Billy-Bob el pavo. Created by my A2 class. Illustrated by Sakura W. Billy-Bob is a giant 3-eyed turkey that likes to run quickly around Lake Titicaca. Have you ever decided to try something new in your classroom and then you have visitors? After years of reading about running dictations I finally decided to try this activity with my students. We have had some great Spring weather and my students are getting Spring fever so this activity was perfect for them.
How to Play
Basically you take a story that the students have created or listened to recently. You find 9 -15 sentences and print them out in order with the number order. Cut the paper into strips so that there is one sentence on each strip of paper. Have a destination where your students can run to safely. Place the strips of paper out of order around the destination. I used tape to fix them to the walls and other objects. Students divide into groups of 3-4. One person is the secretary and the others are the runners. The runners take turns running to the destination and finding a strip of paper with the number on it. Our destinations were the hallway and the patio. They memorize the sentence. Then run back to the secretary and dictate the sentence to him or her. If they forget then they have to run back to the sentence and reread. They cannot shout the sentence out to their secretary. The first team to have the most correct sentences in order wins.
My Set-Up
This is looking down the hallway towards the patio entrance on the right. You can see the sunlight entering the hallway. The hallway is much brighter than this picture shows. My classroom is next to an enclosed patio area. It has no roof and the windows from my classroom open to the patio and I can see into the next classroom. From the hallway there is a large window and one can also see into the patio. From the entrance of my classroom I can observe the hallway, my classroom and I can see into most of the patio. Our school has a block schedule with A/B days. I started this with my A day classes and then went on to my B day classes.
A-Day - First Class
This is a semester class of 7th grade students. I have had them since January. I explained Running Dictation in L1 even though I knew I should do it in L2, but it was new for me and I felt unsure about using it. So I continued on and made some great mistakes from which I have learned. First of all, I had way too many sentences (21). Secondly, I did not write the number order on the strips of paper. They really needed that support because the sequence was not as obvious as I thought. This took way too long. The students were exhausted. They ran and had fun finding the sentences of their story and then putting it back in order.
A-Day - Second Class
This is an 8th grade class that I have had all year. To my surprise we hadn’t had a class story recently so I chose to use a story that I used in Story Listening. It worked out well because they felt they knew the story. Again I explained the instructions in L1. This time I only used 15 sentences. It was still a bit too difficult because I did not put the number sequence on each strip of paper. It took them most of the class time to complete. So I knew I needed to change a few things to make this a more beneficial activity.
B Day - First Class
This time I had the instructions up on the board in L2. Sadly, I wrote them out in too complicated. They just were not comprehensible to that class which has only been with me since January. So we started off in L2 but I ended up switching to L1 because too much was out of bounds. The positives were that the students knew the story very well. It was one that they had created and that we had recently reread. Also I had about 6 Mexican straw sombreros and I asked them if any of the students wanted to wear them while they played the Running Dictation. They were a hit. So once again I had students running in and out of my classroom up and down the hallway and in and out of the patio reading the strips of sentences posted all around. This time I did have the number order written on the paper. This was a big help. We had about 30 minutes of class left over. We ended with 10 minutes of FVR and a 10 minute quick write. The students did great!
B Day - Second Class - Surprise Visitors
This time I was really prepared. This is my other year long class. I rewrote the instructions and simplified the language so that it was more comprehensible. Again I used a story from our Story Listening lesson. Again it was only 15 sentences (still a little long but doable). This time I added four extra strips of paper but instead of having the story on them I wrote things like “Try again!” in L2. Everything was set.
The bell rang and in walk my students with guests! Five of my students were chaperoning students from a local Japanese school for the day. The students spoke some English. They were shocked to see that there were no desks in the classroom. The bell rang I started class in L2. As always I was giving directions to my students to unstack the chairs and which set up we needed for the day. I noticed right away that the student chaperones were translating into English what we were doing. In English I told them they were doing a great job and to continue to translate so that our guests do not get bored. I opened with calendar and then decided to jump right into Running Dictation. Just as I started to do this, other visitors show up at my door. Three teachers from the visiting school. So of course I invited them in. Now my room was packed. I am explaining the rules in Spanish, and working the CI magic. All the while the student chaperones are translating into English for the Japanese students and the visiting teachers are discussing my technique of making the language comprehensible.
We put on sombreros and started the running dictation (RD). While the Japanese students did not participate in the RD, a few put on the sombreros and joined in watching the others run and dictate. They seemed quite entertained. While all of this is going on, I had a colleague outside my door observing. So I explained to her what we were doing and why students were running up and down the hallway and in and out of the patio. She helped me monitor the door while I spoke to our visiting teachers who wanted to know why there were no desks. I explained some of the benefits and told them some of the ways that the students use the room. It was a very pleasant experience!
The visiting teachers and I talked for a little bit and then they moved on as my class was still engaged in RD. After the running dictation, we had FVR. Again the student chaperones read and translated to our guests. One student chaperone need to step out for a minute so I took over reading and translating to one of our guests. I wanted to model to the other students what they should be doing. Soon they were all doing the same. Reading slowly and with expression and then translating. A couple students interrupted me and asked if they could go get a copy of the novel I was reading because it sounded interesting. Of course I told them yes. We finished up FVR and I had the students to do a quick write for 10 minutes. The writing flowed! Students were writing so fluently! It was beautiful.
If you are considering trying a running dictation with your class, then go ahead and do it. Do not worry if it does not turn out fantastic the first time. Keep reflecting on how you can make it better and then just run with it!
The bell rang and in walk my students with guests! Five of my students were chaperoning students from a local Japanese school for the day. The students spoke some English. They were shocked to see that there were no desks in the classroom. The bell rang I started class in L2. As always I was giving directions to my students to unstack the chairs and which set up we needed for the day. I noticed right away that the student chaperones were translating into English what we were doing. In English I told them they were doing a great job and to continue to translate so that our guests do not get bored. I opened with calendar and then decided to jump right into Running Dictation. Just as I started to do this, other visitors show up at my door. Three teachers from the visiting school. So of course I invited them in. Now my room was packed. I am explaining the rules in Spanish, and working the CI magic. All the while the student chaperones are translating into English for the Japanese students and the visiting teachers are discussing my technique of making the language comprehensible.
We put on sombreros and started the running dictation (RD). While the Japanese students did not participate in the RD, a few put on the sombreros and joined in watching the others run and dictate. They seemed quite entertained. While all of this is going on, I had a colleague outside my door observing. So I explained to her what we were doing and why students were running up and down the hallway and in and out of the patio. She helped me monitor the door while I spoke to our visiting teachers who wanted to know why there were no desks. I explained some of the benefits and told them some of the ways that the students use the room. It was a very pleasant experience!
The visiting teachers and I talked for a little bit and then they moved on as my class was still engaged in RD. After the running dictation, we had FVR. Again the student chaperones read and translated to our guests. One student chaperone need to step out for a minute so I took over reading and translating to one of our guests. I wanted to model to the other students what they should be doing. Soon they were all doing the same. Reading slowly and with expression and then translating. A couple students interrupted me and asked if they could go get a copy of the novel I was reading because it sounded interesting. Of course I told them yes. We finished up FVR and I had the students to do a quick write for 10 minutes. The writing flowed! Students were writing so fluently! It was beautiful.
If you are considering trying a running dictation with your class, then go ahead and do it. Do not worry if it does not turn out fantastic the first time. Keep reflecting on how you can make it better and then just run with it!
