Amanda Cadena, ECI 430, October 28, 2011
Subject Verb Agreement
Context:
 This lesson will focus on the importance of context and audience when writing in
order to introduce the complex grammar lesson of subject-verb agreement. This
lesson will also create the beginning division between at-home language and
Standard English, which will allow students to understand that it’s ok to have
“grammatical errors” in their writing based on context. This lesson will be the
introduction to a poem they will be writing, where they will be allowed to use
their at-home language to create their own stylistic choices.
Primary Instructional Objective
 Students will be able to demonstrate their beginning comprehension of the
importance of audience and context of language use by identifying the misuse of
subject-verb agreement in a song.
 Students will be able to work collaboratively in pairs while working on an
introductory example of subject-verb agreement.
 Students will be able to create corrected versions of a song lyric using correct
subject-verb agreement.
 Students will be able to formulating hypothesis of why the songwriter chose to
use incorrect subject-verb agreement.
 Students will be able to create their beginning understanding of at-home
language and professional language using Standard English.
 NCSCOS Competency Goal 6.01- Demonstrate an understanding of conventional
written and spoken expression by:
o Using appropriate subject-verb agreement and verb tense that are
appropriate for the meaning of the sentence.
o Developing an awareness of language conventions and usage.
Materials/Technology Resources
 Smart Board
 Board
 Dry-Erase Markers
 Laptop with Internet access
 Lyrics of Nickelback’s “Believe it or Not” Song
 Wiki Page
 Mini-Lesson Quick Check Cards
 Envelopes
 Envelope Challenge cut outs
 Language/Grammar Informationhttp://owlet.letu.edu/grammarlinks/verbs/verb1d2.html
Time
 15 Minute Mini-Lesson from a 50 minute class period
Pre-Instructional Procedures
1. Write NCSCOS Competency Goal on the Board
2. Pull up Lyrics on doc cam (lyrics found in appendix) and YouTube Video of
Nickelback’s “Believe it or Not” Song (found on Wiki Page)
3. Write Agenda on Board
a. Agenda
i. Greeting
ii. Partner Envelope Challenge
iii. “Believe it or Not” Nickelback got it wrong. Or did he?
iv. Mini-Lesson Quick Check Card
4. Cut out Envelope Challenge pieces
Instructional Procedures
1. Bridge: At the beginning of class welcome the students by saying, “What’s the
deal, hommies? Did you hear about the down-low convo the other team
teachers were havin’ in the hall? They thinks we can’t hear them talkin’ about
us, don’t they?” This should cause the students to laugh or make a comment
about the language you used.
2. Ask students, “What’s so funny? Was there something wrong with how I
spoke?” Students should give responses like: “You’re a teacher you can’t talk
like that”, “it’s not correct”, etc.
3. Prompt students for deeper connections by asking, “Why is it not considered
“correct” for a teacher to speak in this manner”. Guide students into a
response that deals with context of the teaching profession (ex: teachers
have to talk professionally, rappers can talk in slang)
4. Tell the students, “ Today we will be covering a mini-lesson on the
importance of audience and context by looking specifically at the misuse of
subject-verb agreement in a song. Did anyone notice my misuse of subjectverb agreement?”
5. Students will probably not notice the mistake, if they do move onto next step.
If most of the students can’t point out what your subject-verb agreement
mistake was explain to them, “Sometimes we make mistakes in our oral
language that goes unnoticed. If we were to write down what I wrote there
would be a lot of mistakes with the written statement, I want you to keep in
mind there are written language rules and an oral language rules.”
6. Next ask the students, “Who can tell me what subject-verb agreement is?”
Students should be able to give a broad definition based on their prior
knowledge. If students are not aware of anything about subject-verb
agreement say, “Subject verb agreement means matching subjects and verbs
according to number. Singular verbs go with singular subjects and plural
verbs go with plural subjects. We will be getting into greater detail about this
grammar aspect over the next couple of days, so don’t worry if you aren’t
comfortable with it yet.”
7. Once students have understood that subjects and verbs must agree in
number (plural and singular) in Standard English have students get in pairs
and examine the envelope in front of them.
8. Inform them that in the envelope they will find pieces of a sentence. They are
going to create a sentence using correct subject-verb agreement
9. Ask the students to use the small cut outs of suffixes to adjust their sentence
to make them representative of Standard English if necessary.
10. Have students share the sentences they created.
11. Continue by telling students, “Remember how I greeted you a little while ago
and called you “hommies” and said things like ”down-low”? Well you guys
thought it was funny because I’m your teacher, but if a rapper or singer
would have said it, it would have been cool right?”
12. Ask students to infer reasons why they think that is? Students should
respond by saying it’s ok for rappers to speak in that matter because it’s a
part of their job, they can speak less formally as a way to create an effect on
their audience, etc.
13. Explain to students, “Because of the context of my job, as in where I work, it
is not acceptable to speak in that manner. But it acceptable for a rapper or
singer to speak that way. We also need to remember that even teachers use
slang words, just not when we are at school. The context or place we are at
makes a big difference about the language we use. This is something that
each of you should be beginning to do. Differentiating your language based
on where you are.”
14. Inform students that just like rappers use slang even though it’s not
considered grammatically correct, songwriters sometimes do the same thing
and sometimes even writers. This is why we don’t categorize their improper
use of subject-verb agreement as wrong. Ask students why they think this is.
Answers should include sending a message, style choice, etc.
15. Next show students the lyrics to Nickleback’s song Believe It or Not (play the
short clip if time allows).
16. Ask students if there is anything they notice about the song. Students should
answer that the song has a lot of sentences that have disagreeing subject and
verbs.
17. Next ask students if they were still able to understand what the song was
saying even though it is considered grammatically incorrect?
18. Explain to students that even though the songwriter did not use subject-verb
agreement we were still able to understand what he meant, what he was
doing was making a stylistic choice. Kind of like choosing to wear a certain
shoes cause you think it looks good with an outfit. We also have to think of it
as some shoes are more appropriate in some contexts than others. It is
appropriate for the writer to make this mistake in his song, but maybe not in
a letter to his record company’s CEO.
19. Next, ask a student to point out in the song where the subject and verb do not
agree in number without saying where it is wrong. (See the teacher’s version
of the lyrics found in the Appendix)
20. Once, they have identified a few sentences; ask them to use Standard English
to transform one line of lyrics into a sentence that the subject and verb agree
on their Mini-Lesson Quick Check Card.
21. Once the students have completed their card and passed them forward, close
the mini-lesson by asking, “What have we learned today about at home
language vs Standard English?” Students should respond with answers about
there being an appropriate use of language in each scenario, they can be
grammatically incorrect when they use their at home language but not when
they use Standard English, Standard English is their professional voice and
should be used in school or work and at home language is their voice that
they can use when talking with friends, etc.
22. Closure of Mini-Lesson: Congratulate the students for doing such a good job
at identifying subject-verb agreement as well as becoming aware of the
importance of context, meaning, and audience and for their beginning steps
to make the conscious division between their at-home language and
Standard English they would use in their professional world.
23. Next inform students that we will be using their at-home language, they can
use Non-Standard English slangs just like in the song, to create a poem that
summarizes the chapter they just read in their book.
24. Pair students up in groups of two and present the example poem on the
board.
25. Have students explain how the poem summarizes what the chapter was
about.
26. Ask students to point out examples of the author’s use of “at-home” language.
27. Give the students the rest of the class time to collaborate on their poems.
28. Inform the students that although the poems aren’t due today their ticket out
the door must include a summary of what they accomplished and at least 3
ideas for their poem.
29. Closure of Lesson- Before the bell rings inform students, “Today you created
the first steps in differentiating your at-home language and your professional
language using Standard English. You learned about subject-verb agreement
and you’re creating a poem using your at-home language to create your own
writing style. We will continue to work on all of these language tools through
out the year, so don’t worry if you don’t feel 100% confident. Have a good
day.”
Evaluation
Students will complete a Mini-Lesson Quick Check Card where they correct an
incorrect sentence based on the song.
Accommodations:
Higher learners (AG students) will be partnered with lower level students (IEP etc).
The students on IEP are allowed to copy down their sentence on the Mini-Lesson
Quick Check card and complete it for homework. Be sure to check the card is
completed when signing the IEP student’s agenda on the way out.
Reflection:
I am a little worried I have too much to cover and too many examples and
application to remain in the 15-minute range of a mini-lesson.
Appendix of Materials:
Link to Wiki: http://msl-methods-11-12.wikispaces.com/subject+verb+agreement
On the wiki you will find: a link to the song lyrics, a link to the YouTube video of
song & this full lesson plan.
Nickelback- Believe It or Not
Believe it or not everyone have things that they hide
Believe it or not everyone keep most things inside
Believe it or not everyone believe in something above
Believe it or not everyone needs to feel loved, feel loved
But we don't, and we won't until we figure out
Could someone deliver us and send us some kind of sign
So close to giving up 'cause faith is so hard to find
But you don't, and you won't until we figure out
I've seen it a lot every time the world turns upside down
Believe it or not most of us feel like we're losing ground
Believe it or not everyone hate admitting fear
Believe it or not most of us wanna know why we're here, why we're here
But we don't, and we won't until we figure out
Could someone deliver us and send us some kind of sign
So close to giving up 'cause faith is so hard to find
Someone deliver us, just send us some kind of sign
So close to giving up 'cause faith is so hard to find
But you don't, you won't until we figure out
Most of us have nothing to complain about
Most of us have things we could live without
Everyone need advice on how to get along
You don't, we won't until we figure out
Believe it or not everyone, everyone...
Believe it or not everyone have things that they hide
Believe it or not everyone keep most things inside
Believe it or not everyone believe in something above
Believe it or not everyone needs to feel loved, feel loved
But we don't, and we won't until we figure out
Could someone deliver us and send us some kind of sign
So close to giving up 'cause faith is so hard to find
Someone deliver us, just send us some kind of sign
So close to giving up 'cause faith is so hard to find
But you don't, and you won't until we figure out
You don't, and you won't until we figure out
Teacher’s Version-
Nickelback- Believe It or Not
Believe it or not everyone have(has) things that they hide
Believe it or not everyone keep(s) most things inside
Believe it or not everyone believe(s) in something above
Believe it or not everyone needs to feel loved, feel loved
But we don't, and we won't until we figure out
Could someone deliver us and send us some kind of sign
So close to giving up 'cause faith is so hard to find
But you don't, and you won't until we figure out
I've seen it a lot every time the world turns upside down
Believe it or not most of us feel(s) like we're losing ground
Believe it or not everyone hate(s) admitting fear
Believe it or not most of us wanna know why we're here, why we're here
But we don't, and we won't until we figure out
Could someone deliver us and send us some kind of sign
So close to giving up 'cause faith is so hard to find
Someone deliver us, just send us some kind of sign
So close to giving up 'cause faith is so hard to find
But you don't, you won't until we figure out
Most of us have nothing to complain about
Most of us have things we could live without
Everyone need advice on how to get along
You don't, we won't until we figure out
Believe it or not everyone, everyone...
Believe it or not everyone have(has) things that they hide
Believe it or not everyone keep(s) most things inside
Believe it or not everyone believe(s) in something above
Believe it or not everyone needs to feel loved, feel loved
But we don't, and we won't until we figure out
Could someone deliver us and send us some kind of sign
So close to giving up 'cause faith is so hard to find
Someone deliver us, just send us some kind of sign
So close to giving up 'cause faith is so hard to find
But you don't, and you won't until we figure out
You don't, and you won't until we figure out
Mini-Lesson Quick
Check Card
Mini-Lesson Quick
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Mini-Lesson Quick
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Mini-Lesson Quick
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Mini-Lesson Quick
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Mini-Lesson Quick
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Mini-Lesson Quick
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Mini-Lesson Quick
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Envelope Challenge Contents
The boy play the guitar in
his band.
The floor has scratch on it
thank to my cat.
She leave class on time
everyday.
The boy play the guitar
during morning
announcements.
(s) (es) (s) (s)
(s) (es) (s) (s)
(s) (es) (s) (s)
Envelope Challenge Contents (answers)
The boy(s) play (or) boy
play(s) the guitar in his
band.
The floor has scratch(es)
on it thank to my cat.
She leave(s) class on time
everyday.
The boy play(s) the guitar
during morning
announcements.