It is often difficult to get the ideas 💡 started when faced with a blank page.
Today my son Jack wanted to write a letter to his friend about a calamity that happened to their Minecraft base but he wasn’t sure how to start.
His criteria: he wanted to make sure it flowed nicely without a lot of ums nor too many useless words. I showed him how to use the voice to text feature in Google docs so he could get his letter started orally. (Note: We have a desktop computer that has no microphone. So we use an app for tablet (or phone) called DroidCam, it works wonderfully, even for Zoom meetings!)
When he finished with the gist of the letter, he switched to typing to do things like:
- Add details
- Correct spelling (ex: bass instead of base)
- Correct punctuation
- Add paragraphs and other formatting.
This strategy works well for all levels. I often use this process at work when preparing a script for a video. I can get my ideas out there quickly, organize them, and have a written copy of the script to include with the final product for people (like me) who would prefer to read the info rather than hear it. Here is an example: What are Fix-up Strategies?
You can also do this with Microsoft products.
Reflection…
- How could you and your students use this strategy?
- Imagine its use in History, Science, Math, English, Français (if you change the Google account settings to French, it will recognize French dictation!)
- Have you or your students used this strategy before? Let us know how in the comments 🙂
*please note, this article was originally written in 2021.