English grammar teacher secret:
Informal writing beats exercises alone

 

A writing teacher must be an English grammar teacher whether she or he wants to or not. Colleges and employers expect correct writing mechanics, such as

• Correct punctuation.

• Correct grammar (often misspelled grammer)

• Correct spelling

Every school exposes students to those writing mechanics topics from the earliest grades. They use textbooks and workbooks and downloadable exercises. They give special tutoring to prepare students for the SATs.

Still, when students get into my first year college composition class, most are deficient in spelling, punctuation, grammar, and usage. Many are so deficient they don't even make it to my classroom. Nationally 1 in 4 students has to take remedial ("bonehead") English.

Why does this happen?

The answer is often that the English grammar teacher relies on textbooks and workbooks and downloadable worksheets instead of a simpler, faster, less-hassle teaching tool: informal writing.

Where exercises miss the mark

Typically the grammar exercises present a rule, give one or two examples of it in use, and then ask students to "demonstrate their learning."

The problem is that the students have rarely learned anything. In most cases, they haven't even been taught anything. They have only been presented with or exposed to information.

On some of the demonstration activities, students only have to guess at answers. They select the correct sentence or darken the bubble for the best answer. A good test taker can score well without knowing much of anything. (I speak from experience; I'm a very good test taker.)

Demo exercises that require students to write a sentence are better, but even they are not authentic writing situations. People instinctively "dumb down" when asked to write an example sentence. They construct something whose writing mechanics they are sure they can handle.

If you ask me for an example sentence, chances are my illustration is going to be on some topic suitable for a children's picture book rather than on a topic that I write about professionally. You'd do the same thing — and so would your students.

What novice writers need

What writers need — especially beginning writers — is help to identify and repair the writing mechanics errors they make in paragraph writing. If you aren't giving that kind of help, you are not meeting your obligations as an English grammar teacher.

Paragraph writing requires students to use a writing process that entails dozens of choices. The mechanical aspects of writing are just one of many things to think about. That's why writing a sentence correctly within a paragraph is far harder for Joshua than writing an isolated sentence.

The only authentic test of a student's writing ability is a writing test in which students write at least a three- to five-paragraph essay in an hour.

There is nothing wrong with using textbook exercises, or workbooks, or worksheets you downloaded from the Internet — as long as you don't fool yourself into thinking that because students did exercises, you taught and they learned.

Formal writing alone isn't enough

Most remedial writing classes have students do exercises and then display their new-found expertise in their formal writing assignments.

The results are usually disappointing, to put it mildly.

The time between English grammar teacher's presentation and the students' demonstration is typically waaaaaaaaaay too long. By the time the teacher finds out the students didn't get it, it is already too late to do the lesson over.

You need authentic formative assessment long before students have to write the big, high-stakes papers.

A better way to use exercises

Here's a way for you and every other English grammar teacher to use those exercises and other familiar tools so you can see whether you are getting through to students or not:

1. Present a — as in one — rule of writing mechanics, starting with the basics.

2. Give 2-3 examples of the rule being applied correctly.

3. Give 1-2 examples of the rule being applied incorrectly.

4. Have students do a few (5-10) exercises using publisher-created examples.

5. Give them the correct answers right away. Explain why answers are correct or incorrect.

6. Have students do an informal writing activity in which they discuss the rule.

7. If their informal writing reveals they don't understand the rule, do the process again.

You must keep teaching and reteaching until all students in your class can apply the rule correctly in their own writing. If the rule isn't worth that amount of effort, it isn't worth learning in the first place.

Informal writing is key

The critical step is the informal writing activity. A well-constructed informal prompt lets students tell you what they understand the rule to mean.

It's been my observation that students do not make mechanical mistakes deliberately. If you knew a particular mechanical error had a negative effect on your grade, would you make that error if you knew how to avoid it? I don't think so.

When students make mechanical mistakes, they typically

• Do not know the rule that applies.

• Know the rule but misunderstand what it means.

• Were careless.

As the English grammar teacher, it's your job to see that none of those things happen. (Please note there is a huge difference between being careful and being perfect. Your responsibility is to teach students to take care.)

The informal writing prompt acts as a formative assessment. It lets you see if students know and understand a particular rule of writing mechanics before they run up against a situation in their writing that requires them to apply that rule.

To do a good job as a writing teacher, you also have to do a good job as an English grammar teacher. You can't do one without the other.