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mairejam5
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| Posted: March 12 2007 at 2:32pm | IP Logged
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I hope this is the right forum...
Last year I tried to begin narrations with my then newly-turned 6yo son. No matter what I read, short or long, even just a couple of sentences, when I asked him to tell it back, I always came up against, "I don't know," and "I just don't remember." Even with some leading questions I could barely pull anything out of him. Of course, he can repeat things he's seen in movies, or parts of stories that his aunt tells, or other things that people say. When asked specifically something we've read.. like a fill-in-the-blank type question... he'll answer it.
I found myself getting really frustrated with him and I finally let it go, just dropped it.
This year about a month ago we tried again. All we started with was one Aesop fable in the morning. He will be 7yo next month. At first I got the exact same response to the fables -- and I was choosing those that were no more than a paragraph long. So I told him, we're doing it anyway and we're sitting here until he comes up with something. So, eventually he did. At the same time, his 5 1/2 yo brother was listening to the stories and HE started narrating them. So I started having each one do a different fable so they wouldn't compare each other's. Of course, after hearing 6yo ds say "I don't know" over and over, 5 yo ds started saying the same thing. I just did the same thing with him and sat and waited until it came out.
Once I finally got them to give me the story back, I started asking them for the moral, and again have come up with the exact same thing. 6yo absolutely "cannot" do it, even though he is telling me the story now. 5yo CAN if I just sit and wait.
I've been trying with the Faith and Life series to get them to tell back what we are reading about and it's the SAME THING. I thought maybe that after doing Aesop for a while having them see that they CAN remember, that it would boost their confidence, but it doesn't seem to have helped all that much. And the worst part is that I start feeling mad and irritated. I keep thinking, they remember so many things, how can they not remember the information in only four sentences? This is a recurring experience, not only a one-time thing.
I don't want to act angrily with them, and I don't want to give up. I don't know how to go about doing this. I know I'm not supposed to read the information a second time. Even the couple of times I have broken down and reread something, it doesn't seem to help anyway. I try to ask leading questions and they answer to a certain extent but it still doesn't seem to help that much. I don't know if I really am just not good at asking the right questions?
I'm not particular about what they say in their narrations, as long as they tell me whatever they remember. It always ends up being the basic of the storyline anyway, with some details here or there. I just want them to tell me something. We just read a paragraph about Abraham. I asked them to tell me what they remember and they couldn't come up with anything. I tried the sit and wait. They still couldn't come up with anything. Finally, the older said he was like Noah in that he followed God even though it was hard. GREAT! But that was it.. Nothing about the promise God made to him or the fact that he is the "father" of the Jews and that Jesus would come from the Jews, even though we JUST read that AND discussed those facts.
I am so frustrated.
Anybody have any suggestions? Anyone with a similar experience out there so I don't feel so bad?
Any help is appreciated.
Maire
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Paula in MN
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| Posted: March 12 2007 at 2:44pm | IP Logged
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My son just turned 5 and now is doing very well with narrations. Sometimes even better than his 8yo sister! However, if I read a paragraph of 6 or 7 sentences, I will get a short narration from him, short as in 5 to 6 words. I praise him and then I move on. In my mind, he is 5 -- and I think that one sentence is great. Once he gets older and we are doing more and more narrations, they will get better.
I also don't let my kids watch anything that would influence or go against narrating. I let them watch Magic School Bus in the morning, but then they each have to narrate it for me. If they don't, they don't get to watch it the next morning.
In your example of the story of Abraham, I know my son wouldn't have gotten the promise God made, or that he was the father of the Jews. He would have told me that God told Abraham to kill his son and then said stop -- and that is word for word from his narration.
I wish I could be of more help!
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 Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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JennGM
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| Posted: March 12 2007 at 2:58pm | IP Logged
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I don't have experience, but a couple of thoughts reading your post. Do you find that verbal communication isn't their strongest point?
I was trying to find that long of narration ideas...various ways to get your child to narrate without being a "tell me what you just heard" kind of question. Maybe that's what freezes them up. I think it was posted here, but can't find it. Anyone?
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Karen E.
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| Posted: March 12 2007 at 4:31pm | IP Logged
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Jenn,
Are you thinking of 49 Ways to Narrate ?
Maire, I have a couple of thoughts. My girls often used to (and still sometimes do) freeze up when "put on the spot." They suddenly feel as if they're under the microscope, and their minds go blank.
In the earlier years, we often did *very* informal narration. As in, over dinner, telling Daddy about things we read that day.  Or, just in conversation, I'd ask them about things we'd read, and I used it as a "covert" way of checking on their comprehension.
Lissa had a wonderful series recently on CM stuff. Check this post, about reluctant narrators.
Also, a few years back, we did a notebook based on the Bible stories we were reading, and it helped my then-very-reluctant narrators. I read the story aloud, and then they drew a picture of the story in a sketchbook like this. They put the picture on the top, and then I filled in their narrations on the bottom half. They liked that they were reproducing their own collection of Bible stories.
Also, it can help, if you're working on the *skill* of narration, to practice with things they really like and are interested in.
Hope some of this helps!
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Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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JennGM
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| Posted: March 12 2007 at 4:39pm | IP Logged
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Yes, that's it, Karen. Thank you. I'll step away now quietly, since I have no experience.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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mairejam5
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| Posted: March 12 2007 at 9:49pm | IP Logged
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Thanks Ladies!
I already feel better and have a bunch of new ideas from your replies. I really appreciate it. :)
Maire
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: March 12 2007 at 10:28pm | IP Logged
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I have found that my 5 year old dd clams up and gets that "deer in the headlights" look if I ask her to retell a story. She just freezes. But if I ask her to act it out using a handful of little plastic animals, or let her have the book to look at while she retells the story (she cannot read, but just looks at the pictures), I get a long, detailed narration. Something about having that prop really eases the tension of narrating and turns it into a game.
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gracie4309
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| Posted: March 12 2007 at 10:39pm | IP Logged
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Maire,
I'm not sure if this will be comforting, but I have struggled with narrations with my kids, too. Especially with my now 8yr old son. I didn't actually start doing them until he was 7, and he would also just say "I don't know" or "I don't remember". As someone who has fallen into anger with my kids over this, I can sure relate to your frustration. We were reading "Farmer Boy", which my boys liked, but even trying to narrate after each chapter (I eventually tried after a paragraph), I got no cooperation. I also backed off, and tried to have them just "tell about" things like a family trip (I got several pages of narration with that one ) or fun event. Eventually, the 8yr old was more willing to "tell about" (I never use the word narration) short Bible stories or
short children's books.I have had to work at being really patient with this process. We recently started making lapbooks, which my kids like to do (they do better with hands-on work), and I am requiring a retelling of the story we are working on to be included in the lapbook. Also, do your sons like to draw? If they do, you might try having them draw an illustration of the story and then ask them to tell about what the picture is showing.
My 13 yr old daughter doesn't like writing narrations either, but it's usually because she doesn't like a book I've chosen for her to read. But that's another whole subject...
I hope this helps, and I can't wait to read other posts on this.
Grace
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Karen E.
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| Posted: March 12 2007 at 11:07pm | IP Logged
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Oh, and I just thought of one more thing that's been so helpful to my girls --
I have them write (or dictate) a letter to their favorite aunt, telling her all about what we read. Something about it being a letter, and just "sharing" (rather than being turned into a deer in the headlights) makes it so much easier. 
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God bless,
Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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onemoretracy
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| Posted: March 16 2007 at 4:34pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for the wonderful ideas!
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Narration Advice please...
