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This is the Reading Instruction Show.

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I'm your host, does always Dr.

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Andy Johnson topic of today's podcast is grammar instruction.

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Now, let's start out with silly grammar idea number seven 82.

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Here's the silly idea.

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In order to be able to write effectively, students must be able to identify and

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define grammar sub entities such as a gerund, a participle, adverb,

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conjunctive adverbs, direct objectives, ellipses, elliptical, you get the idea.

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That's a silly, silly idea.

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Now, let me explain.

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Give you a little overview of grammar in any communication endeavor.

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The desired end is to communicate.

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As an example, in the 1967 movie, Cool Hand Luke, Paul Newman says to Strother

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Martin, I'd wish you'd stop being so good to me, Captain Strother Martin.

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Thanks for a minute.

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Then hits Paul Newman with a blackjack and says, what we got here is a failure to

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communicate failure to communicate.

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Now, Paul Newman's line was delivered with precision.

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I wish you'd stop being so good to me, Captain.

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It was grammatically correct.

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Yet according to Strother Martin, there was a communication failure, a failure

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to communicate.

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Now, keep in mind that Strother Martin's line was not grammatically correct.

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It should have been, what we have here is a failure to communicate.

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Or better yet, we have a failure to communicate.

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Or even better, we're not communicating effectively.

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Nobody hits Strother Martin with a blackjack.

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His message was clear.

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So what's the lesson here?

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It's not that you should hit people with blackjacks if they're communication

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falls short.

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You shouldn't.

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It's not that grammar is unimportant.

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It is.

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Rather, that effective communication is always the desired end when speaking and writing.

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The purpose for writing and speaking is not to produce grammatically correct

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prose, but to transmit information, thought, or feeling so that it's not

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communicating, so that it's satisfactorily received and understood to communicate.

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This does not mean that I'm against grammar instruction, not at all.

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As a matter of fact, I'm heartily in favor of it.

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It's not the what a grammar instruction that must be considered.

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Rather, it's the how and the how much of grammar instruction.

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These two podcasts will consider both of these.

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Now let's take a look at grammar instruction.

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Traditional grammar instruction takes place in an isolated context.

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It's called an isolated approach.

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This approach describes the rules for conjugating verbs and undangling

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participles and coordinating conjunctions and other things.

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This is done in isolation, apart from real writing and speaking.

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This approach may be effective for completing grammar worksheets,

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but it does not address the process of communicating effectively.

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In other words, teaching grammar, apart from real writing,

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does little to enhance the quality of students writing.

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Also, there's very little transfer into students authentic writing and speaking.

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Instead, the rules of grammar should be taught in the context of students own writing and speaking.

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This is called an embedded approach.

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And this is more impactful on students ability to use grammar correctly.

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More impactful than teaching these things in isolation.

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And this approach doesn't get in the way of their real writing.

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Now, I offer unto you 10 tips for grammar instruction.

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How should you go about teaching grammar skills to your students?

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Tip number one, use direct instruction.

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The answer is, use direct instruction.

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The elements of direct instruction should be used to teach any skill, including grammar and punctuation.

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These elements include input and modeling, guided practice, and independent practice.

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Also, as I said, the rules for grammar and punctuation should be taught in the context

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of students own writing whenever possible.

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This is the most direct of direct instruction as it enables the skill to go directly into students own writing.

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Number two, concise and explicit instruction.

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Grammar instruction should be as explicit as possible.

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It should also be concise so that you can get back to the business of real writing.

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Explicit. That means there's no doubt about it.

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You're very clear. This is what it is.

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And short, brief.

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Three, systematic instruction.

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Now, this will take a bit of explaining.

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Something that systematic instruction means that you start at one end of a list of predetermined skills

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and use a standardized process to teach them in a predetermined order.

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In other words, you follow the required curriculum like a mindless zombie.

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You follow the plan that's been written on some stone tablets and handed down unto you.

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That's what some people think is systematic instruction.

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But that's not systematic instruction.

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That's systematically silly instruction because humans are not standardized entities.

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Instead, sensible systematic instruction means that you use some system to document coverage of all the required skills.

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However, here's a question.

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What's required and what's necessary are often two different things.

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Required means that somebody outside your classroom who doesn't know your students has mandated that these skills are imperative.

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And they've required you, required that these skills be covered.

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Necessary means that you have identified the skills that your students need to be taught to become better writers.

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And this class, this list varies from class to class because students are not standardized entity and it evolves over time.

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Now, I require, I am not going to be a student.

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Because students are not standardized entity and it evolves over time. Now, I require, I recommend that you cover the required skills.

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Go over them briefly, but don't spend a lot of time on them.

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Create a simple checklist with these skills or standards listed with a space for you to put the date when each one was covered.

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But for the necessary skills, I strongly recommend that you teach them.

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Use direct and explicit instruction to ensure that your students know and are able to use these skills.

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Observe your students, revisit and review these skills as necessary.

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Don't depend on others to identify what these skills are.

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You're in the best position to determine the skills necessary for your students to achieve their full literacy potential.

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And then create another simple checklist with the list of necessary skills on it.

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This list should be much shorter than the list of required skills.

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Keep track of when each necessary skill is introduced, reviewed and mastered.

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Create a similar checklist for each individual student as part of their portfolio.

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This should be used for authentic assessment.

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Use this checklist to document when you see students mastering each of these skills in their writing.

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Now, am I promoting anarchy here when I talk about necessary and required?

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Will there be a sudden implosion of all that is right and good if teachers separate the necessary from the required?

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Hardly. In fact, students might actually learn more and become better writers.

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Imagine that.

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Now, this is a bit of an aside.

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And I take aside trips all the time, but let's take a look at the fallacy of standards of academic standards.

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Here's the dirty little secret.

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They're an illusion that gets in the way of good teacher's teaching.

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Classroom teachers are often given a whole list of teaching standards, a whole bunch of them,

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that they are required to cover with the idea that if each skill were taught and then measured

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with standardized tests all over America, all students would be above average in everything.

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But here's the simple truth about academic standards.

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A few standards are good, but that doesn't mean that more standards are better.

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You can't standards your way to good education, to more learning.

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There are far too many standards to do anything other than clutter up the teaching and learning

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process, making life harder for teachers to do their job.

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Now, in teacher preparation programs, we too are given a large, endless,

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list of standards.

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Nobody could master all these standards in the three or four semesters allotted to us

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much less than in three or four years.

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The clown based thinking here is that if we put all the little standards pieces together

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at the end of three or four semesters in our teacher preparation programs,

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we'll have a finished teaching product.

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And whenever there's another problem in education,

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teacher education programs are blamed for not adequately preparing teachers

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and another set of standards are jammed down our curricular throats.

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It's the hell of a thing.

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In Minnesota, and I'm sure we're not unlike other states, we have state legislators

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who've never taken an education class or read an article related to teaching,

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teaching, reading or teacher preparation.

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But they're on the TV set telling me how I should be teaching, reading and writing.

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Imagine that.

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They are insisting that I use specific for profit programs.

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Imagine that.

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Now it's clear that they've come to their for profit conclusions after having conversations

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with for profit lobbyists.

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Nothing wrong with for profit entities.

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However, it's very hard to be for profit and for people at the same time

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because profit always takes precedence over people.

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Now in my teacher preparation courses, I cover in quotes all the assigned standards in these courses.

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But keep in mind that while I'm covering all my standards, the professors in the other three

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courses that my students are taking are covering theirs.

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There's a whole lot of covering going on higgly, piggly,

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but not a lot of learning. And here's the thing.

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I've been in education for 40 years.

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I've been in all phases of teacher preparation for 31 of these years.

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I may not be the brightest carrot stick in the knife drawer,

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but I do have a good sense of what pre-service teachers need to get them ready.

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I know what's developmentally appealing to me.

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I need to get them ready. I know what's developmentally appropriate

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and necessary to prepare them for their journey.

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And we don't create finished teaching products in our programs.

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Rather, we begin the development of teachers who are then ready to grow and learn how to become

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master teachers down the line.

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You do not create a finished teaching product in four or three semesters of any teacher

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preparation program to think otherwise is an insult to all the master teachers out there.

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All right, we're back to tip number four and I'm back on track,

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scope and sequence. Yes, you can use a scope and sequence chart as a resource.

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Nothing wrong with that. It provides a good sense of what you might teach.

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However, it stated, don't feel compelled to teach every skill listed here on a scope and sequence

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chart. Quite frankly, many of them are just plain silly and your students are your best

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scope and sequence. Look at their writing. See what skills they need based on their writing.

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Tip number five, revisit and review. Like any skill, grammar and punctuation skills are not

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mastered in a single encounter. Mastery is achieved gradually over time as students encounter the new

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skill in a variety of contexts. This means you'll need to revisit previously taught skills,

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if possible, present them in different contexts and teach students how to apply them in different

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ways at successively higher levels. Tip number six, posters. Look for common grammar and punctuation

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errors in students writing and put up posters as reminders and quick mini lessons. Remember,

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when we teach, when we start a new idea, we start a new paragraph. Tip number seven, worksheets.

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There's nothing wrong with worksheets. They can be an effective tool. However, any tools,

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effectiveness is determined by how it's used. Worksheets should be used judiciously. Not every

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skill is worth teaching. Not every worksheet is worth using. Use your teacher discretion when

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selecting skills and worksheets. And whenever possible, have students work in pairs or even

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small groups of three to complete worksheets. That way they're able to hear the thought processes

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of others. Social learning goes from outside to in. And always keep in mind that your goal is not

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for students to be successful worksheet completers. It's for students to be able to write effectively.

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That's your goal as teachers of writing. Tip number eight, brief and briskly pace. Keep skills

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instruction brief, short duration and briskly pace. Students learn any skill, including grammar

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and punctuation skills with little bits of instruction spread out over time, more so than

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with large blobs of instruction all at once. Strive for five to no more than 15 minutes of

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direct instruction. Then get students back to the task of authentic writing and speaking.

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A little direct instruction is great, but that doesn't mean that more direct instruction is better.

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Tip number nine, writing practice. Use lots of authentic writing. Call it writing practice

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and make sure students practice writing every day just like they practice playing the piano

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or playing volleyball or doing any skill every day. Now, if students know they'll be writing every day,

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they start thinking about what they'll write apart from writing. And then teach them what they'll

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write. And then teach grammar in the context of this authentic daily writing using mini lessons.

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And the last tip, tip number 10, voluntary reading. Reading and writing reinforce each other.

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Wide reading enables students to encounter a variety of words and sentences and sentence

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structures and concepts. They develop an implicit understanding for the sound and structure of

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good writing. And this is part of helping them to develop a writer's ear, knowing what good

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writing is and what it should sound like. All right, this has been the Reading Instruction Show.

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We've looked at grammar instruction and 10 tips for teaching grammar.