Teaching Strategies

 

In our book, "Grammar to Enrich and Enhance Writing," Constance Weaver presents the English/ Language Arts classroom in a new light that introduces teaching strategies and ways of thinking that haven't been done much before. Let's explore them, shall we?

 

1. Teach grammar in the context of writing.

Teachers often teach grammar as its own thing, which we can understand when we realize that we tend to teach the way we were taught. Because of this, isolated grammar has become tradition in the classroom, but research shows that students grasp and can apply what they learn when it is paired with writing.

 

2. Teach students to edit their works for "appropriate words and grammar" (5)

When we teach students to edit their own work for "appropriate words and grammar," we help them understand the importance of what they say and how they say it. They begin to better grasp their abilities as writers when we let them do their own editing, rather than it all falling on the teacher's shoulders.

 

3. Encouraging students to widen the audience of their work past the teacher.

By increasing the number of readers, the writer begins to take a deeper interest in their work and the message they convey through it. This can be achieved by having writing contests within the schools, having the students enter statewide or national writing contests, and getting their work published in a local newspaper.

 

4. Focus students on the function of words rather than analyze sentences.

Most students don't think about nouns, verbs, or modifiers when they are writing, they just write. Even now, I don't have to think about what noun or verb form I am using, it comes naturally. So rather than wasting precious classroom instruction time on labeling parts of speech, teachers must show students how words are used to convey different meanings, no matter what form they are in.

 

5. Application over Memorization

Students tend to have a negative attitude towards English class, in general, but especially towards grammar. Sadly, our students have been taught that memorization is key in learning instead of the application of what they are learning. When we show them how to apply these lessons to their lives, they learn and understand so much more easily.

 

6. Rules are pointless in real life.

Ever heard of the phrase that "rules are meant to be broken?" Well, I think that definitely applies in the writing part of English class. When we drill rules into our students' heads, they tend to shrink away from writing for the fear of making a mistake. However, if we should them models of other writers and how they write, it's an encouragement that writing should be free.

 

7. Is the red pen helpful or harmful?

As future teachers, we need to pause and reflect on our own experiences with the red pen. While I  like the idea of it because it gives me something to work on, I have to remember that most students see it as scary or daunting, and they don't want to deal with their papers when a teacher hands it back slashed to pieces. We need to give advice, point out what they did well, and give them a few aspects at a time for them to work on.

 

8. Writing is recursive.

Teachers MUST understand that writing isn't "once and done." While this may be the way it used to be taught, we know now that this is a very ineffective strategy. We must show our students the process of creating a piece of writing (prewriting, drafts, editing, revising, final copy). All good writers move freely from step to step and back again; it's a recursive process.

 

9. Reading and writing must work together.

If we want our students to succeed in writing, we have to have them succeed in reading. The two go hand-in-hand, and all great writers have to be good readers. By spending time with their noses in books, students will see model after model of how to write, and write well, along with opening their minds to a wider vocabulary.

 

10. The Writing Workshop

Throughout my time in high school, I saw the effects of writing workshops on my level of work. If a teacher wanted us to write an essay and turn it in a week later, with no other interaction, I sought after approval of what the teacher wanted, rather than expanding my skills. However, when they incorporated workshops, my skills improved because I knew that other peers would be reading and critiquing my work (and who doesn't want to seem smart to all their classmates?).