“Narration comes naturally to us; what is the first thing we do when we come home? We share what happened in our day.
Education is no more than an applied philosophy. One of the hallmarks of a Charlotte Mason education is the art of Narration. This prepares the child to think for themselves and determine the way of thy will.
Charlotte Mason is one of the best philosophers of all time; it’s a wonder why her works are not discussed more. Her published writings contain some of the most valuable information. She believed parents play a crucial role in their children’s education and that raising and educating them should not be separated. Many of her works would be controversial for our time, but her ideas remain as valuable today as they were 100 years ago when she wrote them.
Education would take leaps and bounds if we could believe that children have minds that act upon knowledge as their digestive organs work upon food. Narration is like digestion. It is the process of assimilating what has been read. If the material offered to children is “predigested,” broken down or reduced to abstractions – their minds have little to do.
-Charlotte Mason
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Narration is one of the oldest methods of learning and securing knowledge. By oldest, I mean tried and true methods used. It dates back to ancient civilization; the Romans used it, and if we know our history, they built one of the largest, most successful empires. Why they fell is entirely another conversation, so let’s keep going.
There are no workbooks, writing curricula, or textbooks that will produce and turn out ‘thinkers.’
Only when fed quality books and regularly exercised does the mind begin to grow, and paired with narration, we begin to make ‘thinkers.’
Today’s educational practices of regular testing and giving students digested ideas found in textbooks rarely produce original thinking.
Most of us have reached adulthood and have yet to get a high level of thinking. The first order of narration is understanding the type of books to be read. There is a significant difference between quality books and twaddle.
Most students today are exposed to twaddle, never really experiencing the true thoughts of the original author of the idea. Charlotte Mason explains this by suggesting textbooks fall into this category, giving the reader very little to think about and leaving them dry. We can now see why a child may graduate and never pick up a book again. Furthermore, we can see how a child can test well but never reach a high level of thinking.
There are far too many quality books to mention now, but I want to mention at least one. The Bible, the canonized 66 books, should not be overlooked. This compilation of books has been removed from public schools. Whether you believe in the God of Abraham, Isaack, or Jacob is not the point; rather, no book holds this type of literary quality. The use of words, poems, parables, philosophy, and morals is unmatched. Lastly, the tension between nations; the mind needs this type of food.
Scripture tells us, ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God’s mouth” (Matthew 4:1-4).
This tells us something profound, perhaps overlooked. The body needs food to survive, as man needs to be spiritually fed.
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Using narration as a teaching method builds that intellectual habit of telling what you know. Remember, we can only tell what we know. Narration only comes after quality books are consumed, written by the original thinker or someone who has studied the original thinker thoroughly.
The student quickly becomes aware that they must ‘pay attention’ to narrate the story. When using narration, the only question is, “What can you tell me about this story?” Her attention is then secured to the text; she must comprehend the whole meaning of the text. She is actively engaged! The testing method we commonly use today can produce good test takers but cannot create a more profound understanding. Those who have mastered test-taking know that the answer was already on the page by selecting from ABC or D.
But what if she does not know this or that? Then, she was not supposed to know that, at least not now. Knowledge is to the mind what food is the body. The body takes what it needs and discards the rest. As parents, we must feed our children nutritious food and get out of the way. The same goes for the mind; all we can do is present good literature and allow the child to digest it; she will take from it what she needs.
If a student is asked to compare the leadership of Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin, firing off facts could not answer this question. These types of questions require a deeper understanding. For example, my child, at the age of seven, made the connection that war will happen again; the rise and fall of a nation starts with the desire for power and greed. She has made these connections by us reading about ancient history; we would not have time to cover this type of reading if we were spending time preparing for test taking. She may have yet to secure all the facts, such as dates/times, but she understands the chief ideas, which is far more important.
I fully trust that the facts will later be hung on the ideas she has connected with. If given the opportunity, all children can develop strong thinking skills and make connections on their own if we take a deeper look at the philosophy behind our teaching method.
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Narration helps develop synthetic thinking, constantly making connections and noticing similarities. Narration stimulates the mind, looking for order and integrating all the learned things. It unifies the understanding of their relations. Ms. Mason best defines education as “The science of relations.” Our relation to God, our creator, our relation to humans, and our relations to the natural world. A child needs to know how they fit into the world; this can only happen when they make connections for themselves. These three education components never end, allowing the healthy spring of knowledge to flow well for the rest of their lives.
When a child regularly narrates after a single reading, it increases their vocabulary and uses more complex sentences. The child will often narrate utilizing the author’s language – thus making it into her own. Well-written literature usually comes after reading well-written books, learning wordplay, and detailed expression. One of the hardest things to do in writing is organize your material, narrating in the early years of education to help develop this skill. Everything begins in the mind; the mechanics should come later.
There are four overlapping stages in narration when using it as a method of teaching:
- Oral narration then grows into written narration.
- Later, it develops into a composition.
- Lastly, becoming formal writing.
Each stage builds upon mental habits established one before the other, starting as early as first grade. Narration becomes an art when we lift it beyond its everyday uses and make a purposeful pursuit. Second-rate books should never be given to a child with the hope they will understand the complete idea the author wanted to convey. Furthermore, can it be considered quality until a book has become a classic? The idea has yet to be tested long enough to base sound decisions. We then circle back to what education is but an applied philosophy.
When a child narrates after a single reading, they enter into a conversation with the author; they become partakers in the universal quest for wisdom. Wisdom is gained over time; the best way to secure it is by reading and making connections for ourselves.
Firing off facts works only for utilitarian purposes and has its place. However, tracing cause to consequence and consequence to cause to discern character and get life lessons through quality literature paired with narration is a foundation we can build upon to turn out original thinkers. High-level thinking would debunk many of the bad ideas being presented today.