Teach Me Tuesday: Dictation 101

Dictation is a great way to teach any student who has mastered the basics of copywork.  If your child has generally mastered the beginning concepts of punctuation, grammar, and spelling then he/she is ready for dictation.  Copywork helps students to see and experience well written sentences.  Copywork activates the visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning centers of the brain and helps with memorizing the general rules of language.  Once a child shows proficiency with copywork, it is time for dictation.  I, personally do not attempt dictation until my students are in the fourth grade.  I'm sure there are students who may be ready earlier and some that may need more time with copywork.  Moms, you know your child best.  If dictation causes tears and frustration, back up to copywork for a few more weeks or months, then try again.

Dictation is a tool which requires a student to operate their listening skills, while accessing their memory to find and then retrieve necessary information so that it can be applied to a  passage of quality literature.   A child who is practicing dictation is hard at work!  This is not an easy skill, but the benefits are tremendous.  When a child practices dictation, he is training his brain to remember and organize the rules of language arts so that he can access them later.   Essentially, he is building his own filing cabinet of language arts learning.  During a dictation exercise the student processes what he hears, accesses his filing cabinet, finds the needed rules and then applies that information to the passage being dictated.  Then the student writes it all down.

It is very important to understand that dictation is an advanced skill.  It takes regular practice to master it. If this is your first time to try dictation, I recommend choosing a short passage of no more than a sentence or two.  Be patient and compassionate with your student while following the steps below.

**Don't give your child a pencil until you are finished with #2.

The Steps of Dictation

1. Let your child read the passage you will be dictating. First, have them read it aloud. Ask them to point out any words they may not know how to spell. Study those words for a few moments. Then ask them to pay special attention to the punctuation in the passage. Then have them read it one more time, this time silently.

2. Ask your child to close their eyes and listen to you read it aloud this time.

3. Tell your child to pick up his/her pencil and write while you slowly dictate the passage.

4. Give your child a copy of the passage and have them compare their work with the original. I guide my children through this process. We look at each word, one by one, checking for spelling. Then we look at their passage to examine it for punctuation and grammar.

5. If there are misspelled words, we circle them and immediately correct their spelling beneath the passage and we add the misspelled word to our spelling list that week.

6. For punctuation errors, we review the punctuation rule broken and then the child corrects it.  I do not have them rewrite the passage.  Rather, I have them use common editing marks.   We use this chart which shows all editing marks.   On the following day, I have them rewrite the passage from their corrected copy.We do dictation two to three times a week in this manner.

Charlotte Mason purists will often say that a teacher should only read the passage one time before the child writes. They reason that this forces the child to listen. I have two children with learning disabilities and this never worked for us. In fact, it caused much frustration. So rather than push my children into exasperation, I chose to give grace and came up with the above method. My children did extremely well with this method – and both of my graduates are excellent listeners and proficient writers.

Grateful for grace,



 

If you would like to learn more about teaching language arts in this manner, I recommend the following resources:

The Three R's by Ruth Beechick

You Can Teach Your Child Successfully: Grades 4-8 by Ruth Beechick

Language Arts the Easy Way by Cindy Rushton.

 

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Encouraging the Love of Literature

 



When I hear the term "Literature Analysis," I develop cold sweats. My mind is yanked back into the 11th grade and flashes back on eight page literary analysis essays, along with difficult and cryptic names for what should have been very simple. My compositions were forced and unnatural and my enthusiasm for reading all but dried up. Blech...no wonder I didn't pick up a quality piece of literature for years afterward!

It wasn't until I began homeschooling my children about seventeen years ago, that I began to learn to enjoy literature again. Following Charlotte Mason's wisdom to use living literature in our studies helped us to delight in the literature for the sake of the story. Reading each selection aloud, the children and I learned how to discover something fun from whatever we read. After that, we dove into a couple of years of Sonlight where we learned all about both World and American History and followed fascinating rabbit trails of exploration. With all of that reading, we never formally analyzed anything, yet our love and appreciation of literature grew by leaps and bounds.

During those years, we discovered that each book has a buried treasure, a hidden message to uncover. Most books are written by an individual and contain a distinct perspective. In each piece of literature the writer has a message to share or a lesson to teach. In a well written book it becomes the reader's pleasure to experience that lesson through the pages of a story, discerning the message and evaluating it for possible application. Sadly, many teachers insist on turning this experience into a dreadful exercise!

In our home, we keep literature studies simple...and apparently it's a successful endeavor. My children love literature and even more than that, we enjoy discussing it together.

Now before I tell you what we have done in our homeschooling, let me encourage you with a precious nugget of wisdom that I picked up from Ruth Beechick. If a child is curled up with a book, quietly reading to their heart's content, they are comprehending. If they look up at you to share something that is exciting, they are comprehending. If they giggle, or if a tear rolls down their cheek, they are comprehending. It is unnecessary to have them answer twenty questions about a book's content or to produce a book report for every book they read. We home school moms tend to worry too much! Early on, I chose to keep book reports and prefabricated comprehension questions at a bare minimum.

So how do I cover reading and literature in my home? Push the Easy Button here!

We have a daily quiet hour. This is a time in which the children go off to read a book of their choice. This is not assigned reading...but a quiet period, where they can enjoy whatever they have chosen to read for entertainment, edification...or whatever. Right now, my children are reading a variety of literature that run the gamut from "Encyclopedia Brown," by Donald Sobol to "The Giver," by Lois Lowry and for my oldest, "The Way of the Wild Heart," by John Eldredge. The importance of having the quiet hour is simply to foster a love of reading and self directed learning.

We read aloud every day. There is something special that happens when a parent puts on a character's voice. Children strain to hear every word, they sit forward in their seats and are often eager to discuss the material. There are so many great books that edify children with life lessons about a myriad of topics. From picture books to novels, there are wonderful examples of literature at every level of learning.

Unfortunately, some families give up on reading aloud because they have wiggly children. Please let me encourage you to work through the wiggles. The trick is in training younger children to listen and be still. I've done three things that have helped my children grow to love reading aloud.

1. When training young children for read alouds choose books that support their interests. If your child is all about surviving in the wilderness, then choose a book like "My Side of the Mountain," by Jean Craighead George or an adapted version of Swiss Family Robinson. Don't bore them with a book that will only make their minds wander. Remember, this is training...try to make it pleasant.

2. Allow young children to build with Legos or Lincoln Logs, draw pictures, or color while you read aloud to them.

3. Alternatively, read aloud to them at bedtime. They'll enjoy the snuggles and have something to dream about when the light goes out. As a plus, when they're in bed, they can't wiggle too far.If the wiggles persist, consider reading another season of picture books to allow a child a bit more time to develop listening skills. Don't give up, but be willing to find what works.

We learn vocabulary as we come across it. If we run into a word that we don't understand, we try to figure out the definition by it's context. If not, we look it up and say the sentence again, using the definition instead of the word being defined. I then read the sentence once more, this time using the word in question. I might write it down on an index card, but it's not often necessary. I've discovered that the word is usually assimilated and will pop up in my children's spoken and written vocabulary about six months later. (I don't know why this is true, but this has been our experience.)

We discuss literature on the fly. As we read a book we discuss it informally. We talk about whatever pops into our minds as we read. From imagery to characters, to the problems they face, or the obstacles they overcome, we talk about it all. I remember one conversation back when my oldest child was in the fifth grade. We came to a scene in the Lord of the Rings series where Mr. Frodo tells Smeagol that he should not call himself names. We talked about the wisdom of relying on God's truth about ourselves, that we are sinners...and yet precious to God. It was an opportunity to remember Jesus and how His estimation of us is that we are worth His life. Amazing. We made a memory and each of us remembers that conversation as a gift.

I use our read aloud time as a means to encourage my children to think. If a child can think, they can discuss...and eventually they will be able to defend their ideas and write about them in detail. (Usually in high school.) I use Bloom's Taxonomy as a very rough guide, a basis in which I lead my children in our discussions of literature. Bloom's assists me in evaluating where my children are regarding their thinking on any particular topic, literature or otherwise. It gives me a quick visual on where they each may be and assists me in stretching them to the next step in their thinking abilities.

I strive to give my children lots of experiences, talking about everything, asking many questions about opinions and thoughts. I really like to dig in, always looking for the heart. "How does that make you feel?" "What would you do differently?" "How does this information alter your opinion?" I guide my children through these discussions, keeping my feelers out for where they're at on the Bloom's chart with the goal of stretching them just a bit further.

By the time my oldest two children reached high school, they had developed adequate thinking skills to enable them to write. They needed a bit of encouragement in getting organized, but I discovered that if the thoughts were in their noggins, then the words eventually came spilling out onto paper.

Use movie versions of classics! I don't want to make this a blanket statement, because sometimes the movie versions of literature are awful. But there are quality motion pictures which might spark an interest in reading a great work of literature. "Emma," comes to mind, along with "Hamlet," or the BBC versions of Jane Austin classics. I'm also reminded of "Heidi," my favorite being the Shirley Temple classic. Use your discernment, of course, but I've found this an equally valid way to develop my children's thinking skills as well as create interest in a title that otherwise might be overlooked.

Furthermore, if you have a teen who just cannot make himself pick up a Jane Austin novel, then consider having him watch the movie, and discuss it along with him.

Cliff Notes or Spark Notes - Lastly, and used sparingly, I allow my children to use Cliff or Spark Notes. I do this only in the case of assigned reading as a substitute for a book that I feel won't work for us. This fall, in our chosen curriculum, one of the books assigned was Uncle Tom's Cabin. I pre-read it and I decided that one of my students would find it too heavy to dwell on. So, at the encouragement of my personal mentor, I will have them read the Cliff Notes and we will discuss the social points important to understanding the historical significance of the book. This will help them appreciate this work of literature without having to experience something that is too heavy for them to bear at this time in their life.

So, as you see, we keep literature analysis very simple. We may discuss literature elements like foreshadowing or denouement from time to time, but mainly our discussions center around the heart in the form of building thinking skills, learning life lessons, and enjoying the love of finely crafted words...literature.

Grateful for grace,



©2008 Y.M.F.

 

Updated Post from 2008

Encouraging Children to Write: Elementary to High School

In June, at our annual homeschooling evaluation, the million dollar question was, "How can I best prepare my high school students to write the SAT essay?" My evaluator and friend, Debbie Strayer gave us a five minute lesson on essay writing. What is so cool and utterly surprising is that it worked! It's very simple:

1. Write the three main paragraphs first - (Fully supported)
2. Write the conclusion
3. Write the introduction

Can you believe it? How can something so simple work? Apparently, composition skills are heavy on a lot of mommy minds! When I published a blog post on this topic, I received quite a few emails with concerns and questions.

A few years back I came across a short article by Ruth Beechick on the stages of grammar and composition. I took a few quick notes and went on about my business. But as I've walked out our homeschooling, I've seen these stages come to fruition. Ruth Beechick explained that grammar could be broken into two stages.

Intuitive - This is when a child picks up grammar all by themselves, simply by listening and talking. This is how a child learns to speak, distinguishing sounds and forming them properly, learning proper word order, etc... She says we learn about 99% of our grammar this way. It makes sense.

Abstract-analytical - This happens around age twelve to fourteen...junior high students. This is the stage in which the child can now think deeply about a topic that they cannot see concretely. Ms. Beechick believes that formal grammar won't really help the writing process, but it does assist the child in learning about language. I can personally testify that this is correct. I was taught no formal grammar until high school. I've always been a fairly good writer. To fix a grammar error, I simply say the sentence aloud and rewrite it the way it sounds best.

Interestingly, Ruth Beechick encourages us with the idea that composition ability grows with thinking ability. So early in our homeschooling I began using Bloom's Taxonomy to help my children think. If a child can think, then a child can write. But please...don't go crazy with Bloom's after you visit that link! Use the questions every once in a while. Talk about literature, movies, events, news or current events. Ask your children their thoughts and opinions. Help them apply what they learn to life. Allow them to explore their interests. If you do all that, they will write.It sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, it's not that easy for the writer! This quote always gives me a giggle:

"Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” ~ Gene Fowler

I've actually watched this happen in my children! Well, not drops of blood...but writing was apparently painful for them at some time or another in their development. The point here is that writing is hard work at each level of development for different reasons. So it's best to simplify the process and tell children the truth. "Writing is hard work, but you will get better at it as you grow up." Debbie Strayer once counseled me to teach my children, "to write so someone else can understand them." This simple advice helped me take my children out of the pressure cooker.

So what are the stages of writing and what do they look like? Ruth Beechick breaks it down into five stages of development:

Encoding Stage - This stage occurs in the early elementary grades...and coincides with reading ability. Children begin to write their letters and that eventually leads to punctuating sentences, capitalizing words and other basic, foundational elements in writing.

Listing Stage - Ms. Beechick believes this stage happens around 4th or 5th grade. This is where children can list information, but have trouble relating the ideas to each other. They often throw in sentences that are off topic, or offer weak support. They understand chronological order, but have trouble pulling together their writing due to the lack of strong connections. They simply need time to develop. Don't panic if you have a child like this! They will develop the ability to relate their ideas to one another over time. My son, Sam...age ten, is within this stage now. So we're doing some "lite" writing practice, mostly short paragraphs and we will develop his skill as he matures.

Formal Stage - This stage occurs around sixth grade. Children become aware of organization and cohesiveness. They can tell you if the argument make sense and why. Children can relate cause and effect, as well as tell what idea is most important. Because these brain connections are being made, their writing becomes more complex and varied. In one of my children this happened exactly at grade six, and in another it didn't happen until the 7th grade. So remember, these are stages...not an exact science. In my own experience I saw this stage overlap a bit with the listing and consolidation stages.

Consolidation Stage - This stage makes me grin. Junior High. My son grew ten inches in one year. Ten inches! He had nothing left over to write with! All of his energy was spent in growing. So we practiced the skills he already knew. I expected zero writing growth during this stage. He survived. So did I. He began writing amazing stories the following year at the age of fourteen. The idea here, is to simply practice all that the child has learned to this point.

Advanced Formal Stage - This stage encompasses all the rest of life. Ruth says, "As thinking grows, so grows the writing--with richer content, better organization, more creativity." I believe that this is why simple techniques work best in high school. You give a young adult a simple idea and because they are more mature in their thinking ability, they can then take that simple idea and organize their ideas into a complex product.

Debbie Strayer and Ruth Beechick have been an enormous blessing in our lives over the past eleven years of homeschooling. When I started out I just had to take their word for it that my children would improve over time. I confess that I did not trust completely and we made a couple of curriculum and method mistakes along the way. But now I can look back and see that my older children have developed exactly as these wonderful mentors said they would. As a result, my younger children will benefit that much more greatly.

Recommended Reading:A Strong Start in Language by Ruth Beechick

You Can Teach Your Child Successfully: Grades 4-8 by Ruth Beechick

Providing Relief For Reluctant Writers by Debbie Strayer (Free article)

Too Much Grammar by Ruth Beechick (Free Article)



©2008 Y.M.F.