Julia developed an awesome extension for running dictations (click here to read how to do a basic running dictation)! Instead of having students record the events on a single piece of paper, she had the secretary write each event on a separate square of paper. After the secretary recorded it, he or she passed the paper to another student in the group (one that was not currently the runner) to illustrate. By doing so, she added another role to the activity and increased the level of engagement! To put the events in order, then, students only have to stack the papers in order (the first on top and last on the bottom). They can staple them and hand them in very easily, instead of trying to re-write the list or number them on the side.
The best part about this extension, however, is that you now have illustrations to use for any number of activities. Julia used them for a listening assessment: she showed two pictures on the Doc Cam and read one of the statements from the dictation. Students had to write "A" if she was describing the picture on the left or "B" if she was describing the picture on the right. It lowered affective filters that usually go up during assessments because the kids got to see the drawings of their classmates...sometimes quite interesting! Can I please have an intern ALL the time!?
