Grammar appears to be a concept that some teachers – and schools themselves – lean away from (i.e. stay away from). There are a number of reasons why this is the case: philosophies that devalue the need for grammar in school, belief that grammar is taught implicitly through reading and writing, and perhaps primarily – a lack of confidence teaching grammar. I have a terrible memory to begin with; my memories of my schooling revolve around sports, social interactions, and lunchtime. I have very little recollection of being taught grammar, aside from common sentence errors and parts of speech instruction. Ten to fifteen years later, I experienced a radically different environment. Straight out of university I began teaching at Bell High School in Nepean (Ottawa). I was handed a grade twelve College English course and a grade eleven University English course, and grammar was to be a daily focus. This was a very tiring and trying time of my life. I felt my classroom management skills were fine, my ability to relate to the students even better, and my organization and creativity lead to some success; however, my knowledge of grammar details and strategies to teach them, were relatively minimal. That being said, I took advice from the English department, picked their brains constantly, and stayed up very late learning and relearning the finer aspects of grammar. That first semester was ended up being one of the periods of my life that I am most proud of. It made me a stronger and more knowledgeable teacher (and person).
How do I feel about this? Where do I fall on the grammar continuum? I am not entirely sure; I suppose I fall somewhere in the middle. How much effect does persistent grammar instruction have on students? How do I consistently develop creative lessons and captivating activities based on grammar; a subject generally detested (too strong?) by students? These are the questions that we face as Language Arts teachers. Whether teachers fall on the left, right, or middle of the continuum, it is important for educators to understand why grammar is taught – the intentions behind it and the goals this teaching practice is meant to attain. Grammar is important because it provides the framework for effective writing and positively increases oral communication. Furthermore, understanding the elements of grammar allows students to be better peer editors – which may seem like a minor benefit, but certainly is an added bonus in the classroom. Tompkins’ text suggests that an effective approach to teaching grammar is to connect it with reading and writing activities and to develop minilessons about different grammar components. When I was teaching intermediate/senior level English teacher I found some success using both correct and incorrect sentences from students’ work to highlight these components. As a class we would take time investigating the sentences and the students would identify why the sentences were put on the board. Another strategy that was effective followed more closely with the minilesson approach. Students would take partial sentences and combine them with conjunctions (as an example). One thing you may have noticed, is that the concepts discussed here seem to link closely to the junior curriculum. I would agree wholeheartedly after taking some time exploring the Ontario documents. However my students (especially the College stream) needed more practice – more focus spent on these things. The reality is that teachers must focus their grammar teaching on what the students actually need – rather than what the curriculum documents dictate should be taught.
Reading has a huge influence on improving students’ grammar comprehension. Although direct connections – for example the use of proper nouns in certain texts – may be difficult to see, students indirectly learn new ways to apply language practices into their work. Unfortunately today’s students are reading far too many texts that are poorly written, and they engage in practices that are not conducive to proper writing. Students spend an enormous amount of time texting, tweeting, writing informal emails, and reading blogs that are poorly constructed. These ‘new’ forms of text certainly aren’t aiding in students’ comprehension of grammar rules. However it is important that teachers avoid shying away from these texts and try to embrace them in the classroom. One strategy that might be effective is to take these tweets and emails and have students make corrections. That being said it is important for teachers not to curb students’ interests in these forms of text, but rather have students realize that different writing styles are appropriate for different mediums.
As I mentioned previously – tying the elements of grammar to the editing stage of writing works quite well. It seems that grammar (especially at the junior level) is not an implicit focus for students during the writing process. Consequently students need to make adjustments, and know how to make adjustments, when they are revising their work. Teachers must be persistent during this phase though because students seem have a tendency to fast-forward through this stage of the writing process. I think one strategy that might work is to have students pull out sentences from either their work or their peers, and have them discuss the purposes of sentences, and what makes them unique, interesting and complete. If the sentences don’t fall into one of these categories or if the sentence doesn’t meet its intended purpose it might need to be revised.
Spelling is linked with the elements of grammar. Students that understand the rules of both will almost assuredly find great success in reading and writing. But how do we properly assess students’ progress in these areas? More importantly how do we ensure that this assessment is authentic? Tompkin’s text provides strategies that have shown success in the classroom.
1. Teachers also assess students’ spelling during the editing process. Students’ ability to locate errors in their work, or that of their peers, is a strong indicator of their spelling abilities. If students can locate their errors, teachers are then able to assess whether students are capable of fixing them. In order for this strategy to work efficiently, teachers must have excellent organization and attention to detail skills. I suspect that it could be difficult for teachers to stay on top of this, especially in large class sizes.
2. A second way to assess spelling – and determine the reasons behind spelling mistakes – is to have students present the words (or a piece of their work containing these words) orally. This allows teachers to figure out whether or not spelling errors occur because students are misinterpreting the pronunciations of words. While this strategy makes sense, it could be very difficult for teachers to precisely decipher and decode students’ words. The final strategy seems to be the most effective.
3. Teachers must assess students’ work periodically in order to ensure that the results from their spelling tests are authentic. Students must be able to transfer their spelling abilities to written pieces in order for students to successfully achieve spelling goals. It makes sense that spelling test results may be flawed because the students have spent so much time rehearsing how the words are spelled. However in their written work students must spell words subconsciously. It seems errors are more likely to be experienced here. I believe teachers should follow spelling tests with a writing activity that complements the words being focused on and forces students to use those words in their writing.
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