laurapella wrote:I'd like to tag onto this question if you don't mind...
Julie, you said
Written narrations are not the same thing as summaries, which is why every student's should look different.
This is our first year doing narration, and I still do not quite understand the difference between a narration and a summary. I think I have read dozens of explanations on these boards, but my brain still does not compute it.
I think that my ds in Preparing probably does more of a summary than narration, but I am not quite clear. If he is, how do I correct that? He always wants his written narrations (again...summaries?) to be longer than the "allowed" number of sentences. When I point this out, I usually wind up with many run-on sentences to include the information he wants to. When I read them, it seems to me that he has not included any "unimportant" information, so I am not sure how to help. Can someone please try once more to help me understand??
Thank you!!!
Good morning, laurapella!
My oldest ds, Wyatt, actually gave summary narrations for years, probably up until the end of CTC for sure, and maybe even during RTR. If dc are writing summary narrations on their own, this is actually probably more their 'style', at least at the start of learning to narrate, and is fine. Wyatt has been naturally encouraged to add some flair and personality to his narrations as he has read the styles of different excellent authors of living books. Just reading HOD's excellent reading materials has had a huge influence on his own narrating! The writing programs HOD has chosen through the years have also helped add variety and personality to his narrations. I have tried to encourage him by asking him to start his narration with something clever, like a question, an interesting fact, etc. It helps that these types of helps in writing are taught through the years in HOD's creative writing programs. I have borrowed ideas from what their current writing program is teaching to offer help in this way.
However, if a student's preferred style of narrating is more a summary-style, this may be just the way they enjoy narrating, and as such, there is probably nothing wrong with it.
The reason I wanted to mention that the goal is not for students to produce a summary narration (unless it is noted in the plans, as it is in some later years on specific days), is that as a parent, I used to check his written narration with guide in hand, making 100% sure he 'answered' every question in the guide in his written narration. After learning more about narrating, I realized this was not my role, and after speaking to Carrie, I realized that this was not her intention in writing the questions. Live and learn, right?
I always say my last ds is going to get the very best of my wisdom and abilities as a teacher because at that point, I'll have it all figured out!
The parent's expectation of the narration, in this regard, results in a summary narration every time, as it is more of a question/answer narration. So, based on my past experience, I wanted to share this!
For all of PHFHG and much of CTC, I honestly think it is key to just be extremely encouraging as our dc attempt to narrate, and to accept what they do quite easily, with many compliments and 1 thing to improve upon for next time. I have found, however, it is key to consistently help them make editing corrections - punctuation, capitalization, spelling, proper grammar. Working carefully together on this has been important. Once dc can move past the concrete part of writing, they can have more fun with the 'personality' of it.
If I get time, I will try to post some narrations to show the gradual change in them over time. Hope something here helps though! Narrating truly is a journey, for the teacher as much as the student.
At least I have sure felt that way.
In Christ,
Julie