How to Narrate Picture Study (3 Different Ways!)
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 and, if we would believe it, comparatively easy to ourselves.
Charlotte Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education
Narration is the act of knowing. In a Charlotte Mason homeschool, performing the “act of knowing” is a required practice of our days after book readings, and the same is true for picture study. When we narrate a picture, just as when we narrate a reading, we make that image part of ourselves and prepare a permanent place for it to hang in the “halls of our imagination.”
When your students are first becoming acquainted with narration, however, how to narrate picture study may seem a little too abstract. When we first began this practice in our homeschool, my son struggled with how to narrate the pictures to the point of not offering anything at all. So we started with me modeling it for him (to the best of my ability, as I was also new to it!). With that, as well as him being able to observe the older kids in our homeschool co-op offering their own narrations, he gradually eased into it. Now, he and his sister compete to see who can give the more thorough picture study narration.
Narrating picture study doesn’t have to be limited to just the more traditional option, and as we’ve made our way along our homeschooling journey, we’ve explored other options as well. In this post, I’m sharing three different options for how to narrate picture study!
Traditional Narration
We begin with traditional narration. This is the kind of narration generally practiced after a reading as well.
After looking at the art piece on their own and silently for three to five minutes, you remove it from sight and have your students “tell back” what they saw. I like to ask them to describe it to me as if I’ve never seen it before and they want me to be able to see it in my mind. If I have multiple students, I’ll ask each of them to share something that stood out to them, and once everyone has had a chance, anyone can share anything else that comes to mind.
This is also usually when questions come up such as “What was that tool laying on the ground next to the boat?” or “Why is the woman holding that flower?” and things along those lines. When these come up, I like to have them hold on to that question and allow the other students to narrate as, sometimes, one student’s narration will answer another student’s question. (And if they don’t, you can also answer them in a discussion time after the narration.)
If your students are hesitant to narrate, asking them a few questions is a good place to start. “The first thing I noticed was the cows grazing in the field. Did you see how many there were?” or “Did you see the girl in the tiny cart in the distance being pulled by the donkey? Where do you think she’s going?” And if that doesn’t draw them out, feel free to model it completely for them during a few picture study lessons before asking them to do it on their own.
Partner Narration
Another form of narration we did in our homeschool co-op and what we do at home when we’re short on time is partner narration. After having them look at the piece and removing it from sight, I ask them to pick a partner, and each student gets one minute to narrate as much as they can remember from the piece.
This also works well if you have a group of students with just a few who tend to do all of the narrating. With this practice, all of the students get a chance to share, and those who are more shy may feel more comfortable narrating to just one person instead of in front of a larger group.
Pageant of the Masters Narration
The final option was one of the favorites of our homeschool co-op and works exceptionally well if you have a large group of students. Inspired by the Pageant of the Masters, after the students have looked at the piece and it has been removed from sight, they recreate the scene. In our homeschool co-op, we had students become tables, trees, horses, herms, boats, and pretty much any other inanimate object in the scene if there weren’t enough people in the painting for all of the students to fill a human role.
Once everyone is assembled, mom (or moms, in the case of our co-op) comes in to compare their recreation to the original piece. It was always neat to see how creative they got with their poses and how close they were able to get to the painting itself.
These were so enjoyed that we often did them again for our co-op family night when we’d have a big meal together, and family and friends would come to see the students showcase what they had learned over the course of the term.
So here are a few other ways to do picture study narration. There are, of course, other options as well, but these are a few of our favorites!
