Have you ever thought back to when you were in school and how you learned the rules of grammar and how to write? What techniques did your teachers use? Do you find that you’re implementing those exact same rules in your own classroom today? Some things bear updating and the ways in which we teach […]
reThink Grammar: It’s The Message That Matters!
Students tell me they don’t write. They say they have no idea how to respond to prompts, how to add details, how to expand their thinking. Students state they can’t write because they don’t remember (or remember how) to punctuate or capitalize when they’re writing initial drafts. This has got to change. To make that […]
Anyone Need Help Teaching Grammar In Context?
If you’re on my mailing list, you already know about the grammar unit Jennifer Williams (@jennwillteach), a fellow Oklahoma teacher, guest blogger here at reThink ELA, and #FierceWomanofOklahoma, and I are working on this summer. (If not, you really should be!) I wrote about this a few days ago, and wanted to share it here […]
To Err Is Human (Unless You’re An English Teacher Or Writer)
As a writer and English teacher, I want my writing to be perfect. Many of our students want the same thing. We all want what we see or hear in our heads to be exactly what we put onto paper, and this is doubly true for the writing we put online for the entire world to […]
Teaching Appositive Phrases With Newspapers
The English Department head at my school, Debbie Self, tells her students that they must add FAT to their essays. She’s not talking about feeding them loads of carbs. Instead, she is referring to three elements of compositions that will add interest and flow to student writing: Figurative Language Appositive Phrases Transition Words Last week, I […]