Narration, or the "telling back" of a story or information, formed an important part of 19th-century British educator Charlotte Mason's teaching approach. Mason's form of narration is still in use today among homeschooling parents and other educators who enjoy Mason's effective strategy for developing comprehension skills in young students. A teacher using narration in its most basic form reads, or has the student read, a passage or story one time only. The student must then put the information or the story into his own words. Narration should not be confused with simple repetition. Genuine narration requires the student to listen or read closely, think about what she reads or hears, and process the information well enough to be able to communicate it. This technique also has a positive effect on the retention of information.
The goal of any reading comprehension activity is to help students develop the ability to pay attention to and understand what they are reading. While Mason's narration technique is an effective way to accomplish this, young children also respond well to variations on the "telling back" theme. Having a child become a storyteller to classmates or a friend is one way to add variety. Other possible variations include having children draw scenes from the story or narrative, perform a scene from the story or use clay or other simple materials to construct a scene or character from the book or passage. A simple game in which students are asked to guess what might come next in the story is yet another way to encourage attentiveness to story details.
PreK-12 academic writer Cailin Garfunkel has developed a reading comprehension game called "Picture-Book Charades," in which children select five favorite picture books. Out of those five, an adult selects three to be read again for the activity. After rereading the three books, the adult acts out the main plot of one of the books with the child or children attempting to discern which book is being portrayed in the charade. Reversing roles, after the remaining two books have been read afresh, the child or children must act out one of the books.
Another strategy for developing reading comprehension skills is to allow students to supply missing details to a story. An adult provides a "skeleton" plot, with minimal character development, and children may then use their imaginations to flesh out the story. The emphasis should not be on one correct set of details; there will be as many variations as there are children. Rather, the purpose of the exercise is to encourage children to pay attention to and understand the general storyline so they can invent their own details.
Using the basic concept of developing reading comprehension skills by requiring students to read closely, listen well and then make use of information that has been read, a teacher or parent can come up with a seemingly limitless variety of reading comprehension activities. Games and activities tailored to the students' geographical locale, adapted to current topics in other subjects or even based on topics students come up with themselves can all engage students in active listening and effective reading.