As I mentioned in a previous article on the history of narration, I’ve received an opportunity to film two courses at the beginning of December for Classical Academic Press’ ClassicalU: one on narration and another on Charlotte Mason’s philosophy for classical educators. Our working titles are A Classical Guide to Narration and Charlotte Mason: A Liberal Education for All.
Knowing what I know about the importance of practice for developing skill, I decided to set my hand to the task of practicing my video lectures. Of course, just developing the material fully for these two courses has filled up the vast majority of my available time. But still, I’ve tried to set myself a training regimen for improving my game in video lecturing. Most of all, it’s been my goal to prepare to give my lectures with only a basic outline and the text of key passages I intend to quote from and interact with.
Only that sort of lecture will allow the type of eye contact and natural development of thought that I think is most appropriate for video. I certainly can’t claim to have mastered the medium, but I’m trying to have an Aristotelian growth-mindset and see this opportunity as a chance to aim for excellence even if I’m not there yet. Perhaps this will serve as an explanation (and perhaps an apology) for sharing with you one of my rehearsal lectures for the course A Classical Guide to Narration which aims to share the insights of my recent book of the same name in a video format. (By the way, if you haven’t yet pre-ordered it with the CiRCE Institute, you still have a chance to get in the first printing.)
So for the EdRen blog today, I’ve decided to share a rehearsal part 1 of Lecture 7 from A Classical Guide to Narration, as a sort of preview or sneak peek of some of the content coming out with ClassicalU in the new year.
If you are interested in going further with this content, you can download the free eBook “Charlotte Mason and the Trivium: Planning Lessons with Narration” on the narration page. Also, if you haven’t yet downloaded our new podcast, episode three is on narration and episode four is about classical education. Just search for Educational Renaissance on your favorite podcast app.