We’ve been working on our grammar
game for YEARS as a Buckner staff. Many of us have read books, participated in studies,
attended PD, and tried a multitude of instructional practices and strategies in
our own classrooms. If I were to share the myriad of methods I’ve used over the
years, you’d quickly become bored and I’d run out of space to share with you
some of the methods that are working
here at BES. So instead, I’ll share a most recent successful experience.
Recently, Richard invited me into
his classroom to collaborate with Word Study. As is always the case with
Richard, we started in one place and ended in another. The place we ended is actually
where I’d like to start. You see, while
the concern was with students’ lack and/or inappropriate use of punctuation,
the problem was actually so closely tied with sentence structure that we decided
to tackle them together. What if, maybe,
we taught writers how to craft complex sentences so that they would understand
when to use the proper punctuation? This synthesis, this change in our
thinking, was the beginning of match made in Heaven- sentence structure & proper
punctuation.
So, our
journey began with the commas and complex sentences. Richard first determined which
complex sentence structure he wanted to introduce first. The winner was the “Interrupter”
–or as Jeff Anderson dubs it, “The Breadbasket Comma”. This complex sentence
creator calls for the writer to insert extra details, offering specific information
or richer mental image, for the reader. Did
you see how that worked?
He chose this to share first for its novelty and potentially powerful impact on
the kids’ writing. We followed this study (see below) with the comma in a
series, AAAWWUBBIS, FANBOY and Introductory commas. While most of these uses of
a comma were supportive goals in Units 4 and 5 of the 5th grade ELA
curriculum, writers’ needs dictated a need to add those that were not directly
stated in the standards. It did not take rocket science schema to figure out
that the way to support students’ in crafting complex sentences was to teach
them to notice, name, and use the other commas. We had a simple research based protocol
and set expectations for our student writers.
In designing a protocol, we wanted to ensure that our
collective efforts would: build students’ awareness, develop their understanding,
link reading, writing and communicating with others, and offer accountability on
their part. Here’s the gist:
1.
Examine a mentor sentence from a familiar text.
2.
Determine the use of the comma in that sentence.
3.
Students seek and share similar uses in texts.
4.
Share our own experiments with a given comma.
Always snowballing our learning and using the ones we’ve previously practiced.
Two other experiences happened
each day, (1) Students worked to write using that kind of comma--even if it
only for a few minutes. (2) Students shared their experimentation as they wrote
in a new way. They offered one another feedback and worked to revise their writing
so as to clarify their message and edit their work. Of course, with Richard, it
never got dull- challenges were extended (ask a student in his room about “oral
punctuation” A.K.A. “voice texting”), games were played, and authentic writing opportunities
were offered. All the while…the children learned, sought an understanding, and
tried to write in a way that showed both complexity in their sentence structure
and proper punctuation.
While our efforts have not transferred
into a classroom of distinguished writers, our efforts did show evidence of
transfer in students’ writing-and not just “writing workshop” writing. The kids
now know that writers craft complex sentences and use punctuation to clarify
meaning for the reader. In addition, they also realized that writers work to
write with a variety of sentences that include punctuation- regardless of the
situation, form, audience, purpose or topic. Kenneyd Park, 5th
grader, summed it up best when she wrote [excerpts], “I feel like I am a
stronger and more detailed writer now that I’ve spent some time developing my
writing. …. In my writing, I tend to use
breadbasket sentences because they aren’t run on sentences, but still add in extra
detail. … I feel that I can use commas and a larger vocabulary (that’s we’re we
originally started our journey) to improve my writing.“ This girl’s getting it!
Though your journey may not be the
same, due to different standards, different units, different kids, and different
methods, what everyone does have in common is a desire to support our kids in
crafting complex sentences and using the right punctuation. For our Ks and 1s,
this may mean spending time looking at how complete sentences start and how a
writer uses “and“ as a connecting word, rather than a starting word (99% of the
time). For our 2nd and 3rd graders, this may translate to
time marinating in using transition words that call for writers to use commas,
as well as complete and compound sentences that add support and further support
to a topic sentence. For all of our grades, this may mean carving out specific
time to introduce, inquire, and practice with students- all the while
integrating in authentic opportunities and expecting it…All. The. Time.
Who knew that a simple collaboration
could harvest so much synthesis with sentences?
