How Do You Do Dictation?

[Classically Minded]

How do you do dictation?

 

*Sorry, I should have clarified what I meant.  I'm asking how you all do your dictation, the actual process.  Do you read one phrase at a time, then let the child write it or do you do a sentence at a time or.....do you read the whole passage and don't let them write until they can recite it all back to you?

[StartingOver]

We start out word for word, then work on a few words at a time, then to complete sentences, and on to paragraphs. It is a work in process, I stop them if they spell wrong, or miss a comma, or skip a word and reread. If it takes reading it 15 times to get 3 words on paper, I am good with that. My daughter can remember 3-5 words, my son can now remember 3-4 sentences. 

 

 

[Classically Minded]

Edited my original to add what I was asking for, sorry about that! :001_huh:

[KathyBC]

There are different schools of thought on that. SWB's instructions in WWE are different than the dictation instruction in Harp & Laurel Wreath, for instance.

[Classically Minded]

There are different schools of thought on that. SWB's instructions in WWE are different than the dictation instruction in Harp & Laurel Wreath, for instance.

 

Yes, I know this, I was asking how do YOU do dictation?  Trying to see what others on here do, as far as the process itself.  There are so many variations and I would like to know what others have tried, done or do that works or is working.

[Melissa in Australia]

I read the whole sentence once. then I dictate word by word. I wait until he has written the word correctly before saying the next word. IF ds gets stuck on spelling I Might give him clues like how many letters the word has, or point to the phonogram chart for the right phonogram. if he is really stuck I will spell out the word for him. ds reads what he has written back to me at finish.

 

 

Ds has Dyslexia. He actually enjoys dictation.

[Heidi]

I do a phrase or sentence at a time. My purpose in using dictation is for spelling, not so much for practice holding long passages in the mind. I kind of think that will come naturally with time.

[KathyBC]

How do YOU do dictation, lol? :-)

 

But seriously. To fill in the gaps of my reply for you:

In your signature line, you have listed WWE 3.

In your signature line, you have listed a 10-year-old fourth grader.

 

If there are issues with WWE 3 level dictation in your home, it might help you to know that other classical educators do not instruct 10-year-olds to hold three very long sentences in their heads after three repetitions. If you search the boards on this topic, there are links to videos of SWB doing dictation with her children. She herself tends to repeat the sentences as many times as required for her student.

 

But all of that is guesswork because of the non-specific question. Hence my non-specific reply.

[TarynB]

I modeled dictation after the way SWB did dictation with her son in this video, "Dictation with Dan".  She makes it seem more reasonable and do-able than its described in WWE4, for example.

 

 

[Caribbean Queen]

I let my child look at the sentence/passage for as long as he wants before we start dictation.  I read phrase by phrase.  If my child says he can't spell a word, I tell him to leave a blank space for the word.  If he misspells a word I erase it right away.  Sometimes he corrects his own dictation with red pen.  Sometimes I have him write each misspelled word four times. 

 

I get the passages from McGuffey's readers sometimes.  The writing is already broken into manageable chunks, the words aren't too hard to spell, and it isn't "twaddle."  Sometimes I have my 10 year old study 3 stanzas of a poem, but I only make him write one stanza.  He doesn't know which stanza ahead of time.

 

I tried very hard to get my oldest child to spell words based on their sound ala The Writing Road to Reading.  It was not very successful, especially considering how time consuming and teacher intensive it was.  In compositions he would put letters in the wrong order  or have missing letters; "hwo"  for who,  "cy" for cry.  I have had much better results with dictation.  In compositions he rarely misspells words he has had in dictation. 

[Loowit]

It depends on the kid and what we are working on.  My DD I can do well with a few sentences at a time.  She is a decent speller and doesn't need a lot of help.  My boys need much more help.  My middle child can't spell well at all.  He needs a lot of help.  However, if we are working on his Apples & Pears book we do the full sentence.  At first I had to break it down to a few words but he has improved to the point he can do the whole sentence and usually gets the commas without me telling him.  My youngest can do shorter sentences but anything long I would break down for him.  He doesn't need as much help with spelling as his older brother.

[reign]

We do dictation different ways for different subjects.

 

AAS: I say the sentence twice and the child writes it. They have covered all the spelling rules for the words given. Sometimes my oldest needs me to repeat the sentence part way through her writing. I correct the spelling errors at the end. I have her pick out the wrong words.

 

WWE: oldest is on level 2. She does the sentence for copy work on Monday and we talk about spelling& punctuation. She Studies the sentence on Friday then writes it from memory. Again she checks it for mistakes and circles the words she may have spelled wrong. I sometimes have to make the sentences shorter for her.

 

FLL: cold dictation.

[Classically Minded]

If there are issues with WWE 3 level dictation in your home, it might help you to know that other classical educators do not instruct 10-year-olds to hold three very long sentences in their heads after three repetitions. If you search the boards on this topic, there are links to videos of SWB doing dictation with her children. She herself tends to repeat the sentences as many times as required for her student.

 

 

But all of that is guesswork because of the non-specific question. Hence my non-specific reply.

 

Here is our situation - dd10 had issues with dictation about a year and a half ago and the recommendation from emailing the people at PCP was to have her go back to WWE 2 (She was on 3 at the time) and not move on until she can recite the whole thing after only 2 repetitions.  We did and everything was too easy for her up until towards the end when it gets over 18 words.  I was told that she must be able to hold all the sentences in her mind after only 2 repetitions and then repeat it to me and then write it down.  She couldn't do this, so we just sort of kept trying without any progress.

 

I went online and researched and found that a lot of people do not do dictation that way and that got me confused, so I asked the question on here to see what everyone on here does.  Trying to find out if anyone truly does the "only 2 repetitions" way.  I even found that SWB didn't do it that way in her video with her son.  I feel I've been too hard on my dd10, so we are going on to WWE 3 next week.

 

I wanted to get a general feel of what others really do with dictation.  I'm getting that most people do a phrase or one sentence at a time and then let the child write it down and then go on to the next sentence, and so forth.  Does anyone actually do it the way it is said to do it?  I feel like I've been trying to do the impossible and it has frustrated both of us!!