Dictation To The Rescue!

So it has been a hot minute since my last post, but I have been working on several things, grading tons of AP Language and Composition and PreAP ELA 10 essays, and trying my best to be present for my son’s senior year of fall baseball, basketball, spring baseball, and all things in between, while handling new responsibilities at school as well. However, for the December Microsoft Innovator Educator Expert (MIEE) Central Region Community Call, I was able to share some of my ideas for how the powerful Microsoft Word dictation tool can be used in the classroom. This post also includes using Google Docs.

The mist is slowly lifting

I created a dictation activity choice board, so for my blog, I’ll expand on each activity and then include the choice board in the last post. For my first dictation activity, I chose Dictation to the Rescue. For a basic tutorial on using the Microsoft Word dictation tool, check out my Dictation tools in MS Word video. There are plenty of tutorials out there for Word and Docs, but I did make this one for the MIEE call. Now on to the main event.

The sound of life misplaced your mind

This activity is a great entrance or exit ticket, or a great pause midway through a lesson to ensure students understand the presented content. If you have language learners or young learners, then this has some additional valuable outcomes. Practice these tools in a fun or non-penalty / non-grade-based way before using them with content.

You’re sitting, spellbound thru out time

In Microsoft Word or Google Docs, have students:

1. Type or copy and paste into a new document a problem they are struggling with from today’s (or a previous) lesson, something they still aren’t sure how to do, or something they got wrong in the activity.
2. Dictate their explanation below the problem of what they were thinking as they worked through that part of the assignment (in Microsoft Word, select the primary language spoken; in Google Docs, under Tools, select “voice typing” and then the students dictate in their primary language and then translate the page using the translate tool in Docs). Students should include what questions they still have, and why they think they got it wrong. Getting students to explain their thinking is very revealing for understanding how to help them make connections.
3. Make corrections to any translations used, but all native language responses should be changed to English and then proofread and corrected.
4. Pair up and read each other’s areas of struggle. Carefully structure the pairs or allow students (depending on age) to choose who they feel comfortable sharing with for this part. It takes trust to share struggles with someone, so build this in slowly, and listen to student input on how to adapt it for your class. This part can potentially develop a healthy academic risk-taking classroom climate, or destroy what trusting class climate you already have, depending on how you approach and monitor this in progress.
5. Offer suggestions to their partner or show their partner how to respond to the prompt.
6. Turn in their dictations so that you can see where communication of content or understanding of concepts may need to be corrected or improved.

I hope that you remember what you find

Keep in mind that you as the teacher need to bring the energy needed to help students see the value in academic risk-taking. Your excitement or passion for the activity and content will greatly impact the result, either positively or negatively, so use your power wisely and have fun. Enjoy the process. Model for students that learning is a journey and an experience that must be lived. It’s never a one-and-done.

Headings are partial lyrics from the song, Of A Lifetime by Journey.