Narration Problems: The Narration Includes Extra Information

Question:

My child can narrate, but when she does she adds in details she did not read in her text. These facts are true; they come from television documentaries, other books, or real life experiences. But they were not in the reading assignment I asked her to narrate. Is this a problem?

Answer:

Strictly speaking, a narration is telling back. So extra details don't belong in a strict narration.

If the narration is mostly facts outside of the reading assignment, there is a problem. Why did the reading assignment not get narrated? Was it a lack of attention? Was it a lack of understanding? The reading assignment itself should be narrated.

If the narration includes a retelling of the material but also adds in other facts, this is a much easier problem to deal with.

Although a strict narration includes only a retelling, we want our children to make connections to prior learning and even to draw their own conclusions based on what they read. So it would be a shame to discourage such thinking processes. 

Instead, help your child identify where the strict narration ends and her own details begin.

Verbal Narrations

If the narration is verbal, it is easy enough to add some qualifiers such as

• "This wasn't in the reading, but I remember that..."
• "The book left out ...."
• "I remember from our trip last year that..."

Remind your child that after he has narrated his reading assignment, he is welcome to continue sharing extra tidbits he remembers from other sources and to express his own thoughts on the topic of study. You certainly don't want to shut down a thinking child! 

Written Narrations

In a written narration, it is generally okay to add extra information as long as it is all accurate. The written narration becomes a report that is based on many sources of information, one of which was the day's reading assignment.