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Focusing on Grammar at the
Sentence Level
Regardless of your stance
on the grammar
debate reported recently by the BBC you're bound to spend time
on grammar in your classroom. Sentence-level work can provide one
of the best ways to explore grammar in context.
The "Middle Talk" column from English Journal provides the answer
to the question "What
Will Labeling the Parts of Speech Ever Do for Me?" (M) and includes
sentence-level strategies to help students become stronger writers.
The Voices from the Middle article "Developing
Students’ Textual Intelligence through Grammar" (M) describes
grammar study, including sentence combining, can help students understand how
to read and write better as well as how to think with greater clarity.
The January
2003 English Journal article "What
Activity Do You Recommend for Teaching Grammar?" (S) outlines three
grammar activities, including an exploration of active and passive voice, a classroom
activity on slang, and a specific sentence-combining exercise.
If your students need more sentence practice before moving to sentence combining,
try the "Sentence
Imitation" vignette (M-S) from Grammar
Alive! (G), the title featured in the Grammar
Kit from the Professional Communities at Work series (S-C).
For an overview of the history of sentence-level grammars in writing instruction,
check out "The
Erasure of the Sentence" (C) and "ReMembering
the Sentence" (C), both from College Composition and Communication.
Research Strategies for the Internet Age
How do classroom teachers respond
to the Seattle
Times' article
indicating that Internet access is tied to plagiarism? Four NCTE articles
provide direct responses and teacher-tested practices to guide students
to successful research strategies:
The secret to helping our youngest students
employ the best research strategies is to structure strong research
opportunites. “‘Kid
Mice Hunt for Their Selfs’: First and Second Graders Writing
Research” (E) and "Multigenre
Research: The Power of Choice and Interpretation" (E), both
from Language Arts, outline research projects that engage students
with source texts in ways that lead to original writing.
The Voices from the Middle article "'What's
the Gist?' Summary Writing for Struggling Adolescent Writers" (M) can provide
useful steps for helping students bridge the words they read with the words
they write themselves.
The new NCTE title Preparing
Educators for Online Writing Instruction: Principles and Processes provides
even more strategies for teachers working with online courses for the first
time.
NOTE: Free access to journal articles mentioned in this Inbox is provided
for 21 days. After this free access period expires, articles are available
to journal subscribers only. This Inbox Idea was published 01-25-05.
Initials in annotations indicate academic level of the resource (E=Elementary,
M=Middle, S=Secondary, C=College, G=General).
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