Task 3

This is the text that came from my dictation, of the story, Kiki and the Drive. Apologies, there is no punctuation. I hope we weren't supposed to edit what came from the dictation, as the tool I used didn't insert and punctuation, and there are quite a few errors.

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The story is called Kiki and the drive Kiki was sitting in her truck stuck in gridlock this might not have been that strange for an average Tuesday afternoon in Fort McMurray but this particular day was anything but average he have been sitting in her truck for almost 2 hours the engine turned off to conserve fuel on the street outside her house aimed towards the highway with thousands of other residents of Fort McMurray one might think that being stuck in a line of traffic for 2 hours would make most people angry in the horns would be blaring and find the frustration but it was eerily quiet quiet except for the sounds of sirens and the flashing lights of emergency vehicles passing by different intervals what Walter was odd was that all of the cars were pointed in the same direction both sides of the road both heading towards the highway even though once I would normally be heading up into the neighbourhood all sides have been taken up by Vehicles trying to escape and SLI the neighbourhood 2 hours prior announcement had come over the radio that Fort McMurray was being evacuated is having come as a surprise to Kiki who it rushed home from school where she had been earlier on in that day when at lunchtime the news had come the fire had jumped the river and all of the students needed to get home as quickly as possible she he was lucky she was able to have all of her students picked up or walk home or squirted like quickly and she was able to leave and get home even though that drive home took four times the amount it normally dead but everybody in Fort McMurray was trying to get home to their family members grab their pets grab whatever possessions they could and then in a very short time when Old Town evacuation came everybody was aiming for the highway the scary part of living in Fort McMurray is there is only one Highway One Road into the town and one road that will take you so out of the Town Highway 63 runs through but if you had North there's only oil sands and eventually that Highway turns into a dirt path that doesn't go anywhere there was no where to head to buy going north whole town was blocked on every residential street every town street trying to all get onto the highway and gets house before the Flames got closer anxiously trying to deep breathe but there was an awful lot of smoke in the air it was hot couldn't roll down the windows and just looking looking around watching in the rearview Mirror wondering how close those Flames were getting as everybody waited waited as patiently as they could and finally the traffic started moving he was able to take an exit to get onto the highway all of a sudden throat opened up and it was time to go press the gas Knuckles gripped tightly onto the steering wheel as heading south through the highway the smoke got sicker so sick that she had to slow down because couldn't tell what was in front it got hotter and hotter in the cab of a truck you can roll down the windows because the smoke was so sick as she got closer to the centre of town through the downtown all the sudden through the smoke you could see Flames the Flames were in golfing either side of the highway Sparks were flying out down onto the highway Knuckles grasped harder the heat got hotter and she had to wonder should she keep going or turn around what was she driving into if she kept going where would she go where would everybody else goes she tried to turn around she went farther hoping that eventually she would come through the Flames worried all along about her tires driving over those Embers what if it caused a blowout what is she got stuck there how many wondering how many Embers could fall on a vehicle before igniting or melting the black the plastic on the back of her tunnel cover or just just keep going with all that she's saying her head just keep driving just keep driving eventually the smoke cleared came out to the other side there's a police officer waving directing traffic on the both sides of the divided highway so that if I bet a try and flee the city she made it as with almost everyone else in town Auto Fort McMurray down the highway and then a whole new adventure of the waiting to see what would happen to the town while her and her family waited in the hotel waiting for the news of what to expect if they could go back

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Reflection:

• What would you have done differently if you have had the chance to script the story?
  • If I was scripting a story, I probably would have told another story. I told this, as initially I thought we had to record our narration and submit that, and I couldn't think of anything else that I could speak about for 5 minutes without giant pauses and stumbles that would have sounded very poor. For story, I wanted something with a bit of conflict an emotion, so it didn't sound like a boring recitation either. So I chose something I have a very clear memory of, that had so emotion, and perhaps allowed me convey that. I didn't have to pause and think up something when using a memory. But if scripting and writing, I would have not used something personal. I might have made a kids story something fictitious that followed a clear plot arc, that used figurative language, that had dialogue. Basically, something that matched how I have taught story writing in my Grade 7 LA class. But I knew I couldn't do that on the fly, and I initially thought we were to post recordings of voice, so I thought a telling of a memory would make a better story to listen to. However, even after I realized we were doing speech to text, I still thought it would be really confusing to do a fictitious story with dialogue, etc. without planning or scripting.
• What are the most common "mistakes" in the text?
  • The tool I used did not insert any punctuation, even though I thought I was taking pauses after each sentence and speaking slowly. It did though capitalize some odd words, all nouns, which I found strange since it didn't use periods and capitalize based on the start of a new sentence. They aren't proper nouns, except for Fort McMurray, so I'm not sure how that came about. There was a few words that the computer didn't understand my pronunciation - sick for thick, etc.
• Why do you consider these "mistakes"?
  • Conventions wise, if I were submitting this as an assignment, I would need to edit and make the spelling and grammar were correct. In reading a few parts where there were mistakes in the words it chose, I couldn't remember what I had actually said and what the right words were supposed to be. To someone reading, there would be areas of confusion. At one point is says the "Flames were in golfing". If you just speak it out, it sounds like engulfing, but it likely would make the reader stop, pause, and break the flow, impeding communication and lessening perhaps the mood.
• In what ways does oral storytelling differ from written storytelling?
  • With compete oral, (not reading from a text out loud), I think some of the feeling might be lost, as your mind is split with trying to think ahead, to not take too many pauses, to not correct yourself or repeat, as that I difficult to listen to for an audience. So instead of being able to concentrate on the quality of my voice, and adding what I would I would focus on when doing a read aloud from a written text - varying pace, inflection, varying volume, etc. I was just conscious of trying to get proper sentences put together. Likely that is much influenced by practice as well. A practiced story-teller could do both. Before the easy access to print material, bards were valued for their skill, as it is a talent to be able to compose and speak eloquently and with feeling at the same time. For those that aren't practiced or skilled in that, being able to write means being able to compose, edit, review, reflect, edit until satisfied. However, written stories are more likely to be judged based on their technical aspects. Reading a poorly edited work can be frustrating and off-putting for readers, even if the story is good. I think back to reading The Road which by design had little punctuation. I found it frustrating. Though many other loved it, winning a Pulitzer, and I have read critiques that say his lack of punctation drew them in more, made it feel like listening to an oral story and the depth of emotion was greater. Perhaps it depends on the reader. I always wondered if I had listened to an audiobook format of it, would I have connected more to the story and not been distracted by the lack of visible punctation.

I have also attached an audio recording of my story. After I realized we were doing speech to text, not recordings, I still decided I wanted to hear how my story sounded, so I set a recording at the same time as the speech to text was taking the dictation. In listening after, I was actually surprised that I felt good about the audio version. I wouldn't mind having that public as a piece or personal work, while it is honestly causing my anxiety not to be able to edit the dictation version. It seems like an affront to post that in its as is format, which is just my own issues in my head. But that in itself bears some personal reflection about language and communication. I don't consider myself a perfectionist, because I know my writing is not perfect quality and I make mistakes, but I still do always strive to produce my 'best" version of work. To me, that is bothering me as not my "best", but in an audio format, I was satisfied. It makes me think about my ELL students who do write very much like how that dictation came out. When learning a new language, at least in my experience with my Filipino students, their speech develops faster than written grammar. They lose points on their written work because of it presenting like the above dictated text. I would think that would be disheartening, and they must feel native English speakers think them dumb, with bad marks, even though they might have stronger, clearer, more creative ideas than some, but the grammar marks lower their scores. Things to ponder.