The Understanding or Comprehension level (Bloom’s Taxonomy) encompasses the ability to take in information, understand it, and be able to restate the information in our own words. Many homeschool moms already incorporate the Understanding or Comprehension tool of narration. (Some may rightly conclude that narration also encompasses some of the other levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.)
Narration is frequently relegated to an assessment tool. But the greater importance of having a child narrate is that it provides a vehicle for him to organize information he comes in contact with, work upon the information in his mind, and then restate the information in his own words.
It is this ability to restate a problem in his own words that differentiates the Understanding or Comprehension level from the Remembering or Knowledge level, where facts are simply recalled.
Of course, there are other ways to encourage understanding:
- Describe.
- Explain.
- Compare.
- Summarize.
- Paraphrase.
- Classify.
- Restate.
- Identify.
- Locate.
- Interpret.
- Illustrate.
- Demonstrate.
- Give an example.
- Predict.
Here are a variety of activities you can use for the Understanding or Comprehension level:
- Narrate a living history book.
- Describe a favorite character from a book you have read recently using this interactive at ReadWriteThink.
- Summarize a current news story.
- Find the number that comes next when counting by twos.
- Read a story from Scripture and draw a picture illustrating what happened.
- Tell what time an analog clock shows.
- State the main idea of a story.
- Restate a word problem in your own words.
- Put a set of words in alphabetical order.
The Natural Application
Most young people naturally love to tell us what they know without our prompting.
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.
Charlotte Mason, Home Education Vol. 1
Now that you have determined your child’s interest and provided him with books on his favorite subject, ask him to tell you in his own words what he has read. What can he tell you about his subject?
Ask him to make a notebooking page illustrating one of the most interesting things he found out in his reading.
Up next: Applying
Additional Resources
Drawing & Writing Notebooking Paper {Free Download}
These are our favorites for illustrating a story or concept. Room to draw at the top with lines to explain below. Perfect for illustrating a Bible story, for example.
10 Ways to Use Notebooking: #9 Research & Projects
Ideas and resources for notebooking an interest.
30 Narration Ideas
Lots of ideas that really incorporate several Bloom Taxonomy levels.
Language Arts the Natural Way: Narrating
A way to interact with what is read, leading to better understanding.
Enjoy the complete series:
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