Narration
From Dr. Shannon Whiteside:
This month we will be focusing on narration in our newsletter and in Office Hours. I hope you have found narration to be a beneficial practice in your homeschool or classroom. I love this account from The Story of Charlotte Mason of how the school lessons of a family in England in 1898 were revitalized when a new governess began teaching them the methods she learned from Mason’s House of Education in Ambleside. This is how Essex Cholmondeley describes it:
The lesson hours were passed with apathetic listlessness only broken by someone being 'naughty ' to the great interest of the other two… Into this ordered and tedious existence, Miss X entered. She introduced many surprising and welcome changes, shorter lessons, picture study, new books, exercise books instead of the slates and squeaking slate-pencils. She encouraged the children to sing, to dance, to make things, to listen to music. Their greatest surprise was the new way of learning, for Miss X did not ask them to memorize whole pages, nor did she make them read half a page of geography to themselves three or four times over and then question them. Instead, Miss X asked them to do a very difficult thing; they must listen carefully while she read to them, and then they must tell her what they had heard. At first, they could find no words, no memories. Presently the children discovered that they need not remember, because if they listened attentively there was much that they could 'see with their mind's eye' and then words came easily. They were beginning to use their whole minds as well as their memories, and their attitude to lessons began to change (Cholmondeley, p. 91-92).
This “new” practice was narration. Mason did not claim originality for this idea “of telling again that which has been read or heard” in order to retain knowledge. She states, “The method is as old as the mind of man, the distressful fact is that it has been made so little use of in general education” (1925f, p. 160). Retelling is not a complicated new strategy to implement, but a familiar everyday practice that Mason formalized in the classroom. What makes Mason’s use of narration unique is the value that she places on narration over other methods of teaching. Narration was not just added to other practices such as recall questions, comprehension worksheets, small-group activities, or lectures. Narration replaced those activities because they do not line up with Mason’s conception of the learner, the nature of knowledge, and the goal of education.
How have you seen the benefits of narration with your students? Please head to the Hive and share your comments.
Notes
1. Office Hours: Dr. Carroll Smith, founder of CMI, will join us to talk about narration on Wednesday, November 8th at 3:30 pm (EST). Please submit your questions by noon on November 7th.
2. Reflective Practice Plan Book: If you’re finishing Term 1 or beginning Term 2, now is a great time to refer to our Reflective Practice Plan Book for ideas on the following topics:
Making decisions for the end of Term 1
Getting ready for exams
Exam week
End-of-term evaluation
Scoring exams and providing feedback
Reflection on the term
Planning for the next term
3. Office Hours: Here is the video from our session last week with Kathryn Avery and Kerri Forney regarding composition in high school and beyond.
4. Natural History Club Meeting: If you’re part of a CMI Natural History Club, plan to attend the meeting on November 6th to share and gain ideas on nature study during this next season’s walks!
