Intermediate Written Narration

Description

Instructor: Professor Jessica Tancredi

Prerequisites: Students enrolling in this class should have at least one year of consistent written narration practice and experience.  This class is designed for students ages 10+ who are ready to move onto more complex written narrations and begin revising narrations.

Meetings: The live class will meet once weekly for 12 weeks on Zoom: Tuesdays from 11-11:45am Pacific time from Tuesday, September 15th to Tuesday, December 8th (no classes the week of Thanksgiving).  All live classes will be recorded in case students cannot attend live. The recording will be available shortly after the class concludes.

Live Class: Students will continue to practice some oral narration in this group setting based on short tales and stories read aloud in class from the building blocks of story (fables, fairy tales, myths, and legends).  We will practice more advanced narrations including the skills of abbreviation and elaboration, as well as observe and narrate from 2 works of art throughout the term.  Students may be asked to complete a sentence of copywork from the reading during class, or we may do a short dictation lesson. Students will also memorize the eight parts of speech, and we will practice more advanced grammar and mechanics.

Homework: Each week students will be assigned to write 1-2 written narrations on readings from living books that they are already reading for their assigned lessons at home (no additional reading will be assigned or required).  These written narrations can be done from any subject – literature, history, biography, science, or math – as long as they are classic works or living books.  Parents will work with their children to determine which reading they will write their narrations from that week.  Written narrations must be done from living books.

Students will be asked to write specific types of narrations each week. For example, 1 written narration will be a basic retelling, the other will be a creative narration (in the form of a letter, diary, verse, dialogue, play, comic strip, etc.).  One of these narrations can be typed if the student is able to type well and correctly. Handwritten narrations are strongly encouraged. Every 3-4 weeks students will be asked to revise a previously submitted narration in place of writing a new narration.

Grading: Parents will receive guidance via checklists and rubrics for giving feedback and grading their students’ assignments.

Course Access: This class was previously hosted on Canvas using their Free-for-Teacher platform which has since been discontinued. I am working on finding a suitable alternative. 2 weeks prior to the course start date you will receive an email with instructions on how to access the course material, including where students will be able to access the class recordings.