GRAMMAR

I'm feeling the need to spend a lot of time with the concept of teaching grammar in my classroom.  I've been researching ideas on the NCTE website along with my book, Engaging Grammar.  There's just so much to know.

Today, I read an article that recommended a piece of writing ("A Modest Proposal" Swift) to help guide students' thinking about the role of semicolons.  Of course, this article is not the cream of the crop, but it illustrates the point of helping students to look for certain grammatical aspects in play in a piece of text they are reading.  They then can model that.

So far, I found some helpful resources in addition to my book:

Activities for Teaching Grammar--I especially like the idea of verb/ adverb charades for the middle school level.

Grammar Ideas

An important thing I've found in my main text, Engaging Grammar, is the difference between Form Classes and Structure Classes.

Form classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) can handle taking affixes and new members.  These can be shaped into other forms.

Structure classes (determiners, auxiliaries, qualifiers, prepositions, particles, conjunctions, pronouns) are incapable of taking new members and often provide the rhythm of a sentence.  They are generally unstressed.

I never thought of grouping the parts of speech into different categories, but it helps in clarifying the rules of the parts of speech within a sentence and piece of writing.  They help us see patterns.  Grammar as a whole is about patterns.  There are rules and exceptions, of course, but it is useful to be constantly looking for patterns to mimic and use.

I TAUGHT TODAY!!!

I taught two sets of eighth grade classes today.  Of course, I was nervous but I brought plenty of business to keep the students moving on their identity units.

Today, the students had a warm-up involving connotation and selecting thoughtful adjectives to use in their individual bio-poems.  I was trying to steer them away from using generic, non descript adjectives ("cool", "smart", "nice") and cause them to think deeper about how they view themselves. 

Both classes went smoothly.  The students created their poems, and collages to go with the poems, and proceeded to upload them on Schoology before starting on their narrative writing.  One struggle I ran into--particularly in the first class-- was pacing the class to allow for less "social" time.  The students kept distracting each other with conversations while working through their poems.  I modified this going into the second lesson, shortening the time the students had to work on brainstorming.  This allowed for more progress and less conversational time.

I feel relatively confident in how smoothly the classes went today.  I feel like I could improve on pacing work (in order to keep the students more on task) and bringing the lesson full circle by readdressing issues I discussed at the beginning of class (mainly connation and thoughtful word choice).

The second class was probably the hardest to keep on task in terms of behavior.  I've spent less time in this class getting to know the students.  It was harder for me to come up with examples for them to individually use in their poems.  Ms. Baldwin and I kept having to address a group of six boys who were distracting each other with irrelevant matters.  I found that it was even hard to go through the instructions in this class without being interrupted with irrelevant questions or comments.

It was NOT A DISASTER by any means.  It was an opportunity, however, to see group dynamics in play and find ways to modify the plan based on the different scenarios.

I'll upload my video soon!

Busy Work in 7th-8th grade

It was a hectic, business-oriented day.  The students of both seventh grades and eighth grades had to work on the same task: organizing their notebook, locating missing work, and completing their Table of Contents.

It was kind of difficult to keep the students engaged today.  Some students whirled through their busy work, having found and completed all their work.  They were supposed to read silently as the rest of the class finished their work.  What ended up happening was a lot of side chatter that distracted the students actually reading.

The structure of the first assignment was that students had to look for work whether it was done electronically (submitted on Schoology) or in hard copy.  It was a little difficult because not all assignments were done electronically, or vice versa.  As a result, there was a lot of confusion as to whether or not students had all their assignments.  Ms. Baldwin came up with a solution that, if students had done the work in hard copy, they could take a picture of it on their Ipads and submit to Schoology.  Schoology, then, kept the running tab of all missing assignments.

The engagement level was down.  On top of that, this Wednesday served as the last day of the week for the students.  They were all discussing their long weekend plans and found lots of topics to converse about.

Ms. Baldwin and I had to do a lot of monitoring to make sure students were staying on task today.  It was hard to keep the focus level where it needed to be, and I wonder what other things we could have had the students do other than just silent reading in that forum.  Obviously, the latter-- as much as the students typically enjoy it-- was not working today.

"The More You Know, The More You See"

If I'm being honest, I still don't know if I am effectively equipped to teach grammar in the most real sense.  At least: I don't feel confident in going into a classroom and incorporating grammar into the lesson in an engaging way.

The book "Engaging Grammar" is helping some.  One recurring theme is the importance of pointing out syntactical and grammar patterns in regular reading.  The idea is, that the more we point out the patterns, the more the students will recognize the patterns themselves, and then be able to incorporate those skills into their own writing.

One seasoned writer wrote about scared he was to approach the concept of grammar.  I think I maybe connected to that feeling right off the bat.  He said that he tried this approach in his classroom--pointing out patterns in existing writing.  He started simply (breaking down a simple subject-verb sentence).  From there, he had the students work to rewrite the sentence in as many ways as they could without taking away from the meaning of the sentence.  Instead of just "Margaret slept" it became "She slept" and "The woman slept" and "I slept" and so on.  The idea was to represent the different forms of the subject and the role of the subject.  That was this teacher's basic lesson.  From there, they began to make the matter more complex.  He said that there were many times when students asked questions to which he knew no answer.  Grammar is a complex thing, after all.  However, he stressed the importance of being honest and pursuing the answer together.

High school students are going to need some grammar practice.  Many of my students will probably be just as initially scared to learn about grammar as I am to teach it.  However, we can make it attainable with the right structure and activities.  We can both build confidence as we go on through the process of learning grammar.  I can't go into the class and open up a lesson on grammar in the way I have heard it as a student: "Today we are going to be learning about grammar because most of the class is making mistake after mistake in this area..."  It might be beneficial to not mention "grammar" at all when introducing the lesson.  We will just be working with words and sentences to make the most strong examples we can.

The most useful thing I'm taking away from my reading on grammar so far is the importance of choosing the right activities to work with the concepts and patterns.  It has been taking me a lot of re-reading to get my mind around grammar (it's never been my strong suit) but I think I am growing in the right direction!

Seventh grade PLP set up

During advisory this morning, all students started to create their PLPs.  They individually chose what site to create their PLPs on (options included Google Sites, Wix, Weebly, and Adobe Sparknote).  Most of the students were creating their PLPs on the Weebly app.

We ran into a few ipad glitches today.  Individual students were unable to connect with certain buttons and do regular tasks like change font color and size and background images.  This left them frazzled.  Ms. Baldwin and I assisted as much as possible.  However, our own skills were limited and we were confused why some students had no problems with their technology, and others did.

Ms. Baldwin kept insisting on a positive attitude from everyone throughout the process.  Students would make negative comments out of frustration, and she would try to repeat their feelings in a more positive way.

As is the usual on Fridays, the class went to the library for independent reading.  The students love going to the library.  They asked about it constantly this morning before we actually left for the library.  The students invited me to sit with them in beanbags on the floor and we all silently read for 15-20 minutes today.

It's interesting to hear the students regularly recommending books to each other.  It is obviously a big part of their routine, and they really seem to enjoy it.  One seventh grader was reading Stephen King's It while another student was reading Alex Ryder books.  The reading levels and interest levels range excessively.

Ms. Baldwin's classroom normally features a relaxed style.  The students are often comfortable with taking leadership roles and directing themselves and other students.  For example, one seventh grader--Ryley-- addressed other students who were talking during the Pledge of Allegiance.  She instructed them on correct behavior.  The other students acted like it was no big deal that this correction took place.

This sort of thing happens rather frequently.  Students are instructing each other in ipad processes, learning techniques, and even behavior.  It's just part of the community.  From what I can tell, the majority of the students are really comfortable with this direction.

Identity Unit: ThingLinks and Four Corners

The group of eighth graders is in the middle of an identity unit.  They reflected on their ThingLink projects from last year (designed to represent the things they like and dislike and basic elements of who they are) and discussed what they would like to do differently for the project this year.  They discussed photographs, friends, favorite foods and music, and talked about including the results of the few identity quizzes they have done thus far.

The class obviously enjoys this unit.  They get to do a handful of hands-on activities and projects that get them involved.

Afterwards, they always get to reflect on what they've learned.

Today, Ms. Baldwin had a game called "Four Corners."  She would read a statement, and the students would divide themselves into four categories (Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree) based on the statements.  Ms. Baldwin stressed multiple times that no answer is wrong.  They were all opinions, and all students could voice their opinion regardless of the opinions of the rest of the class.

The statements had to do with identity (nature vs. nurture, friend groups, style, etc).  The students divvied themselves up accordingly.  It was interesting to see how some students were willing to stand alone on issues that the rest of the class seemed to be grouped into.  Each group/ individual could share why they chose the category they did.  In one case, Evan stood alone from nearly the entire class.  The other kids were surprised that he agreed with the statement when the rest were pretty certain that disagreeing was the way to go.  When Evan told the class why he chose the answer he did, and his reasoning to draw that conclusion, we all realized that he really wasn't off-base, at all.  He was just seeing it from a different perspective.

This activity was really useful for seeing the way different individuals may perceive the same statement or text in different ways.  Evan was justified in his answer, just as his classmates were justified in theirs.  The result was a far more rounded discussion about alternative views and conceptions, and proved to be a very interesting learning opportunity.

The diversity that exists within one group of students and even one peer group (Evan's friends were sure he was wrong) is so important.

V.O.C.A.B.

I'm becoming OBSESSED with looking at vocabulary activities that engage students and challenge the way they view words!

For example, one activity calls on students to work in small groups and plan a charade to show the definition of a word.  They cannot tell the class exactly what word it is, so they really have to think about how to represent the word in order for the students to best guess.

Another idea is called the "Chain Link" game.  One student is assigned a word.  They tell the class the word and the definition.  From there, the next student goes with another word and has to contemplate ways that their word connects with the first word.  So on and so forth.  It is kind of link the students are building a scaffold and bridge between the vocabulary words within a unit.  It's a physical schema.  Seeing these connections help with future recall as well as a broader understanding of the vocabulary.

The thing that I am realizing most through reading the book "Word Nerds" is that there are SO MANY ways to teach vocabulary that all students can access the material.  Moreso: it can be genuinely fun.  One interesting sentence of this week's reading: "Engaging students in activities that ask them to apply vocabulary improve their comprehension and helps them recognize vocabulary as a fluid and standard component of academic conversations rather than just a list of words on an anchor chart."  In other words, I want my students to feel comfortable and confident in using those vocabulary words in academic conversations fluidly.  They can actually employ the language in real life.

My own nature as a young student might get nervous by non-traditional vocabulary lessons.  Now, as I'm looking into the subject, I realize that it is attainable, fun, and can actually be really comfortable.  The more students are called upon to think in broader, more connected, more complex, less traditional ways, the more comfortable they will be with approaching new challenges.

This week, I got to the part about assessment in vocabulary instruction.  The teaching should never become activity land.  We really have to monitor to make sure the students are really learning.  It even discussed to the importance of recognizing misconceptions students may have about the vocabulary before and during instruction.  We need to pay special attention to the connections students are making between the words.

PLPS

The class today was dedicated to PLP learning and TEAM EXTREME's group meeting.  All seventh and eighth graders from the team met in the common room to discuss team policy and PLPs.

The eighth graders were leading the group meeting in telling the seventh graders about how their PLPS worked last year.  They demonstrated the benefits and struggles of the program they used last year for the PLPS.  It was a common discussion among the students that the program was not very functional as a whole for updating materials and resources.  It was only easier because all students were using the same format and the same program.  This year will allow for more student choice--leaving the students very excited.

A handful of students created fake profiles on different websites in order to discuss the pros and cons of each program.  One used Weebly.  One used a special ipad program.  They discussed versatility and creativity.  The students will choose how to best represent and document their program.

I think the meeting went productively.  The students were engaged and actively involved.  They renewed their knowledge about the purpose of PLPs and pursued other avenues for documenting the evidence of their learning.

As usual, we spent some time independent reading in the library at the end of class.  This is one of my favorite activities, and goes hand in hand with my course reading about the importance of independent reading.

All in all, this was one very productive day!