Narration in the Classroom: A Panel Discussion

About the Guests

Four Teachers from Coram Deo Academy (CDA): A Christian, classical, and collaborative university model network with three campuses in the DFW Metroplex.
Yvette Cavender (Principal, Grammar School): Yvette Cavender began her partnership with Coram Deo Academies (CDA) as a parent in 2004, when her children were in grammar school. Soon after, she began teaching second grade, and is now the Grammar School Principal at the Flower Mound campus. She has seen the benefits of classical education play out in the lives of her own children and considers it a privilege to collaborate with others in teaching and training students under CDA’s model. Mrs. Cavender holds Bachelor’s degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Political Science and Economics. She is a certified teacher in the state of Texas. Yvette and her husband live in Carrollton. Their son Chapin is a computational biophysicist at UC-San Diego and their daughter Raegan is a grammar school teacher.
Kelly Whitney (4th Grade Teacher): Kelly holds a degree in Early Childhood Education from Messiah University. After teaching in the public school system for several years, Kelly stayed home with her children and began to homeschool the oldest of their 4 boys in Kindergarten. She and her family have been at CDA for 21 years now with the youngest graduating this May. She has taught at CDA for the last 14 years in both 2nd and 4th grade.
Leah Jones (3rd Grade Teacher): Leah has been a teacher for 12 years. She started in public school and then homeschooled her daughter for a year and then began teaching in a university model school in Frisco, TX. In 2016 her family made the decision to move to CDA. She has been blessed to teach third grade for four years at CDA and absolutely loves it!
Laura Monsalve (3rd Grade Teacher): Laura has been in education for 37 years and loves learning and improving in all areas of life. She has an education degree from ORU, and is a certified teacher, who also earned her Masters of Ed at TWU. She has taught in public schools, homeschooled, and currently teaches at Coram Deo Academy. She has been at CDA off and on for 19 years, teaching in the grammar school (1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades). She homeschooled her daughter through grammar school and the end of high school. She also homeschooled her son during his Logic level years. She currently teaches 3rd grade at CDA.

Show Notes
Teachers experienced surprising results when they transitioned from Bible history through facts and information, to a full liberal arts, story-based classical approach in their school. Adrienne opens by asking how narration became a formal part of the pedagogy for Coram Deo Acadmies. The Principal and three teachers define narration and describe their own experiences in the classrooms. They discuss their initial apprehensions and then their perseverance as they noticed how much the students loved it! You’ll hear about some wonderful outcomes, and how the benefits of narration carry over into every grade level.

Some Topics and Ideas in this Episode
How do you define Narration?
How were you feeling when you first began implementing narration?
What apprehensions did you have and how did you work through these?
What type of training did you have?
What happened when your students began to practice narration?
Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode

Classical Me, Classical Thee by Rebekah Merkle
Know and Tell: The Art of Narration by Karen Glass
Caught Up in a Story: Fostering a Storyformed Life of Great Books and Imagination with Your Children by Sarah Clarkson
Humility: True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney
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