladder with the baby in his hat, could you? What did Mose do when he heard that fire bell? |
|
|
Now, I don't want to make this too pointed, Krista, so I hope it's ok to quote some of your strategies. I REALLY, REALLY know how tough it is to be in the middle of a situation that seems to be completely beyond my own scope of reasoning. And feeling stuck. I have been there!!!!!!!!! I hope to brainstorm some tools with you so that your own sense of frustration over this doesn't come across to your son. In asking this:
kristacecilia wrote:
Me: Do you remember anything?
Son: <blank stare> <deep sigh> |
|
|
....you could be conveying your frustration. He's getting it, and it could be a factor in his feeling defeated and incapable...and thus...the blank stare of nothingness. Which may actually not be a blank stare at all!! It's most likely just a "help me mom, I can't figure out how to get this thought out to you" stare!!! I'm thinking/wondering if this stare is a cue to you that he needs help, not so much an unwillingness or inability to narrate.
I hope that these observations are ok to offer, Krista, because I offer them as someone that really knows this level of frustration, and *down-deep-in-it-so-that-it's-hard-to-see-my-way-out* kind of feeling. We feel frustrated when this happens. It's important to confide this somewhere safe!! Here, or with husband are two great places. Then, after you've confided your angst, put on your neutral, we-can-do-this face for your son!
Let's see if I can come up with some specific tools....
Try to think in terms of a big circle when you begin a narration. You can ask a big wide open question at first if you want to {{BIG, BIG CIRCLE}}. But if he's overwhelmed and lost, and if you've read from something with ANY amount of meat, he probably WILL be overwhelmed, you need to make your circle smaller. Within the BIG CIRCLE, narrow for him, and help him feel more comfortable. {{SMALLER CIRCLE}} --> Explain how the kids got of trouble today!. Still looks blank? {{{EVEN SMALLER CIRCLE}}} --> Tell me what the kids did in their tree fort? Think of this CIRCLE as an imaginary circle drawn around your reading. The whole of it may be too much for him to organize and tell back, so draw smaller imaginary circles so that he has less and less volume to deal with. I chose a circle for this analogy because you're really trying to keep this open, so he can tell you back in his words, even if they are very few.
If he gives you one sentence with a subject and a verb, call it a WIN!!!!!!! And move on til tomorrow. If you feel him lighten a little, you might ask him another open question, but NOT, NOT, NOT in a teacher textbook sort of a way....just in a conversational -- I REALLY WANT TO KNOW -- kind of way. And, if he can't answer, it's ok to sort of conversationally answer your own question so that you can close this and move on and he isn't feeling on the spot.
I'm wondering if you just need permission to walk your expectation, and the execution of a narration, WAY, WAY BACK? It's totally ok to do that, by the way!
__________________
Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Pilgrim
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 28 2007
Location: Wisconsin
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1286
|
| Posted: Sept 19 2011 at 5:24pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I just wanted to throw in a secnd $0.02 on the fact that he may not be an auditory learner, and find narrations after a read-aloud difficult. I had trouble with answering questions after read alouds as a kid. Just a thought. Otherwise, these two wise moms have given you plenty of great advice. 
__________________
Wife 2 my bf, g14,b8,g&b6,g4,g3,g1 1/2,4 ^i^
St. Clare Heirloom Seeds coupon 4Real 20% off
St. Clare Audio
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
kristacecilia
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 05 2010
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 677
|
| Posted: Sept 19 2011 at 7:17pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
These suggestions are all great. Jen, you're not upsetting me at all! This is exactly the sort of stuff I *need* to hear. I am going to read over all of it a few times and come back!
__________________
God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
kristacecilia
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 05 2010
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 677
|
| Posted: Sept 19 2011 at 8:12pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Mackfam wrote:
| I remembered from your original thread, and I reviewed quickly just to be sure, that your son has some sensory processing issues. |
|
|
Yes, he does have sensory issues. I think he also has a very hard time planning and executing, which plays in a lot here. My son, like your son, does best in an environment that is less distracting, but with 4 younger siblings I have a very hard time keeping it less distracting. During the course of today's narration I had to deal with the 3 year old in the bathroom twice (and she cannot be trusted to do that herself yet), the baby repeatedly getting into things and whining for me to hold her, etc. I do normally try to limit distractions, but it's really, really hard. Actually, it's almost impossible. Distraction is something he has to deal with on a constant basis. It's frustrating for both of us.
Mackfam wrote:
So, before I throw some ideas your way, let me ask some questions:
** What are you reading to him and asking him to narrate? Can you list all the living books you would ask him to narrate from in a day? A week?
** Give me an idea of how much you're reading from each book before you ask him to narrate. |
|
|
We have tried a wide variety of stuff. I took a lot of suggestions from your blog, actually, from the books you are using for your 2nd grader. I thought if I had age-appropriate material it would give us a good starting point. So we tried "Ten Boys Who Lived on the Road from Long Ago Until Now." I thought his would be a BIG hit. He LOVES history and I thought he'd for sure love something about BOYS in history. So we started off with 4 pages/day, read aloud by either one of us. No dice. So I yanked it way back to 1. It was about 50/50 there.
Then I sat down with him on Friday and asked him about his lessons and he said he hated that book, which I had already guessed by the groans and moans he gave every time we pulled it out. I really thing having to narrate it is ruining a book he would otherwise enjoy. Plus, I wondered if - because we weren't reading a full chapter at a time- he would have an easier time with a short story, something with a complete beginning, middle, and end right there in each reading. I thought maybe he'd have an easier time organizing his thoughts. So we pulled out "Fifty Famous Stories Retold" instead. We read the first one and he responded with a short narration. GREAT! So we did that one today and it was like pulling teeth to get him to say a single word. I just got the stare.
We have also tried "The Seven Sisters Who Lived on the Big Round Ball" (Which he requested we no longer narrate from), "The Little Prince" (That was obviously too abstract and we shelved it), and "Wildlife in Field and Pond", and "The Mass Explained to Children" (Which we also shelved). We were doing 1-3 pages depending on the story, no more than 2-3 narrations per day at most, but usually only 2. Now we are only doing ONE narration per day, at his request.
Mackfam wrote:
Offering these ideas before I see your answers to the above questions:
** Keep the reading EXTREMELY short and interesting for this guy!
** Ask for only ONE narration a day, maybe even every other day for a while.
** Don't panic or react or get upset when you ask for a narration - keep it light and neutral. If you need to prompt him a little bit to get a thought or two that's fine. If he's done after that, he's done. Great work. Moving on.
** He may not do well with read alouds and then a request to narrate - some kids do much better when they start reading more independently and then they narrate from there. This is a visual learner vs auditory learner thing. It's good to develop both skills, but just be aware that if he's more visual, reading independently will yield better narrations. If he's more auditory, reading aloud will get you a better narration. And if he's super hands on, get some puppets involved, or art materials, or have him tell you a narration as he elaborately gestures. It's about trying to work with him, and then building layers of habits from there. For example, if I had a SUPER auditory learner, I'd really help him get in the habit of narrating by building on his strength and reading aloud a lot. But, from there, I'd begin stretching him because he should be able to narrate from his own reading, too. Does that make sense. I'm suggesting you go with your son's strengths right now!!! And in the future, you will be able to offer opportunities for him to stretch and grow his skills.
******************************************
This is something you'll see results with over time, Krista, and it may be a year or more before you can come back here and re-read your thread and see some little bit of progress. It's one little, consistent step day after day. Keep it neutral, not a hill for either of you to die on. Even if it takes you to 4th grade to assist this habit and its formation, you'd still be helping him significantly!! Those beginning narrations are really all about learning their way, learning the habit of attention, and being able to act on their reading, organize their thoughts, and give information back in some form. NOT EASY STUFF, but so worthwhile to form these habits now! |
|
|
I definitely want to build confidence with narration. And I think the thing he is most stuck on is organizing his thoughts and moving through those steps that go from taking this abstract information he has in his memory from the story and moving it and organizing it into sentences coming out of his mouth. And I want to help him do that!
I am so afraid of prompting or feeding information that I pretty much have no idea what is 'okay' TO say to encourage him or draw information out of him. I want him to make those connections and form relationships with the ideas in the story on his own.... UGH. Parenting is frustrating stuff.
Anyway... I think your suggestions are very good. I am still digesting all those little tidbits of wisdom! I *think* he's an auditory learner- he does really well in music, loves audiobooks, and has requested that I read to him even though he is a very fluent reader and is perfectly capable of reading to himself.
Okay... on to the next post!
__________________
God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
ShannonJ
Forum Pro
Joined: July 08 2011
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 172
|
| Posted: Sept 19 2011 at 8:20pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I wonder if possibly giving something more specific to focus on listening for *before* you begin your reading selection would be beneficial? I know that for some of our meatier readings I try to focus their attention more closely:
"Children, we are going to read today about (ex. Jack and Jill). I want you to listen closely and see if you can tell me about (ex. how they acted during the story). "
Now his interest in peaked. Perhaps this would start the conversation before you even have begun reading. Then the narration is simply an extension of the goal that you gave him before you began. Then you can gradually build from there.
__________________
~Shannon
Mom of dd 12, ds 9, & dd 5
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
anitamarie
Forum All-Star
Joined: Oct 15 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 819
|
| Posted: Sept 19 2011 at 8:40pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Just to give you a ballpark on length of narration:
We're using Writing with Ease Level 1 with my 2nd grader. The selections for narration are literally no more than 3 paragraphs. Then there are questions, and then he is asked to tell me 1 thing he remembers from what we just read and I write it. That's it. That's the whole lesson on that day. This alternates with 1 sentence of copywork in the next lesson the next day. So a week consists of 2 very short narrations and 2 copywork sentences. That's it for the first ten weeks of the first level. It gradually increases over the course of the year.
I have a very reluctant narrator as well, and he doesn't mind this. Right now, this is the only narration he's doing. I do ask questions about his other reading. As long as I don't call it narration, he's ok with it. 
Good luck to you.
Anita
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
ekbell
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 22 2009
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 747
|
| Posted: Sept 19 2011 at 8:51pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Our starting narrations are Aesop fable length  and sometimes done done using stick puppets (say of cow, dog, manger).
Once we've gotten retelling fables (and similar material) down pat, we move on to more challenging material.
Another point is that I had a daughter who at that age would go silent at that age whenever she was asked a question she might not answer 'correctly'.
It turned out to be easier for her (and myself!) if I figured out ways for her to give me answers without talking - choosing a representative drawing or drawing herself (I could sometimes coax her to explain the drawing).
Eventually I found out that if I came up with silly and obviously wrong answers that she'd be willing to correct me ("the story is't about a purple mongoose going to the moon! It's about....")
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
MichelleW
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 01 2005
Location: Oregon
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 947
|
| Posted: Sept 20 2011 at 12:06am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I found that my sons in particular, would not narrate something to me that I had just read to them because they felt it was pointless and stupid (though I am not sure they could have articulated that at the time). However, they were totally fine with narrating to dh at the dinner table because he had missed the reading selection. He would ask if they learned anything interesting and they couldn't contain themselves. They were bursting with information to share. Once I realized that they were retaining the information, I decided to lay off the narrations for awhile and just allow them to regale their Papa with the day's learning. Eventually, I re-introduced it and the became especially good at written summaries.
I need to mention that I found this to be true of my special needs son as well as my non-special needs son. I took me quite awhile to figure this out. I cut back and cut back until I felt like we were doing ridiculously little learning. I really figured it out by accident at the dinner table when the boys were talking about something I had read to them a month earlier and I was astounded by the quality of their recall. At that point I tried adding back in subjects that seemed interesting to them. We snuggled up with beloved books, and then dh would ask them about their day. It was just a natural progression.
I don't know if this fits your situation or not, but I wanted to encourage you. I felt like such a failure during that time, and it turned out just fine.
__________________
Michelle
Mom to 3 (dd 14, ds 15, and ds 16)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
kristacecilia
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 05 2010
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 677
|
| Posted: Sept 20 2011 at 9:55am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Sorry, last night I decided to sleep instead of finish replying.
Today we did another narration from "Fifty Famous Stories" and I used Jen's circle idea (that was the perfect way to explain it for me, Jen!) and it really helped. He even lent a little person insight into the story, which I wasn't expecting. I think you are right on the money that he is looking to me for help and I am just getting frustrated with him.
I knew this would be hard. I knew it would take a long time for him to get the hang of it. He doesn't do well with abstract things or things that are heavily mental. Heck, this is the kid who was asked to illustrate one of the mental images from RL Stevenson's 'The Swing' yesterday and when he stopped throwing a fit about having to do it (because it was HARD for him to get something that abstract) he drew me a perfectly to scale and labeled and properly colored diagram of our own swing set, complete with "Step2" logo.
Thanks, ladies. I am feeling much better. Each of your replies helped and I am going to come back and revisit this as we go along the narration path. The very very bumpy, rocky narration path. ;)
__________________
God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Mackfam
Board Moderator
Non Nobis
Joined: April 24 2006
Location: Alabama
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 14656
|
| Posted: Sept 20 2011 at 11:21am | IP Logged
|
|
|
kristacecilia wrote:
| Today we did another narration from "Fifty Famous Stories" and I used Jen's circle idea (that was the perfect way to explain it for me, Jen!) and it really helped. He even lent a little person insight into the story, which I wasn't expecting. I think you are right on the money that he is looking to me for help |
|
|
That is just awesome, Krista!!!!! Woo-hoo!!!! It's a mommy paycheck! 
Keep plugging away at this and you and he will slowly, eventually, ease into your very own style of narrating. Don't be afraid to TRUST YOUR OWN INSTINCTS! Think of all the great ideas that others have offered here! They are a reflection of each of those unique families having grown into their own comfortable style, and they're sharing those little ideas that have worked for them along the way. I like to do this, too - share I mean. But, I do so always with the hope that you'll see ideas, form some of your own, and those can function as training wheels for getting started in a situation like this. Use the training wheels as long as they're a help, but as you grow in balance and confidence don't be afraid to discard your training wheels and go with your own style - what works in your family! Ok? Ok!
I wanted to add something quickly....Fifty Famous Stories is a TOUGH book to narrate! I sometimes I ask for narrations from that book, but usually, I ask for a narration from our Science reading or from American Tall Tales or maybe even a picture book we're reading from!
I'm THRILLED for you and this little glimmer of hope today! Just build from here! There may be other challenges - these are just redirections and opportunities to brainstorm a little further into this.
__________________
Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
MichelleW
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 01 2005
Location: Oregon
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 947
|
| Posted: Sept 20 2011 at 12:26pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
kristacecilia wrote:
Thanks, ladies. I am feeling much better. |
|
|
So happy to hear this!
Michelle
__________________
Michelle
Mom to 3 (dd 14, ds 15, and ds 16)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
kristacecilia
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 05 2010
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 677
|
| Posted: March 08 2012 at 11:52am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Six months later I am back visiting this thread to glean more wonderful wisdom from all you ladies. We're right back where we started. Blank stares, rolling around on the couch, and moans and groans every time I ask him for any input.
Luckily, there is so much gold to mine here I think we'll be okay.
Just wanted to thank you all again.
__________________
God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
jawgee
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 02 2011
Location: New Hampshire
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1415
|
| Posted: March 08 2012 at 12:53pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Oh, there is a gold mine in this thread!!
I'm only a beginner in terms of narration, since we started homeschooling back in the fall. One thing my boys like to do sometimes is to act out what we just read. Today one of them was pretending to be Mozart showing his dad his new apartment in Vienna. Since it was his dad's first visit, Mozart really wanted to impress him. My son was walking around saying "and look at this nice chair...and look at these children...and look at this nice TV" (OK, so some out-of-context items got into the narration, but you get the point).
They also like to re-enact battle scenes (what boy wouldn't) when we are reading history. Here's a super-silly "narration" they did when we were studying Ben Franklin. They spent the afternoon planning it, and I just hit "record" on the camera.
Anyway, just wanted to share that sometimes active boys need active narrations.
__________________
Monica
C (12/2001), N (11/2005), M (5/2008), J (8/2009) and three angels
The Catholic Cup on Facebook
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
kristacecilia
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 05 2010
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 677
|
| Posted: March 08 2012 at 12:59pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
jawgee wrote:
Oh, there is a gold mine in this thread!!
I'm only a beginner in terms of narration, since we started homeschooling back in the fall. One thing my boys like to do sometimes is to act out what we just read. Today one of them was pretending to be Mozart showing his dad his new apartment in Vienna. Since it was his dad's first visit, Mozart really wanted to impress him. My son was walking around saying "and look at this nice chair...and look at these children...and look at this nice TV" (OK, so some out-of-context items got into the narration, but you get the point).
They also like to re-enact battle scenes (what boy wouldn't) when we are reading history. Here's a super-silly "narration" they did when we were studying Ben Franklin. They spent the afternoon planning it, and I just hit "record" on the camera.
Anyway, just wanted to share that sometimes active boys need active narrations. |
|
|
That narration was too funny! I loved it! I might have to try something like that.
__________________
God bless,
Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
Forum Locked) 
4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: More on Resistant Narrator
