A Classical Guide to Narration

by Jason Barney

A Classical Guide to Narration is a practical exploration of how Charlotte Mason's approach to the art and skill of narration might be adopted in modern classical education settings. Full of step-by-step advice for how to implement narration in the classical school classroom, it presents the historical context of narration alongside contemporary studies that reveal its immense value in the development of young minds. By exploring the history of narration and its relationship to the liberal arts tradition, the book sets Charlotte Mason's powerful practice on solid footing for wider adoption in the classical renewal movement.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

114 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Garrison Greene]

Really excellent introduction to Mason’s concept of narration.

[Amy Meyers]

This is excellent. I haven’t read the book Know and Tell by Karen Glass yet, but this book references her work and Charlotte Mason throughout, and applies the concept of narration to the classroom. This is a very thorough overview of why and how to use narration in a school setting. He explains thoroughly and convincingly how narration has many benefits and fits in a Christian worldview (because of Charlotte Mason’s view that children are born persons and that narration fits with children being in the image of God), with the classical tradition, and with modern learning science. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to understand narration more. Clearly he presents Charlotte Mason’s view, not Susan Bauer’s techniques of summarizing in her narration instruction in Writing with Ease. Charlotte Mason fans would be satisfied to know that he emphasizes throughout this book that true classical education involves self-education, not the teacher giving everything to the student. I could not see any disagreement between what he said and Charlotte Mason’s philosophy; rather he supports everything she says, from what I can see.

[Hannah Lewis]

Agree with most of what’s said here and this is overall useful to my teaching practice — to add to Barney’s point, Walter Fisher’s narrative paradigm supports the idea that people learn better and latch more strongly onto story, as opposed to strict data. When learning is given an arc, a beginning and an end, and re-iterated in the student’s own words… it is much more effective.

Some pretty egregious editing issues with the manuscript though, and I love classical educators but we REALLY love a three-point list and sometimes things don’t need to be three point lists :) love you guys!

[Timothy Dehne]

Excellent

[Landon Miller]

An excellent introduction to the practice of classroom narration.

[Aimee M.]

This book is helpful in the sense of understanding ways to fit the act of narration within a classroom setting. I still prefer Know and Tell by Karen Glass, as I feel like her explanation of what narration actually is and why it "works" is much clearer and stronger. This felt like more of an argument for why narration is also a classical act.
The most infuriating thing about this book were the citations. When quoting Charlotte Mason's volumes he was all over the place. Sometimes he quoted volumes from Ambleside Online's website and all of his quotes from her final volume, A Philosophy of Education, came from some obscure copy. When he quoted an article from Mason's Parent's Review, instead of citing the actual article which can easily be found online, he quoted a quote from Glass's book.
Mason's volumes are easily found online for free and there are plenty of published volumes that all follow the same original formatting. It would have been much more beneficial to the reader who wants to go and read those quotes from Mason (or read that PNEU article) if he would have taken the time to be cite from the original formatting for all the volumes. It just felt lazy.

[the_storied_life (Joyce Santiago)]

This book has good info in it, but it is written as a guide to applying the practice of narration in the classical school setting. I obviously did not read the description 😅😅 You still can apply principles to your homeschool though. My favorite book on narration is Know and Tell by Karen Glass, so I highly recommend that one. You can leave this one.

[Jarrett Vandiver]

"Memory is the mother of all wisdom" - Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound

This is a fantastic guide to implementing the practice of narration into schools and classrooms. Essentially, narration is a practice of hearing a rich text read, closing the text, and having a student tell back, in his own words, the full story in as much detail as he can remember. It is not a summary or an act of picking out random details; it is the act of telling the entire story. If you want to get a sense of how powerful yet challenging this is, I encourage you to read 2-3 pages of whatever book you are on right now, close the book, and tell back from memory every part you remember of those two pages. It is not as easy! This is why the ancient Roman orator and educator, Quintilian, said: “He who shall successfully perform this exercise (narration), which is difficult even for accomplished professors, will be able to learn anything.” – Quintilian, Institutes of Oratory 1.9.2-3

Narration is a teaching method deeply rooted in western, biblical tradition. In fact, Moses' command to train children in biblical knowledge was essentially advocating for narration: "Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise" (Deut. 6:6-7). We often "talk" about Scripture today, but it is important to note that Moses prescribes "reciting" before the talking. That is, the story and narrative of Scripture is to be memorized before we have the foundation to talk about it.

The same goes with other knowledge, and how powerful it would be if children from a young age were trained in the practice of memory from their time at home to the first day they get to school. The first time I visited a classical school at the beginning of my teaching career, I was struck when I noticed 2nd graders seeming to effortlessly tell back even minute details in a full retelling of many pages from the Chronicles of Narnia.

I look forward to making this more a part of our curriculum at St. Ann Catholic School!

[Grace RS]

A good little book full of advice and suggestions on how to successfully implement narration in a classroom setting. He draws most of his information from Charlotte Mason, Karen Glass' Know and Tell, Clark and Jain's The Liberal Arts Tradition, Gregory's The Seven Laws of Teaching, and Teach Like a Champion; moreover, he cites Brown's Make It Stick to demonstrate how modern research as well supports the retrieval practice.
While he does connect his talk of the trivium to Sayer's essay, recognizing that education should indeed teach students to learn for themselves, he departs from her by arguing that the trivium should be embodied in all subjects rather than compartmentalized by certain ages.
I enjoy how he talks of the teacher as being a facilitator of learning, a guide, for the text itself is the source of wisdom. He leads the reader through the expectations of the teacher in how to best prepare a lesson that will lead to interpretation/understanding, discussion, and inquiry. Through narration, students will converse with ideas, which will inevitably lead to wonder and wisdom.

[Erin Anderson]

This is a brief, but fantastic, summary of the power of narration and its use in a classroom setting. There are a number of references to modern studies on the power of recall in addition to the expected historic examples. A perfect accompaniment to Karen Glass's "Know and Tell" for narration in homeschool settings.

[Bill Stutzman]

Some gems in here, and a good introduction for folks wanting to know more. Examples as few and brief, but they paint a helpful picture. It's hard to compare reading about the practice to seeing it in person or implementing it, but Barney does a nice job of pointing the teacher to further reflection.

[Ruthie Planamenta]

Read this book in conjunction with our staff meetings, and it provided lots of helpful fodder for our discussion on best practices. Narration is new for me since coming to teach at a classical school, but I definitely see its benefits! I am especially intrigued by the thought of using narration as a tool with my own children someday to assess their understanding before they are literate.

[Creighton]

This book should be required reading for all in-service and pre-service teachers (even if you dont teach at a classical school)! I'm so glad I was asked to read this as part of my in-service training at TRCA! Narration is a game-changing pedagogical tool that needs to be implemented everywhere today. I plan to start practicing using narration in my classrooms right away

[Carli A]

While the content itself is fine, I think the book could've been shortened to a simple essay or blog post. There were SO many footnotes inside; often, half of the page was filled with footnotes! It seems I should just read the 3 or more books the author continually quoted from instead of reading this one...

[Mikal Lambdin]

4.5 stars

This was short, to the point, and practical, which is just what I was looking for. Chapters 1-2 define narration and its usefulness, 3-4 offer a framework for implementation, and 5-6 relate narration to the trivium+quadrivium. I liked the first 4 chapters best; I think the last 2 are a little ambitious and nerdy for such a short book.

[Emily Shields]

Very short and sweet. I appreciated the integration of Biblical worldview. It seems as though narration as a teaching practice should not be such a novel idea. The author does point out the value of analysis and prep work which enhances the narration experience.

[Isabella Roh]

A very insightful view into methods of learning and how they relate to human nature. It was especially refreshing because of how Barney so comfortably works within a Christian worldview, and made education feel hopeful!

[Sarah]

This book about narration as a pedagogical practice is an amazing inspiration and challenge for the aspiring classical educator/administrator. I’m so glad I’ve read it, and will now embrace the challenge of implementing it in my school.

[Mandi Gerth]

I would have liked more ideas on implementation, but Barney does a good job of placing narration within the Classical tradition and proving its value as a classical pedagogical practice.

[Rebekah Sturgill]

Incredibly helpful in both explaining what narration is and how to use it in a classroom, along with resources for those using it in a homeschool or tutoring setting.

[Carrie Whelpley]

1. First Little Talk -- Pre-Grammar
2. Reading of a Rich Text -- Grammar
3. Narration -- Pre-Rhetoric
4. Second Little Talk -- Dialectic
5. Response -- Rhetoric

[Andrea]

Succinct and practical.

[Leila Chandler]

It is more for classroom teachers than homeschoolers, but homeschoolers can still get benefit from it. It has a great bibliography in the back. I want to read some books by Karen Glass after this.

[Donald]

Helpful book.

[Nathan Dowd]

A great summary of the basics of narration and how it can fit in a classical framework.

[Tracey]

This is one of the best books I’ve read about the practice of narration.

[Marybeth Bratrud]

This was an okay book. Great introduction but if you’re looking for more depth on the concepts of Narration just read Charlotte Mason herself.