Teaching Grammar and
Vocabulary
Calkins,
Ehrenworth, and Lehman—Pathways to the
Common Core
Jeff
Anderson—Mechanically Inclined
Beers—When Kids Can’t Read
Zuldema—The
Grammar Workshop: Systematic Language Study in Reading and Writing Context
“Beyond
Grammar Drills: How Language Works in Learning to Write
Say:
Overall,
this was one of my favorite weeks to read for thus far. Teaching grammar and vocabulary have always
been my least favorite parts about being teaching English. Whenever I was in high school, every teacher
taught grammar and vocabulary with traditional practices. Therefore, these two areas were never my
strong suits. The reading from today was
very helpful because it discussed many ways to revolutionize the traditional
teaching styles for grammar and vocabulary.
Ever since EDSE 547, I have really
liked Mechanically Inclined. It is the first book I have ever read that
harps on making grammar just as interesting as teachers try to make literature
and writing. Reading it a second time
around has actually been very helpful because I have noticed different aspects that
could work with the writing workshop model we have discussed in EDSE 787 (27). I like how Anderson argues that “weaving” grammar
mini lessons into traditional writing practices is the best way for students to
learn (28). Having traditional grammar
units is not going to be meaningful to students because they cannot see how what
they are learning can be explicitly applied to their writing.
I also love how Anderson discusses almost
every single major aspect of grammar teachers are expected to teach their
students are expected to learn in high school English. From crafting sentences to learning different
forms of punctuation, Anderson gives explicit examples of how teachers can
introduce grammar to students in an innovative way. He gives explicit examples of how to scaffold
each grammar lesson in with reading in writing (61). He also explains how each lesson needs to be
accompanied by mentor text and visual scaffolds so that students can see how
the grammar lesson applies to themselves and their work (62). Most instructors separate grammar into one category,
but Anderson shows that it is important to intertwine grammar with reading and
writing practices.
Along with Anderson, Zuldema’s
article, “The Grammar Workshop: Systematic Language Study in Reading and Writing
Context,” also argues the importance of integrating grammar with the daily
lessons of reading and writing. Zuldema
states, “If reading and writing are two sides of the same coin, then grammar
study is one way in which these two types of language study can be connected” (64). Essentially, grammar can be the glue that
connects reading and writing. Zuldema’s
article also made me reflect on how grammar can be used to segue “reading like
a reader” to “reading like a writer.”
Because grammar is such an intricate part of connecting reading and
writing, it can be a tool that teachers use to bridge the two major subjects
together. Also, this would ensure that grammar
is being weaved into context.
Additionally, I like many of the teaching strategies Zuldema
offers. For example, I like the idea of
allowing students to create unique grammar names for grammatical aspects they
pick up on their own. This enables
ownership in their learning; it will make students feel like what they have
discovered in the text is innovative to their learning process. This can also be mirrored in studying vocabulary. Altogether, Zuldema displays the importance
of the relationship grammar has with reading and writing.
“Beyond Grammar Drills” also
complements Zuldema and Anderson. This
article discusses how grammar drills, or grammar bell ringers, are really not
beneficial to the student. The article
goes on to explain how grammar drills are used as a separate component from
what the class is studying in reading and writing. For meaningful learning to occur, the student
has to be able to make that connection. This can also be applied to vocabulary. Students will only experience memorization if
they are handed out words for a quiz on Friday.
For meaningful learning, students need to see how grammar and vocabulary
connect to what they are reading.
While Anderson, Zuldema, and the
NCTE give a lot a great information
on teaching grammar, the reading from When
Kids Can’t Read gives specific insight when it comes to teaching vocabulary. Along with grammar, vocabulary does not need
to be a separate entity. Vocabulary should also compliment the writing and
reading being conducted in daily lessons (178).
For example, it is great for students to study that vocabulary that is
already found in the books or text they are reading. If students are studying words from their
reading, they will see more of a connection as to why it is important for them
to learn those specific vocabulary words (180). Similarly, I like how Beers
explains that teachers need to show students how to use context clues when
learning new vocabulary. Although it is
great for students to look up words they do not know, it is also just as
beneficial for them to try to figure out a words meaning by the rest of the
text around them (183). Beers gives a lot of great ideas about how to implement
context clues and other types of vocabulary instruction into the
classroom. Like Anderson, Beers also
makes it very prevalent that studying vocabulary needs to be fluid with what students
are reading and writing.
Pathways
to Common Core also gives evidence that explains how grammar and vocabulary
are needed in the classroom to meet the Common Core standards. More importantly, Pathways to Common Core compliments what the other readings have
been saying about intertwining grammar and vocabulary with the reading and
writing that happens in the classroom daily.
Grammar and vocabulary are important when it comes to crafting structure
(59). Stronger vocabulary and proper
grammar usage can help students strengthen their writing (60). Furthermore,
grammar and vocabulary are also important when focusing on speaking and
listening (174). To become more
proficient speakers or listeners, students will need to strengthen their word
and grammar usage. The best way to
strengthen vocabulary and grammar is to show students how these two components
can be useful in their daily lives.
Altogether, all of the reading today
really resonated with me because teaching grammar and vocabulary are what I
consider my weakest aspects. All of the readings complimented each other by
arguing how important it is to make grammar and vocabulary an innovative
experience in the classroom. I will definitely
be using these references again in my future classroom.
Do:
**This is my vocabulary lesson that I taught in my classroom. Students used technology to write in this lesson.**
Usually
in my teacher’s classroom, they have weekly vocabulary words. They are given the words on Monday, and then
they take a quiz on them on Friday. For
my week of teaching, I did not want to give students a list of vocabulary
words. Instead, I wanted to work with
the unknown words that were found in the sonnets we were studying. After we read about two to three sonnets, we
engaged in a vocabulary workshop so that students could learn the words that
were actually being used in what we were studying.
·
To
begin the mini lesson, I asked for students to take out all of the sonnets that
we had studied so far. Then, I asked
them to work with a partner and highlight all of the words that they did not
know. Because student have already
annotated each sonnet, highlighting unknown words should not take too long
because they have already looked for them when they were annotating. (5-7 minutes)
·
When
they are done highlighting the words they did not know before reading each
sonnet, I will tell each set of partners to pick out one word from each sonnet
that they want to be “experts” on. They
wrote these three words down on a scratch sheet of paper.
·
Next,
I asked the partners to brainstorm a kid friendly definition of the word, and
they had to think of a visual that would go along with the word. (5-7 minutes)
·
Then,
I invited them all into separate google presentations documents. In this presentation, only the two partners
and my teacher were allowed to work on it.
In this document, I told students to make the presentation have six
slides total (two for slides for each expert word). On the even numbered slide, they were only
supposed to write their expert word. On
the odd numbered slide next to the even numbered slide, they had to upload
their kid friendly definition and a visual to go with it. (5-7 minutes)
·
Then,
I showed students how they could print the document off to have 6 slides on one
page. After the document was printed, I showed them how they could fold each piece
of paper in half hotdog style. By doing
this, their unknown words were on one side while they definitions and visuals
were on the other side.
·
Each
group also presented their words to the rest of the class. (5-10 minutes)
·
For
the next day, I had a sheet printed for each student from each group. This way each student had mini flashcards of
all of the group’s words.
Here is an example of what one group did. It can be found in the link below:
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