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Kallie Holzhueter
Professor Black
ENG 310
12 February 2013
Grasping Grammar
When most students hear the word “grammar,” they start to complain and beg the
teacher to move on to a different topic of instruction. Many of them think they won’t be
able to grasp the concepts, and this leads to many students’ brains shutting down before
they even give it a try. In the current age of technology, students feel grammar is becoming
outdated; they think it was something taught in one-room schoolhouses and is now
something of the past, especially since little grammar is used in text messaging and on
social networking websites. But grammar is a key part of language and writing, and for one
to be able to express themselves effectively, one must apply the rules of grammar and
mechanics. Even in the modern age, it is critical to know and be able to use grammar
correctly to present a positive image of oneself. For example, professional emails should
not include grammar or spelling errors because this makes a person look uneducated. So
how does a teacher go about instructing his students about grammar? The teacher must
find utilize interesting and new techniques for less time each day to keep the students
engaged and focused (and also not overwhelm them).
In many of my middle and high school English classes, we spent a few weeks of each
trimester solely on grammar. The majority of each class period would be dedicated to
working on grammar worksheets. I learned how to diagram sentences and pick out what
each word functioned as. I’m happy I learned this because I do believe it has helped me a lot
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because let’s face it, grammar is used on a daily basis whether people like it or not. Since
grammar is so essential, it must be taught in schools. I don’t necessarily mean by
diagramming sentences and going over rule after rule all in a few weeks’ time. After
completing the readings from Mechanically Inclined, and studying two online articles, I was
able to start devising a plan for attacking the huge goal of “teaching grammar.” It is
important that I begin to do this now so that I will have a lot of time to make changes and
experiment with what works well and what does not BEFORE I get in front of a class to
teach it.
First and foremost, teachers need to keep in mind that grammar doesn’t all need to
be taught at once; there doesn’t need to be a specific “grammar unit.” It is best for students
to learn grammar little by little so they don’t feel overwhelmed. The best way to teach
grammar is to insert a small lesson into each class period. Janice Christy suggests in her
article “To Teach or Not to Teach (Grammar) – No Longer the Question” that when
beginning grammar, the teacher should first follow these steps: Identify the standards,
determine what your students know, and plan instruction. This is important because in
education today, countless standards need to be met. In addition, many students have been
through classes that included grammar instruction before, so this most likely isn’t the first
time they’ve seen many of the basic principles. Once the teacher has an idea of where they
stand, they can begin instruction without repeating old concepts or starting out at too high
of a level (and overwhelming them). The key is to not bore them into not paying attention
but also not to present too tough of a challenge and discourage them.
In Mechanically Inclined, Jeff Anderson presents the idea of teaching grammar “minilessons,” which I think are the perfect way to fit a small grammar lesson (covering only one
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topic) into a lesson. Christy suggests something like this, but I don’t like the strategy she
presents that includes having students correct errors in sentences. Like Kelly Gallagher
reinforces in Write Like This, students see too much writing that includes errors, so they
should be shown the proper way to write instead. But I do like Christy’s idea called “One a
Day” in which she suggest weaving grammar in with the rest of the curriculum as well. This
way, students can see the grammar used in real situations such as in the books they’re
reading. By teaching grammar to students in “mini-lessons, teachers can keep them focused
in on one topic within the realm of grammar and present it to them in context. These “minilessons” will help keep the students focused in the on the specific grammar or mechanical
ideas that will be helpful to them in the future.
Various times in Mechanically Inclined, Anderson suggests using “Visual Scaffolding”
to help the students understand the concepts. Sometimes grammatical concepts or long
and detailed sentences can be overwhelming, but breaking the ideas down and presenting
them visually to the students will help them see the formula of sentences. In the article,
“Teaching Grammar: There Has to Be a Better Way (And There Is!),” Steve Peha suggests
breaking the sentence down into the following parts: main parts, lead-in parts, in-between
parts, and add-on parts. This technique could be especially helpful if presented visually to
the students. This would allow them to grasp the concept of how sentences are structured
and how each type relates to the next (no matter how many parts it has). It also shows
them that the order can be changed, but the certain parts of the sentences (verbs, nouns,
adjectives, etc.) stay the same. By combining these two techniques, students would be able
to visually see the structure of sentences and how grammar works, which are hard
concepts to grasp.
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All in all, grammar instruction doesn’t need to be boring, and it doesn’t need to be a
topic that teachers shy away from. Grammar is everywhere, and people use it on a daily
basis to express themselves. Rather than diagramming sentences and completing an
endless amount of worksheets, teachers should instruct their students on how to use
grammar in a real-world context so their students will be able to express themselves with
ease in the future.
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Works Cited
Anderson, Jeff. Mechanically Inclined. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers, 2005. Print.
Christy, Janice. “To Teach or Not to Teach (Grammar) – No Longer the Question.” Teaching
Today. Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2000-2005. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
Gallagher, Kelly. Write Like This. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers, 2011. Print.
“Teaching Grammar: There Has to Be a Better Way (And There Is!).” Edutopia. Teaching
That Makes Sense, Inc., 1995-2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.