HOD’s Eight Oral Narrations Help with College Speech Class
By the time students finish Heart of Dakota’s (HOD’s) 12th grade USII history guide, they are able to narrate eight different ways! HOD’s guides give specific step-by-step helps to train students in each of these eight different kinds of narrations. These eight types of narrations are taught, practiced, and mastered both in oral and in written narration format. The narrations are the following:
- detailed
- recorded/typed
- summary
- key word
- highlighted
- topic
- opinion
- persuasive
Additionally, students complete Speech as a half-credit elective their senior year of HOD.
How Skills Learned During Oral Narrations Help with College Speech Class
My middle son, Riley, is finishing his freshman year of college at Liberty University online. He is currently taking Speech. His instructor has assigned multiple speeches with specific parameters. Students must record themselves and share their speeches with a group of fellow college students. They watch each other’s speeches and provide encouragement, as well as constructive criticism. The instructor dialogues personally with each student individually about their speeches as well.
I can see how practicing these eight different kinds of narration in HOD is helping Riley do well in his college Speech class. His first speech was an informative speech. It was topic-based, detailed, and it required a visual aid. Riley had to read at least two articles on his topic and reference them within his speech. The speech had a time limit of four to six minutes. He also had to record his speech for his instructor and class to view.
Riley had to choose his topic, make note cards for subtopics, and add details with key words to those subtopics. He used Roman numerals and an outline format for his notecards. His visual aid was a slide presentation, in which he had to highlight each topic, pausing to expound further upon it in his own words. His next speech is a persuasive speech, during which he will need to express and support his opinion about something in order to persuade his listeners.
Now, just look at the descriptions of the eight types of narrations in HOD’s USII guide!
Detailed: Students should give a 6-8 minute detailed narration about the reading. A visual aid is often a required part of this narration.
Recorded: Students should narrate into a recording device, listen to the narration, and refer to “How to Narrate: Student’s Short List” in the Appendix to consider any areas that could be improved. Then, the student should play the narration for a parent and refer to “After Narrating” and “Other Helpful Narrating Tips” within the Appendix to discuss the narration.
Summary: Students should summarize the reading in 9-11 sentences. A visual aid is often a required part of this narration.
Key Word: Students should include in their narration the names, dates, places, important actions, brief quotes, and proper nouns they listed. A visual aid is a required part of this narration.
Highlighted: Students should read each topic sentence highlighted in their text, pausing after each topic to expound further in their own words using additional highlighted information from the text. A visual aid is often a required part of this narration.
Topic: Students should narrate upon the topics they listed from the reading. A visual aid is sometimes part of this narration.
Opinion: Students should retell the reading in their own words, inserting any thoughts, opinions, and/or connections that the reading brought to mind.
Persuasive: Students should narrate from the outline they created, reflecting their stance on a particular issue from the day’s reading. The goal is to persuade listeners to agree with your stance.
In Closing
Riley told me this morning that his orally narrating all those years in HOD is really helping him in his college Speech class. Narrating helped him become comfortable speaking to an audience. Riley is also a guy who is always on the move, even while narrating! Riley told me it really helped that I let him stand while he gave his oral narrations, but that I also only let him stay in one area while he narrated (rather than pacing or walking around the room). He said it helped that he was familiar with using visual aids and using his hands to gesture where it made sense. Learning to plan for an oral narration with topics and key words also helped, as did having to narrate within a given time limit of minutes. Finally, he said recording his oral narrations really helped him be aware of how he sounded.
So, as your children are learning to orally narrate in HOD, rest assured there are many practical skills that will help them in the future! Each year in HOD, students add to their repertoire of narrations, and by the end, all eight kinds of narration work nicely together to make one great all-around speaker and writer! Time well spent.
In Christ,
Julie
