Lesson 6 – NARRATION and a SHARED MORAL IMAGINATION
Family reading combined with oral narration is a powerful method to build active listening, long-term retention, communication skills, and storytelling. Sharing stories is the only way to establish a shared moral imagination.
BECOME STORYTELLERS!
Begin by reading aloud on a regular basis. Read most everything aloud, but especially read engaging stories with rich, descriptive language. To add narration, after reading a passage, ask the listener to recount the story. Avoid any interruptions to their flow. Let them process and sequence the information naturally.
Family reading transforms a book into a shared imaginative space where we explore ethical dilemmas and develop empathy, perspective, and a moral vocabulary. We can analyze the consequences of a character's choices and discuss the "what-ifs" of a moral dilemma from a safe distance. Regular reading time establishes rituals and builds a collection of inside jokes, historical references, and an "extended family" of personalities and experiences.
Ask Open-Ended Questions:
“What did it make you think of?”
“When you were listening, did anything else come to your mind?”
"Why do you think they made that choice?"
"What would you have done in that situation?"
YOUR SHARED “HAPPY PLACE”
Let down the drawbridge, open the portal!
“Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.” ~G.K. Chesterton
"The true purpose of a Classical education is to get all the jokes." ~Andrew Kern
