How to Teach a Phonics Lesson: Word Dictation

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Carla Stanford: Today we're going to talk about dictation. And dictation every day is what we like to say because dictation is so important. It is the place where kids get to really do the work of incorporating the new content that they've learned. 

We start with sound dictation which really isolates the sound so kids can use all their cognitive resources in order to spell a particular sound. Then we move to word dictation. And in word dictation we give kids the opportunity to use that pattern within words and then we scoop up all the other content they've learned so that we know that everything is coming together and things are not living in isolation. 

So in dictation, the teacher gives the word, the kids repeat the word, we tap the word together, and then we do the work of spelling the word. The kids are writing on their paper, the teacher's writing on the board, and we do all of the work together. And we really in move back and forth in a dance of learning. And the whole process is to give kids the cognitive space to really think through the new rule that they've learned. So dictation is different than spelling, or spelling tests, in the fact that it's all about doing the work together. We get to practice over and over and over as we move through words in dictation. So I'm going to go through some routines for dictation. First, the teacher says the word. So, if my word is luck, I would say luck. My kids repeat luck. We tap together — /l/, /ŭ/, /k/, luck. — and then we're going to write. And so, we're practicing using the '-ck' rule. So here I would take my pen and I'd say, "Okay, friends, let's do this one together. Let's do our thinking together." Our word was luck. Repeat. Luck. Let's tap it. /l/, /ŭ/, /k/, luck. /l/, /ŭ/ ... Right here, we have to get this /k/ sound. Immediately after a short vowel, at the end of a one-syllable word, we spell the /k/, '-ck'. Hooray. And here, because I'm working on the short vowel rule, we do all of this cognitive work together. We make sure that we get it accurate on the board together. I'm walking around. I'm looking at kids papers. We're checking. We're talking. If we make a mistake, we can give it a hug and we can fix it. And then we move on and we do another word. And this is all about practice. It's many, many opportunities to really interact with this new skill. 

So my next word, my word is sick. Repeat. Sick. Tappers up. /s/, /ĭ/, /k/, sick. Okay, let's write it everyone. This time, let's try to write it on our own and we can check together. You ready? And then they could try to write it with me. /s/, /ĭ/, /k/. How are we going to spell the /k/ sound? With a '-ck'. Good job. Everyone check your work. The work on the board is really about we're all in this together and we're learning together. So, I want them to look up and I want them to check their work. I want them to correct mistakes. If I walk around and I see mistakes, I would say, "Oh my goodness, mistakes are good food. Let's talk about what you did. Let's talk about what happened and try another one. So in dictation, we're really going to push for our stamina. So we end up getting ... we would love to get through our goal, right? Would be words. But in the beginning as you're building stamina, you're just each day you add on more words. So you could say, okay, we have luck and we have sick. 

Now our next word, here we go. Our word is chick. Repeat. Chick. Tappers up. /ch/, /ĭ/, /k/, chick.. Let's write it. And we would write ... I'm walking around maybe on the third one, they have it. So, I give them a moment and I don't write immediately and then I write. We spell it together. Everyone, we're spelling c-h-i-c-k. Hooray. So, we have our '-ck'. If you notice with the word chick, we have a diagraph. My kids were successful. They did great with a very simple word with a beginning consonant and now I'm going to scoop up the work I've already taught them. We have already learned diagraphs. So here I'm going to make sure that this work is cumulative. It is not going to live in isolation. All of the words I do today will not all be '-ck' words because I'm always going to scoop up all the work that we've done before. So I can say okay excellent. We have our diagraph here and we got our word chick. 

Next word. My word is slick. Repeat. Slick. Tappers up. /s/, /l/, /ĭ/, /k/, slick. Okay, let's write. And here we would write our word slick. They would spell it out loud with me. We could talk about if there's any tricky part, which this is a beginning blend. So there again, I'm scooping up content that we already know. So, as we move through dictation, I'm being very intentional about my word choice. Here, I kept my vowels the same. I changed my beginning sounds to give them some repetition. I can purposefully choose words that have multiple meanings or can be used in different ways so that we can have a conversation about vocabulary. And dictation is this like magical part of the day where everything that we have talked about about words comes together and we're all in this together. I'm walking around. We're checking. We're going back and forth and doing the work together. 

So I'm going to do the next word is duck. So I would say my word is duck. Tappers up. /d/, /ŭ/, /k/, duck. I'm going to walk around this time and look around. And here I may see that kids are struggling with that 'b'/'d' reversal. And so I know what is going to happen with my kids. I know the things that are going to be hard for them. So I'm ready to give a little cue. Hey, remember that /d/ sound is a "see the d." Check your work. Look up here if you want to match yours to mine. "See the d" for our beginning sound. Excellent. So let's finish our word. Spell it with me. D-U-C-K. Duck. Excellent. 

So, let's do one more word. Our last word. Let's do the word with. Repeat. With. Tappers up. /w/, /ĭ/, /th/, with. Good. Let's write it. And then they would write. We would check W-I-T-H, with. Make sure you got that last sound as /th/. I know it's been tricky for us. And maybe I intentionally am pulling in words that have sounds that we've been working on. And once I got through all of my words is really important. 

The whole goal of this work is that we can be strong readers and we can be strong spellers. So we just did all the work of spelling and now we're going to go back and read. So we're going to do what we call read what you wrote. Boom. Boom. Boom. Read what you wrote. So we would go back and we would read all of our words. And I'm just going to, here, say if your kids need to tap, tap. But you are driving the bus here. If your kids do not need to tap, you can say, Look at this word. Get your ... work your way all the way through it. Hold it in your head. Let's read it. Luck. But if they need to tap, you could say, Tappers up. Let's tap. Sick /s/, /ĭ/, /k/, sick. Excellent. And you would move through each word reading together. And you can give kids the choice. They can read from the board. They can read from their paper. And then when you're done, this is where you're going to layer in grammar and vocabulary work. So I could say, "Okay, we're detectives. I'm thinking of a word." And this word can be a noun like an a who or what. Or it can be an action, something you do. And we could talk through each of these words. Can luck be a noun? A name, a person, or a place, or a thing? Luck. I guess it can be an idea, a thing. Yes. And so you could talk through each one and talk about, okay, which one can be a noun or a verb. And they actually would get this really quickly. Duck can be an animal that quacks, right? And you can duck when the ball is coming your way. It can also be an action. So, you would read all the way through your words and layer in your vocabulary. So, some things I would like to point out. On Monday when you're ... or on day one when you're teaching something new, you're really holding tight and you're scaffolding. You're giving a lot of instruction on the board. You're walking around. You're checking. You're helping kids. You're doing a lot of metacognitive work where you do the thinking on the board together. But by Wednesday, you are pulling back a little bit. It may sound like, okay, my word is sick. Repeat. Sick. You tap it, you listen, you write it, you watch, and then you check together. And so the scaffolds you put in place are to build success that ... so that over time the kids can do this work on their own. That's the whole point of dictation. It slows all the work down so that children can do this work and do all the hard thinking. They get the  word on the paper and then you go back and read it. So dictation every day is the mantra. That if you do this teaching and this work, this back and forth together with kids, it's really going to grow their ability to read and spell words. 

Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; the AFT; the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors.

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