Here is the other missive I have wanted to publish from Bob Patrick. It describes a variation on Jason Fritze’s “Running Dictation”. Kind of a Latin version. Love the addition of the “Help Desk” and the scoring option:
Here is an activity that I created out of several pieces of other things which I have done recently with my Latin 3 students. My Latin 1’s will get a chance at this next week sometime. It is a combination of dictatio, the Word chunk game and the creation of a friend of mine, Nancy Llewellyn of SALVI and Rusticatio which she calls “running dictation”, and some inspiration from Evan Gardner’s Where Are Your Keys. I am calling this “Dictatio Currendo”. What follows is a description of how I did it with comments at the bottom which helped me fine tune this. If you try it, I’d love to learn from what you learn to make this better. I recommend this as something to do toward the end of a unit, where students are fairly confident with the vocab/structures and the story lines, and when you are exhausted and need a break. This activity needs to be done outside or in a gymnasium.
This is a reading, listening, writing and comprehension activity.
1. Students are in groups of 4 at one end of a courtyard.
2. On Cardboard presentation boards are 10 sheets of paper with Latin sentences written on them, from a story, in sequence so that taken together, they tell a story, even if in skeletal form.
3. Teacher sits half-way between to the side at the “ mensa auxilii”–the Help Desk.
4. When the start is given, the first runner in each group runs to the board, reads the first sentence and runs back to his/her group and gives the dictation. This runner returns as often as is necessary to get the whole sentence dictated to the group.
5. The group then must collaborate on the meaning of the sentence and write it beneath the dictation. If they need help, they send a runner to Magister/Magistra who is sitting at the mensa auxilii. THEY MAY NOT SEND THE SECOND RUNNER FOR THE SECOND SENTENCE UNTIL THIS COLLABORATION IS DONE!!!
6. When finished with the first, group sends the second runner, and process continues until all group members have all 10 sentences written and translated. When finished, they turn them in.
Scoring:
Grade for each student is based on
–accuracy of Latin–5 points per sentence = 50 points
–acceptability of translation–5 points per sentence = 50
–completion of all 10–if a sentence or more is not completed, partial or no credit is given.
On the following day, I supply a copy of the sentences projected on a screen and we discuss acceptable translations. Small groups grade each other’s paper with my consultation. Students who did not complete all or who do poorly can come in and work on these individually to earn back all credit.
Notes:
Students routinely take what is a collaborative assignment and try to divide and conquer. If they do this on this activity, it becomes almost meaningless. They must all take the dictation. They must all take turns running. And they MUST ALL collaborate on the meaning of the sentence. This is crucial.
Ten sentences is too many for one class period (52 minutes for me), and so this became a two day activity. I was fine with that, but I could easily have created the same with only 5 sentences.
