{"id":568,"date":"2019-10-05T07:57:21","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T12:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/?p=568"},"modified":"2023-05-06T10:12:04","modified_gmt":"2023-05-06T15:12:04","slug":"the-flow-of-thought-part-3-narration-as-flow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2019\/10\/05\/the-flow-of-thought-part-3-narration-as-flow\/","title":{"rendered":"The Flow of Thought, Part 3: Narration as Flow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s been a little while since my last article on the flow of thought<\/a>, or how Mihayli Csikszentmihalyi\u2019s concept of flow<\/a> can support the philosophy of classical education. In the meantime, I\u2019ve shared an early version of my eBook on implementing Charlotte Mason\u2019s practice of narration in the classroom (see our new Narration page<\/a> for more information). My hope in making this resource is to inspire more classical schools around the country to adopt narration as a teaching tool in the classroom, because I think it\u2019s incredibly powerful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Past installments – Part 1: Training the Attention for Happiness’ Sake<\/a>, Part 2: The Joy of Memory<\/a>. Future Installments – Part 4: The Seven Liberal Arts as Mental Games<\/a>, Part 5: The Play of Words<\/a>; Part 6: Becoming Amateur Historians<\/a>; Part 7: Rediscovering Science as the Love of Wisdom<\/a>; Part 8, Restoring the School of Philosophers<\/a>, Part 9, The Lifelong Love of Learning<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article I\u2019d like to weave these three strands together to explain how the practice of narration can get students (and adults!) into flow<\/a> better than many other standard classroom \u201clearning activities.\u201d My thoughts on this connection are a bit more anecdotal and reflective, drawing less from Czikszentmihalyi\u2019s chapter than other articles in this series. But based on more than a decade of experience with narration, I think the connection I\u2019m making is still valid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Concept of \u2018Flow\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To recap, the idea of flow is that there is a state of mind\na person gets into when wholly immersed in a challenge commensurate with their\nabilities. From extensive studies on this experience, it\u2019s clear that it is widely\nregarded as the optimal state of mind. People describe it glowingly; in fact,\nthat\u2019s where our psychologist got the term \u2018flow\u2019. It\u2019s almost a timeless state\nin which the natural disorder of the mind (worries and fears, self-consciousness\nand despair) are set aside by the perfection of focus on a meaningful activity.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passive entertainment, like TV watching, on the other hand,\ncorrelates with mild depression (Csikszentmihalyi 119). We may think we want to\nbe entertained, but we actually want to be challenged with a meaningful\nactivity that develops our skill or knowledge in some way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Practice of Narration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Where I think this connects with Charlotte Mason\u2019s practice of narration<\/a> is that the concept of flow<\/a> seems to be another modern confirmation of this traditional practice. If you\u2019re new to the practice of narration, it is a simple but elegant practice, in which students are first exposed to rich content (most often through reading a passage of a book) and then asked to tell it back or narrate it in a connected format from memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Charlotte
(c) The Armitt Museum and Library; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Narration can come in many forms: a single student of a\nclass could tell the whole passage, students could narrate to a partner, or they\ncould all write down their narration. Of prime importance to Charlotte Mason is\nthat the students be expected to know and tell after only one reading, that the\nbook be rich and full of ideas (\u201cliving\u201d is the word she often uses), and that\nstudents tell in full. Narration is not a summary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Narration is also distinct from word-for-word memorization techniques, because it doesn\u2019t aim at that level of micro-focus or precision. To be sure narration involves memory and therefore should be considered under the art of memory<\/a>, but in a more natural way that builds off of a single focused effort, rather than the refining process of exact memorization, which necessarily hones in on much less material and aims to get it word perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Challenge of Getting into the Flow of Narration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Imagine for a moment the type of skill it would take for you\nto sit down and listen with quiet attention to a passage of a novel, without\nletting yourself be distracted by the clock ticking in the background, the movements\nof the students next to you or the various ideas and plans floating around in\nyour head about your afternoon. Then imagine that you know with certainty that there\nis a genuine probability that once the passage is done, your teacher will pull your\nname out of a stack of cards, and you will be expected, without looking back at\nthe text, to tell in a connected format the story of that passage with as many\nof the details and author\u2019s language that you can. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the one hand, this probably sounds like a bit a of a scary experience! To our modern students who are used to being passively entertained and cajoled into learning by a teacher, it might seem almost inhumane. And of course, to a shy or socially conscious student, narration can initially be quite daunting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Know<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We might think that we don\u2019t want to be faced with this prospect on a daily basis. This last June I read Karen Glass\u2019 Know and Tell<\/a><\/em>:<\/a> The Art of Narration<\/a><\/em>, which is a great book on narration by a long-time homeschool mother practicing Charlotte Mason\u2019s philosophy. In it she tells of how some of the negative feelings that homeschool students practicing narration have felt over the years often resolve into a grateful recognition of how well the practice works for studying material, when those students reach college. (By the way, the effectiveness of a technique like narration has been confirmed through learning science on retrieval practice or the testing effect. For more detail, see my eBook<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a recent benefit for the school where I work, one parent\nshared of how one of her children, now in college, discusses the incredible power\nof narration for studying and how grateful she is for her early training in it,\nsince it makes learning new content so much easier for her than other students\naround. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Narration is painful and challenging. It requires you to bring the full force of your mind to bear. It requires training the attention to high degree<\/a> as well as self-control<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But narration is also pleasant and agreeable. In fact, when it\nhas been solidified into a habit, narrators engage in it naturally and\njoyfully. Thousands of times I\u2019ve seen students\u2019 faces light up as they begin\nto tell of the engaging and interesting passage of some text they\u2019ve just read.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Narration meets all the requirements of a flow activity<\/a> described by Csikszentmihaly in Flow<\/em>. If the text is graded appropriately at students\u2019 reading ability, the activity is challenging but not overwhelming. It is constantly new and different, since the content always varies. When practiced well, it engages the mind fully in a rewarding and meaningful activity, the assimilation of knowledge and celebration of story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aside:<\/em> Download the Free eBook “5 Tips for Fostering Flow in the Classical Classroom”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Wondering how to practically apply the idea of flow in your classroom? These 5 actionable steps will help you keep the insights of flow from being a pie-in-the-sky idea. Embody flow in your classroom and witness the increased joy and skill development that result!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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