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In the last episode I spoke with Amber O’ Neal Johnston about living books and how to recognize them. Charlotte Mason said that lesson material should be based on two things: living books and real things. Not lectures or from the teacher or boring textbooks. Not diagrams or drawings of things. It should be based on living books written by people who are knowledgeable about a subject and preferably experienced what they’re writing about first-hand. As well as real things that the child can gain knowledge from with their five senses.
So we know what lesson content is, but what do we do with that material?
I’ve studied Charlotte’s writings for a few years now, and I’ve also done a lot of reading into current research on cognitive science. I’m constantly mind blown to find how parallel they are. The three tools I’m sharing today are from Charlotte’s volumes and from the book Make it Stick: the Science of Successful Learning. Make it Stick is based on years of research in cognitive science and educational psychology. The authors begin the book by busting some myths around the fashionable ideas common in education. So I’m going to do that before I begin talking about the time-tested and science-backed teaching methods.
First Myth: reading a passage over and over again is the most effective way to remember information.
Wrong. Charlotte busted this myth over a hundred years ago in her twenty principles. In her twenty principles she said “A single reading is insisted on, because children have naturally great power of attention; but this force is dissipated by the re-reading of passages, and also, by questioning, summarising. and the like.” In other words, we shouldn’t read a passage 3 times because our child wasn’t listening. Nor should we mindlessly read a passage over and over again the night before a test thinking that the more times we read it the more likely it would stick in our mind. It never really worked, did it?
Charlotte doesn’t mean we shouldn’t reread beloved books. She’s saying when trying to learn something rereading the passage over and over again won’t do a darn thing. And tons of research backs her up. Rereading doesn’t work.
Myth Two: each person learns differently and the teacher’s job is to adapt lesson material to fit each students needs.
Wrong. There is no research to back up this idea. What researchers have found is that subjects are learned better when taught in the way that makes sense for that subject. P.E. And art are hard to understand when taught aurally and grammar is difficult to understand kinesthetically.
They’ve also found that people do have unique expression styles. Some people express their ideas visually, some aurally, and other kinesthetically. But everyone learns best when material is presented in the way that best suited that subject.
Myth Three: testing isn’t an effective learning tool
There are a lot of negative connotations associated with testing, but it can be a very effective learning tool. In Make It Stick the authors explain that retrieval, the act of retrieving knowledge at will, is very effective at solidifying knowledge an expanding long-term memory. Its how most schools and states use testing that causes issues. When people are asked open-ended questions and they aren’t graded and compared to their peers it can be a great tool to solidify knowledge and give teachers an idea of what their students are retaining.
Myth four: students learn best from lectures.
Wrong. Does a person of any age actually enjoy listening to lectures? A lecture is the teachers narration. They read the books. They sort through the information and decide what is important and what is not. They compile the information and present what they’ve learned. Essentially they are doing the work of education. Although Students may pick up some things here and there from a lecture, they learn so much more when they read the books, synthesize the information, and present what they’ve learned. They are doing the work of their education.
So those aren’t the most effective methods. What should we be doing instead?
Narration, otherwise known as elaboration (telling back in own words)
Narration is so integral to Charlotte Mason’s method that its one of her twenty principles: “As knowledge is not assimilated until it is reproduced, children should ‘tell back’ after a single reading or hearing: or should write on some part of what they have read.”
“Children Narrate by Nature.––Narrating is an art, like poetry-making or painting, because it is there, in every child’s mind, waiting to be discovered, and is not the result of any process of disciplinary education. A creative fiat calls it forth. ‘Let him narrate’; and the child narrates, fluently, copiously, in ordered sequence, with fit and graphic details, with a just choice of words, without verbosity or tautology, so soon as he can speak with ease. This amazing gift with which normal children are born is allowed to lie fallow in their education.” (Charlotte Mason, Home Education, 231)
Narration is simply telling back what you know. In Charlotte Mason’s education method narration was the replacement for multiple-choice tests and worksheets. The act of simply telling back what you know may seem ineffective, but science is proving that this small and simple act is more effective than traditional methods of testing.
The testing effect has a solid pedigree in empirical research.
The first large-scale investigation was published in 1917.
Children in grades 3, 5, 6, and 8 studied brief biographies from Who’s Who in America. Some of them were directed to spend varying lengths of the study time looking up from the material and silently reciting to themselves what it contained.
Those who did not do so simply continued to reread the ma-terial. At the end of the period, all the children were asked to write down what they could remember. The recall test was repeated three to four hours later. All the groups who had engaged in the recitation showed better retention than those who had not done so but had merely continued to review the material. The best results were from those spending about 60 percent of the study time in recitation. P. 30
In the book, Make it Stick, the authors discovered a few powerful learning techniques that make a huge difference in whether a person remembers knowledge or not. One of those techniques is called elaboration. Its the act of telling back what you learned and then elaborating on it and making connections.
Whether you call it narration or elaboration. The idea is the same: tell back what you know and elaborate on it.
Long before this study, Charlotte Mason summed up this truth by stating:
“As we have already urged, there is but one right way, that is, children must do the work for themselves. They must read the given pages and tell what they have read, they must perform, that is, what we may call the act of knowing. We are all aware, alas, what a monstrous quantity of printed matter has gone into the dustbin of our memories, because we have failed to perform that quite natural and spontaneous ‘act of knowing,’ as easy to a child as breathing…” (A Philosophy of Education, pg 99)
I first experienced the power of narration while at Brigham Young University. I was exposed to many styles of teaching, but only one style was effective in retaining the knowledge I learned in that class. In my final, higher-level class the professor employed a unique teaching strategy: looking back I recognize this technique as narration.
These were the requirements for the class: read 2-3 research studies per week, come to class to discuss your thoughts, write one research paper, and take a midterm and final. There was no study guide for the exams because they were essays. They consisted of questions like “How does forgiveness benefit family life?” and “How does sacrifice affect relationships?” The exams were difficult, but not in the same way that multiple choice tests were difficult. It required me to synthesize all the information I learned and convey it in a meaningful way. I was forced to think for myself instead of trying to guess which minute details the professor had handpicked from the text. To this day I still retain the knowledge I learned in that class–not because I memorized it, but because I made it mine.
“Our business is to provide children with material in their lessons, and leave the handling of such material to themselves.” (1/247)
Narration is simply telling what you know, but the actual application is difficult, in a good way. It requires the mind to really work and produces powerful results. But ithe purpose lies much deeper than quizzing the student. Charlotte said:
“The value of narration does not lie wholly in the swift acquisition of knowledge and its sure retention. Properly dealt with, it produces a mental transfiguration. It provides much more exercise for the mind than is possible under other circumstances and there is a corresponding degree of alertness and acquisitiveness. As a Yorkshireman would put it, the children become very “quick in t’ up-tak” (quick in the up-take).”
Each person is unique and what they gain from a book depends on their experience, maturity, and past knowledge. What your child gained from a book may be much more personalized, and therefore influential, for them than what you gained from the book. The process of summarizing and synthesizing information is difficult because it requires the brain to transfer information from one side to the other. It is a whole brain activity. In his article, “The Method of Narration” Mr. Boardman beautifully and concisely describes the purpose of narration:
“This, then, is the purpose of narration—a purpose which we would do well to keep constantly before us. There should be no misconception. It is not a teacher’s device designed to find out if the child has completed a given task. It is not an act of verbal memory. It is a process which makes all the difference between a child knowing a thing and not knowing it. Narration is, indeed, like faith, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It is the method whereby the child assimilates what he reads.”
What Does Narration Look Like?
“What I say is the outcome of my experience. Perhaps it would be wise to remind ourselves that narration can take many forms. It can be oral or written reproduction of the whole or of part; it can be comparison of, or contrast between, some person or event occurring in the reading and some person or event of which the children already have cognisance; it can take the form of drawing, the writing of notes, or the making of a summary; and to your minds will occur other forms which narration can take.” (Daisy Golding, Knowledge and Narration)
Starting at age six children should start oral narration. Charlotte advised against starting before this age, and based on what we know about brain development this makes sense.. After 6 years old oral narration becomes the main method of knowledge retention after reading from a living book or participating in an object lesson. Oral narration precedes written narration, which begins at age 10 or 11. This seems old, but if you start too early, before a child’s mind is ready, then you risk it becoming a source of frustration and aversion. Remember earlier in the episode when I talked about learning styles? People learn a subject best when it is presented in the way that naturally suits the subject, and in turn, people present their knowledge in ways that they find most natural. This is narration.
The poets and authors are people who preferred to narrate their ideas via words and language. Musicians narrate their ideas through music, while artists narrate through paintings. While still others express them mathematically or through dance. Although there are many ways people can narrate, the first and foremost is orally. As children gain skills in the arts they will be more able to express themselves and narrate their knowledge, but we begin with oral narration.
What I find so powerful is that this is the way adults learn. We ask questions, we wonder, then we search for answer by reading or experimenting, then we tell people about what we learn. This is how all people learn.
When children begin school at 6 or 7 we begin by reading a paragraph or two and asking them to tell back what that was about. As they get better we can read more – a page, then a chapter before asking them to narrate. Children should narrate after every subject. Here’s how that would look:
History: read a few pages or a chapter, then ask them to tell back what they learned. Occasionally ask them to draw a scene from their history book.
Nature Study + Science: After object lesson or experiment ask your child to tell what they learned. What did you notice? What happened? Draw your and note your observations in your nature or science notebook .
Math: Learn a new principle then practice it. Ask your child to explain the principle in their own words. Give an example, make up their own problem.
Generation (asking questions)
“Trying to solve a problem before being taught the solution leads to better learning, even when errors are made in the attempt.” – Peter C. Brown, Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning
In the book, Make it Stick, the authors discovered that people were eager to learn and retained much more knowledge when they tried to solve a problem before being given the solution. Children are much more interested in an answer when they’re the ones that asked the question. One of my favorite quotes by Charlotte Mason is:
The mind can know nothing save what it can produce in the form of an answer to a question put to the mind by itself.” (Charlotte Mason. Philosophy of Education, p. 16)
In other words, the mind will remember the solutions and answers that it wanted to know, and not much else. The key is curiosity and desire.
Questions are powerful. They literally open up the mind to wonder and curiosity, and creates a desire to learn. So it makes sense why the students should be the ones asking the questions, not the teachers. As a side note open-ended questions are great teaching tools, but used in moderation.
Traditional education focuses too heavily on information input, things that can be measured on a multiple-choice test. Though it may be useful and necessary to memorize some things (times tables, formulas, beloved scriptures, poetry, etc) the human mind is capable of much higher intellectual abilities than simply storing information. The one thing that computers and AI cannot do is wonder and generate original questions. In fact, when The New York Times asked several college presidents what students should gain from four years of college, it was not to retain a certain amount of knowledge or graduate with a high test score. The most common answer was to gain skills, one of which was the ability to inquire:
“The primary skills should be analytical skills of interpretation and inquiry.”
(Leon Botstein, Bard College)
“The best we can do for students is to have them ask the right questions”
(Nancy Cantor, Syracuse University)
Education should really be founded on a student’s questions, on things they don’t know but have a desire to know.
When the teacher instructs, lectures, and asks the questions, it puts the child in a passive role. When a child asks the questions, he is put in the active role.
So how can we help them generate questions when they’re not interested in the subject? There are a couple ways:
First, is the Question Formulation Technique from the Right Question Institute. The basic idea is this: Give students a question focus – a sentence, a picture, a sound, an object, or even a math question– then ask them to generate as many questions as they can and write them down. Change the wording to make them more effective, then choose a few to pursue. This are great ways
Second, take turns asking questions as a family or class. After reading a chapter or passage, each person asks one question and answers one question.
Third, give your child a problem and have them generate solutions. Have them write down questions as they go. If they solve, it, great! If not, they are much more interested in the method and principles because they are invested. This works best in STEM subjects, like math and science.
There is so much research done on inquiry and generation. Way too much for me to list in this episode, but I will link some resources for you to check out if you’re interested in learning more. In this episode I’m just giving you the principles and how to apply them.
Retrieval (delayed narration)
In Charlotte Mason’s schools, exam week was an exciting time. Students were asked a few open-ended questions for each subject, which included questions like: tell me about a hero you read about this term, explain the process a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly.
Interestingly, an identical learning tool is described in Make it Stick. It’s called retrieval.
This is what the author, Peter Brown, says about this tool: “Practice at retrieving new knowledge or skill from memory is a potent tool for learning and durable retention. This is true for anything the brain is asked to remember and call up again in the future–facts, complex concepts, problem-solving tech-niques, motor skills.”
Narrating right after reading is extremely effective at putting the knowledge into long term memory, and retrieval ensures it stays there and is easily accessible when needed. But narrating and retrieving knowledge is actually pretty difficult. That’s why it seems like its not as effective because children’s narration’s seem subpar. But like bamboo, there is a lot of growth happening under the surface that we can’t see.
“Effortful retrieval makes for stronger learning and retention. We’re easily seduced into believing that learning is better when it’s easier, but the research shows the opposite: when the mind has to work, learning sticks better.”
What kinds of learning tools are easy? Multiple choice tests, fill in the blank, label the parts, etc.
Asking a person to describe the events that led up to the Revolutionary War is much more difficult than giving them a multiple choice test and asking them to select all relevant events. And asking them to compare and contrast it to another event, say the French Revolution, is even harder.
Peter Brown says points out that “Long-term memory capacity is virtually limitless: the more you know, the more possible connections you have for adding new knowledge.” and to help build the long term memory “Periodic retrieval of learning helps strengthen connections to the memory and the cues for recalling it, while also weakening routes to competing memories. Retrieval practice that’s easy does little to strengthen learning; the more difficult the practice, the greater the benefit.”
The authors of Make it Stick also discovered that the longer time between retrieval sessions, the more difficult it is for the mind, but the more likely the knowledge will stick long-term afterwards.
So, what does retrieval look like in a real home?
Relate. After reading a chapter ask “what does this remind you of?” to help make connections across subjects and to help the mind retrieve knowledge from past terms.
Delayed Narration. You can do what Charlotte Mason called “delayed narration.” Before you start a lesson ask your child “what happened last time we read?” Or “what do you remember from the last lesson?” This weekly or bi-weekly practice is a retrieval exercise that is simple, but very effective to keep their mind continually retrieving knowledge.
Exams. Hold exams at the end of your three month term. Ask your child open-ended questions that require them to narrate what they learned. I use words like explain, describe, relate, and tell me about.
And that’s it! Those three tools should be the workhorses in every home and classroom. Read good books, ask questions, tell about what you learned, elaborate on it, relate it to past knowledge.