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How to Dictate LONG Passages
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We had our first week of studied dictation this week – hurray! It went very well, I think – my 6th and 7th grade boys studied hard and took dictation with little trouble. As I think ahead however, I’d love some feedback and suggestions from those with experience in dictating LONG dictation passages.
I’ve seen previous posts on the forum to simply shorten a long passage on a dictation day – to dictate only a portion of it. I understand the rationale on this, but I prefer not to handle it this way. We are doing prepared/studied dictation, after all. My boys put in the effort to study the ENTIRE passage. I sort of feel that if I dictate only a portion, I take away their chance to test themselves on all they slaved over in their studying. I’ve also seen, with my older boys, that when I make the call to “adjust” the rules on certain curriculum, they don’t try as hard. I’m pretty sure that if they knew the final dictation was not going to be the ENTIRE passage, they would put less effort into studying. It would turn into a game of “let’s guess which sentences Mom will pick.” I don’t want this; I especially don’t want this after seeing, this week, the wonderful and honest effort my boys put into their dictation studying.
I am using both SW and Bravewriter for dictation passages. Bravewriter’s instructions do not suggest anywhere to dictate only a portion. It seems understood that, yes, it’s going to be 20 minutes (or more!) of the student sitting there taking dictation and writing non-stop, and that this is perfectly okay.
Do others here agree that this is okay/the norm? I realize, of course, it will depend on the child.
I wonder if the simple answer is to divide the long passage in two or even three sit-downs on dictation day? i.e. Let’s say we have a 15 line passage, such as Exercise 137 in SW. I would dictate the first 4-5 lines as soon as we start school school. Do other work for an hour, and come back to do next 5 lines. Do other work, have lunch, and then do final 5 lines as soon as we come back after lunch. Seems as though this “system” would enable my boys to do the entire dictation without fatigue or lack of concentration setting in.
But does this defeat the “power” of the child’s connection with the ONE passage?
I would not break the passage into three smaller “sit down” sessions. I would do one session, for the recommended time for that age group, and then stop. You could spend 20-30 minutes on dictation at that age. I’d have them study until they were ready, and then dictate one or two phrases at a time until the time limit was over. I would not let the length of the dictation passage dictate when the lesson ended, but the clock.
The value is in the studying, not just the writing from dictation. The point is to notice, to pay attention, to how words are spelled, how sentences are formed, punctuated, etc. They don’t lose that value if they do not copy the whole passage. They retain the value of having studied it. They study diligently because they do not know which portion they will have to write from dictation.
Only requiring the student to copy a shorter section of the selected passage keeps dictation from taking too much time out of the day. The student is less likely to dread dictation if he/she only has to write from dictation for a only a few minutes. It makes dictation doable and helps us to keep to Charlotte Mason’s principle of short lessons.
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