What did Charlotte Mason say about narration?

Narration is a skill that Charlotte Mason emphasized, and I think it is a very valuable skill, particularly these days when our ability to focus on a text deeply has been weakened by the hundreds of shiny promises of entertainment that flash around us constantly.

In order to narrate , you must first read or listen to a reading closely.  Here are a few quotations from Charlotte Mason herself that will help get the idea across.

As soon as the child is able to read, he should start reading some of his books on his own. He can read history, legends, fairy tales and other appropriate books. He should be trained right from the start to expect one single reading to be sufficient in order to narrate from it. That will motivate him to develop the habit of slow, careful reading to absorb information even when he reads silently, because he will read every phrase deliberately to understand its meaning  

Volume 1, Home Education, pg 227

It’s interesting to hear 7 or 8 year olds tell back a long story from this book without missing any details and getting everything in the right order.  Yet their narrations aren’t merely parroted phrases from the book. When a child really enjoys something, his individual personality comes through in his exuberance at talking about it. With this book, the child tells back the story accurately, but in his own words while still retaining some of the author’s style. By the way, it’s very important to let children narrate in their own way. They shouldn’t be coaxed and helped with cue words from the text.

A narration should have the child’s unique stamp on it as evidence that the material has been assimilated and gone through some processing in his mind. Narrations that are nothing more than rote memorizations are of no value to the child. 

Volume 1, Home Education, pg 289

To watch my video about Charlotte Mason’s technique of narration, click here or on the picture above.