How teachers use imitation to create outstanding readers and writers
Teachers at St. Francis Xavier Catholic School have a special tool in their tool belts when teaching students to read and write well.
That tool is imitation. Imitation includes any activity that requires the student to rewrite, reiterate, or retell a selection of language. Of course, quality imitation activities involve quality selections, often from a time-tested short story, poem, book, play, essay, or speech.
All teachers attended a training session about imitation in August as part of a workshop with the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education (ICLE) of which our school is a member. ICLE is an international network of Catholic schools rooted in the liberal arts, which have informed and inspired many of the great Catholic minds over the last 2,000 years.
Embodying, not Copying
According to ICLE, imitation differs from merely “copying.” Rather, by imitating a work of art, a piece of literature, or a mathematical equation, a student “embodies” goodness, beauty, and truth.
Whereas a student who copies someone else’s work and claims it to be his own is committing plagiarism (and therefore doing something dishonest and wrong), a student who imitates quality work does not claim that his outcome is entirely original. Instead, a student imitates an example of excellence to practice excellence himself.
In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul tells us to “be imitators” of Christ. Just as we can develop moral virtue by imitating Christ and His saints, we can develop intellectual virtues by imitating quality intellectual work.
“The very act of learning is the imitation or re-presentation of the fact, skill, or idea to be known,” wrote ICLE Executive Director Elisabeth Sullivan in Humanum Review in 2019. “This means that a teacher must create that gap, that wonder, that desire to know so that a student’s mind will actively grasp what is to be known.”
St. Francis Xavier Catholic School teachers may employ imitation in the classroom in several different ways. These include narration, recitation, copywork, dictation, imitatio, and drama.
Narration
Narration is exactly what it sounds like: storytelling.
However, as opposed to just listening to the teacher tell the story, students tell the story back to the teacher, their classmates, or their families at home. This requires students to listen carefully and think about critical story elements.
Narration can be done orally or in writing.
For instance, Ms. Susan Testa’s 2nd graders kicked off the school year by reading The Riverbank by Kenneth Grahame, a retelling of an episode in his The Wind in the Willows. Students paused at the end of each chapter to take notes, discuss, illustrate, and write about story elements such as character, setting, conflict, and resolution.
Being that 2nd Grade covers the Roman Empire in our history timeline, Ms. Testa’s class also listened to the story of Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome. Students were asked to retell the story and will later help Ms. Testa create a storyboard to illustrate what they read.
Narration isn’t about reiterating information word-for-word. It’s about students exercising their memories to tell a story. Though it can be challenging, telling stories is naturally enjoyable.
Recitation
Recitation, on the other hand, involves verbally reciting a poem or selection of prose, often with physical movements.
When students recite rich language, they become accustomed to the patterns within that language. Reciting quality language in cadence and with movement encourages students to learn the words and language patterns by heart.
For example, Kindergarteners in Ms. Holt’s class study a new poem every month from poets such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Aileen Fisher, and Vachel Lindsay. Students learn to recite the poem with special movements and are even asked to share the poem with their families at home!
Copywork
Ms. Holt’s students also learn to write full sentences by copying sentences about Bible stories and ancient history.
Like recitation, copywork involves repeating quality language, although in written form. Students see a sentence or selection of sentences in a book or on the board and rewrite it on their own piece of paper.
Young students can use copywork to develop basic handwriting and spelling skills. By imitating well-written print and cursive words, they tune their minds and muscles to the patterns and shapes of the letters.
Older students use copywork to obtain advanced composition skills by becoming familiar with more complex words, sentences, and paragraphs. This permits the student to recognize clearly what proper grammar, punctuation, and word usage look like, and they absorb these characteristics into their writing habits to use in their original work.
Dictation
Dictation is also similar to recitation and copywork, but instead of copying words, sentences, or paragraphs from a page or board, the teacher recites the selection verbally and students write down what they hear.
Teachers will often repeat the selection two or even three times to ensure it is properly communicated to their students.
Dictation challenges the student to think about how the spoken word should be translated to the page. They have to listen carefully to what the teacher says. At the same time, they must consider how to spell certain words as well as where to place periods, commas, and other punctuation marks.
Even when students make mistakes, they learn from those mistakes by checking their work.
Earlier this year, 4th Graders in Ms. Nancy Rohling’s class followed a picture reflection with a dictation activity involving the Seven Sorrows of Mary.
Imitatio
Imitatio differs from other kinds of imitation activities because it requires students to add their own twist to a selection of language.
Students do this by reading a sentence or paragraph and rewriting it using different words. Teachers who assign an imitatio activity may ask the students to use synonyms for the original words or maintain the sentence structure while telling a different story. They may even leave the assignment open-ended!
Imitatio requires students to be aware of compositional structure (grammar, punctuation, spelling, clauses, phrases, word functions, etc.) while exercising their creativity, imagination, and problem-solving skills.
In Ms. Neil’s literature class, 6th Graders kicked off the school year by reading C.S. Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew.
Ms. Neil asked students to pay special attention to the descriptive nature of Lewis's writing, examining the sights, sounds, smells, textures, and other sensations the characters encounter in the book. The students then took an excerpt of Lewis’s writing and were tasked with creating their own descriptive paragraph about a location they were personally familiar with while maintaining the structure of Lewis’s original.
Drama
Finally, drama involves acting out a scene from a story or a play.
Students might be allowed to read from a script or memorize lines. Regardless, they are required to act in character and play a part.
Like copywork, dictation, and imitatio, students must become closely familiar with the language of the text, especially dialogue. Like recitation and narration, students must think about how to use their voice inflection, expressions, and movements to retell the story of the scene at hand.
For example, 5th Graders in Mrs. Ann Bettis’s class started reading one of Lewis’s other works: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Students reenacted a scene from the novel for Kindergarten.
The 5th Graders used a script containing dialogue directly from the novel and even employed British accents!
According to Mrs. Bettis, the activity helped grow the students’ fluency, comprehension, and decoding skills. It also helped them practice proper public speaking and encouraged them to dive deeper into the novel, getting to know its characters and encountering its moral lessons.
Ask us more!
Imitation is just one of the ways St. Francis Xavier teachers encourage our students to be outstanding readers and writers.
St. Francis Xavier students, faculty, and staff strive for excellence in all academic areas, as well as in our faith, athletic and extracurricular activities, and service to our family and community.
Are you interested in learning more about how you can provide your child a Christ-centered education rooted in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition? Call our office at 205-871-1687, email me at wblakely@sfxcatholic.com, or click the link below to schedule a tour!
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St. Francis Xavier Catholic School is an accredited classical Catholic PreK-8 school in Birmingham’s Crestline neighborhood that uses the time-tested Catholic Intellectual Tradition to form students in virtue through the pursuit of academic excellence and service toward God and neighbor.
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