Grammar: What should juniors and seniors know?

Despite teaching high school English, grammar should still be part of the core curriculum within the subject. However, it dawned on me that in the whole wide world of grammar, just would should juniors and seniors understand and use correctly for the most part?

We had a long Saturday meeting a few months back as a department where we broke down what each level should be teaching.  However, grammar was never broken down because we don’t know exactly what the students know.

Actually, I am pretty sure what the students know: very little.  My students didn’t know capitalization rules, when to use commas (and no, it does not come before or after ‘because’), they had no idea how to use editing marks and how to proofread papers… This tedious list could go on, endlessly.  I felt like I was attempting to wage a battle against the text generation with good ol’ grammar schoolin’.

Yeah, it was not a pretty sight nor a great time to be had.  The students knew what Mondays were for: grammar lessons and practice.  Why Mondays?  Simply put, they despised writing more so than grammar itself.  They would rather correct mistakes and learn grammar rules versus attempting to write out their thoughts to a particular subject.

Really?  When I was in school, I detested the grammar rules and lessons and would have rather preferred the writing!  Then again, I am the book worm, the lifelong student.  These kids just wanted to get the heck out of dodge and be done with school.  Most of my sophomores where just filling my desks to ensure they were avoiding the truancy officer during the school day.  I did get a few of them to do work, but most wanted to utilize my class time to socialize with the others who were equally zoned in on socialization and avoiding truancy court.

But that is a whole other rant.

Grammar: what should the upperclassmen know by the time they reach me?  I am pretty sure they should at least know what the eight parts of speech are, how they are used, and how to look for them in a sentence.  I’d like to say they should know simple sentence diagramming, but I may be pushing it.  I hear sentence diagramming is not really happening in the classrooms in my district.  As a matter of fact, it seems it is more literature-based than anything else.

Don’t get me wrong.  I enjoy teaching literature!  But there has to be a healthy balance with grammar and writing in the mix.  It is like a three course meal: salad/appetizer, main course, and dessert.  The bulk is the main course, with the appetizer being the warm ups and review, and the dessert being the closers and food for thought.

I am by far the most perfect teacher, and still new to the whole realm, but this is how I attempt to run my class each and every day.  I cannot see myself teaching from bell to bell without breaking it up.  Give them a routine, but do not bore them with it. 

I remember being in high school and constantly being drilled with grammar.  Mr. Blackmer, my freshman honors English teacher, used to have us diagram out sentences down to the different types of verbs, phrases, clauses, etc.  It was tedious and treacherous, but I still remember the basics.  I don’t really remember how one sentence took up a whole page, but I do remember that at one point I knew how to do it.

My tenth grade English teacher, Mrs. Brewer, was more about writing and literature.  I enjoyed that class because I enjoyed reading and writing.  However, when I go to Creative Writing and English III my junior year (I took English classes as electives… Yes, I know … NERD!), I had forgotten some of the rules of formal writing.

So, going back over these experiences, it made me realize that it is a necessity to constantly touch back on the basics of grammar.  Not the basics that form the foundation, but more so the rules that root to the basics.  As long as you continually touch the middle ground, I firmly believe the students will always remember the basics and learn to move up another level.

I am sure I am reaching, but that is one of my expectations this upcoming school year.

So, while I sit in hot, muggy Appleton, Minn., I am looking over general grammar rules.  I picked up a book about the ins and outs of grammar.  I didn’t bring a junior textbook with me that I got as a review copy.  I am trying to figure out how to break up my grammar lessons throughout the year: what should just be reviewed, what should be taught, and how to be consistent with the rules other than looking for it in their writing and their warm-ups.

At least, for the sake of my sanity, the writing portion of English III will be decided as a group when we get back to school.  Since we are the class that will help prepare the students for writing proficiencies, we will be drilling the students on their writing.  This, in turn, has prompted me on what I should teach for grammar.

I guess the whole point to sum up this post is that it all comes down to assessment.  I will have to give some kind of pretest when we return to school, which will include editing and writing.  From there, I will be able to determine what I truly need to cover, and what will be reviewed from time to time.

Top this off with having two honor sections of Modern Literature, and I will be in writing heaven.  Let’s hope I won’t lose my own interest in my own writing…