Some nerds (read: well-read professionals) like me remember fondly the days of diagramming sentences. Nothing gave me greater pleasure than categorizing every word in a sentence. But, this is not because I learned all about grammar. It is really because I so enjoy organizing things. Putting everything in its proper place just makes me happy. Knowing that a dog is a noun doesn't do much for my ability to speak correctly.
Helping children master conventions like punctuation and capitalization and using grammar properly is really important but really tricky. It has to be done in a way that will transfer into real life. We have long since figured this out with reading, math, science, and social studies. Unless we make the content applicable and important to our students, it won't stick. And if it doesn't stick, what's the point??
We have seen this with spelling instruction. Giving students a list of random words to practice all week, then a test on Friday rarely ends with a student's spelling improving.
Y'all, there are 44 different speech sounds and more than 100 spellings used to represent them (Blevins, 1998; Bos & Vaughn, 2002). But that's for another post. :)
So how do we do it at school? What can be done at home?
Many teachers study mentor sentences. This means that they will lift a piece of text from something they have read in class and study it for the craft moves that the author makes.
Here's an example:
"Larger spiders can eat birds- even rats, lizards, or snakes!" --from Weird, Wild, and Wonderful: Ugly Creatures
What are some things the author has done in this sentence?
First, I notice there is a dash in the middle of the sentence. So when I read, I pause briefly, and then I read the next part with a little more emphasis.
I also see that the sentence ends with an exclamation point.
So by using the dash and the exclamation point, the author really wants to emphasize how interesting it is that spiders can eat these animals. And it is interesting! Those are big animals.
Then you might have children try writing a sentence like this. They could go back into a piece of their own writing to find where they want to emphasize some examples.
We have done two things here -- we have pulled real craft moves out of a real text, and then we have asked students to try these same moves in their own, real writing.
Authenticity is the name of the game.
If you are teacher or a parent, using mentor sentences is easy enough and can be done naturally. As you are reading with children, talk about the things you notice an author doing that make the book, story, information, more engaging. When children laugh at parts, talk about what made them laugh.
Also, noticing these things yourself is really important so that you can point them out! You don't have to go looking for texts. They will find you if you are reading regularly.
There are some other factors that play into proper grammar usage. Think about how you speak at home and school to students. What they hear, they will repeat. If we want them to speak correctly, we have to model that for them! They have no way of knowing that the incorrect grammar we use in a funny or haphazard way is incorrect unless they consistently hear and use correct grammar themselves. This comes first in oral language and then in written language.
So, while many of my generation and before might wonder where the grammar instruction has gone and why students aren't learning it, let me assure you it's still there. But today we do it in a way that we hope will transfer to real life. And everyone is a part of that!! Also keep in mind that grammar, just like every other skill children learn, comes in developmental stages. Be patient, persistent, and a good model. It will come.
No comments:
Post a Comment