Introduction to Written Narration (Thursdays 11:30am)

Description

Instructor: Professor Jessica Tancredi

Prerequisites: Students enrolling in this class should have at least one year of consistent oral narration practice and experience.  This class is designed for students ages 9+ who are ready to transition from solely oral narrations into written narrations.

Meetings: This course will meet live once weekly for 12 weeks on Zoom: Thursdays from 11:30am-12:15pm Pacific time from Thursday, September 17th to Thursday, December 10th, 2026 (no classes the week of Thanksgiving).  All live classes will be recorded in case students cannot attend live.

Live Class: Students will continue to practice oral narration in a class setting.  We will read short tales and stories aloud in class from the building blocks of story (fables, fairy tales, myths, and legends) and practice oral narration as a group.  Students will be encouraged to provide specific details from the story, in the correct sequence, continuing to hone the habit of attention.  We will also practice observing and narrating 2 works of art.  Students may be asked to complete a sentence of copywork from the reading during class on some days, or we may do a short dictation lesson other days.  Students may be asked to read aloud their written narration in class, and it will vary each week which students are asked to share.  I will also introduce basic elements of story such as point of view, setting, characters, dialogue, and descriptive language.  While we will practice basic retellings of the readings, we will also introduce and practice creative narrations, which make narrations more fun and engaging for students!

Homework: Each week students will be assigned to write one written narration on a reading from a living book that they are already reading for their assigned lessons at home. No additional reading will be assigned or required.  This written narration can be done from any subject – literature, history, biography, science, or math – as long as it is a classic work or living book.  Parents will work with their children to determine which reading they will write their narration from that week.  Written narrations must be done from living books.  These narrations should be handwritten.

Grading: Students will receive full credit for all written narrations at this stage; they will be graded for completion rather than skill.  The goal at this stage is just to get students writing narrations consistently.  Students will be introduced to/reminded of some basic grammatical and mechanical skills such as capitalization and end punctuation.  They will be encouraged to incorporate these elements into their writing, but this is not a primary emphasis of this stage.  Students will receive general, encouraging written comments on their narrations every other week (some gentle suggestions may be made or clarification questions asked).

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 Zoom link and class recordings, how to view and submit assignments, and receive feedback.