Technology Takes the Bite Out of Grammar!

One of my pet peeves about the teaching of grammar is hearing educators complain year after year that students can't spell, punctuate, distinguish a verb from a noun, write a sentence...
yada, yada, yada. Educators pass the blame from grade to grade, yet many students reach the 12th grade with below average grammar skills unable to write or speak coherently.    

The truth is if students don't have plenty of opportunities to practice and apply a particular grammar skill in context, a million grammar handouts or workbook exercises will not help them retain the basic grammar skills necessary to be an effective writer, speaker, reader, and listener.

If even above average readers who often exhibit an innate ability to decipher language rules struggle with grammar, many of our below average readers just give up on ever learning proper conventions and mechanics because grammar is often presented as a BORING, futile exercise with no real world application. When teachers use grammar as busy work in their emergency substitute plans, or even express their own fears about teaching grammar or writing, we send the message to kids that grammar just bites! 

We can't avoid teaching grammar! We must learn to teach it through writers' workshop, mini lessons, and every chance we get for students to connect the fact that grammar is part of writing, speaking, reading and even listening. We have to find ways to show kids how proper grammar is essential for communication, and how society perceives those who don't speak properly. We must teach students how to carefully analyze written and spoken language in search of those incidental "Teachable Grammar Moments" which exist all around us if we pay attention. Take the AllState insurance commercial slogan with the dangling modifier: "Dollar for dollar, nobody protects you from mayhem, like AllState!" and their older slogan,"You're in good hands". Both of these slogans are real life examples of grammar gone good and bad, and present the perfect occasion to discuss the confusion caused by dangling modifiers, and the most commonly confused contraction and adjective in the English language. Discussions about slang are also a great way to analyze the social stigma improper grammar can create for a job seeker. Students can keep a slang book and find more fitting synonyms, or grammatically correct expressions. Role playing scenarios, such as filling out a job application and interviewing for a job using slang vs. proper grammar help students see that there's a time and place for different types of proper and improper language, and someday their livelihood will be affected by their use of grammar.

Texting and Twitter do not have to undermine grammar instruction. Instead educators can leverage the power of both to reinforce grammar skills since they require students use written language. If anything, I think in some ways students' writing skills have benefitted from the texting craze because they are forced to write, albeit, the writing may not always be correct, but it's our job to help students hone their skills using a technology they enjoy. Assigning students to send grammatically correct texts to each other in class, or translate text language is an excellent way to quash once for all the stereotype that grammar is BORING.    

If we ask students to pay close attention to how grammar is used accurately and inaccurately all around us in signs, ads, commercials, songs, conversation, basically whenever we use language, it's pretty neat to see how kids enjoy the job of becoming grammar police!  We just have to find and present these opportunities for them. Technology makes it easier for us to do so, and for students to create content so they can apply what they learn.

Grammar has been the victim of a smear campaign for decades because it's not taught properly. Students are not always taught to create original content so they can exercise their ability to use a particular grammar skill, but technology can change that. Whenever students create original content using a tech tool, there should always be a written component affording students grammar practice, editing, revision and ultimately, demonstration of mastery of the grammar skill in the final presentation/publication of the content.

Here are some excellent grammar sites for students. But remember, we want students to create content where they apply the grammar skills they are learning. Some sites offering grammar practice can become glorified substitutes of the routine handouts or workbooks, so we must be careful not to trade one for the other.

Grammar has had lots of positive publicity thanks to sites like:
Grammar Girl  

http://www.dailygrammar.com/

http://www.grammar-monster.com/

http://flocabulary.com/    Be sure to explore this site for all of the cool grammar videos!
Grammar bytes
http://grammarerrors.com
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/k_5/quizzes/

Here is a LIVEBINDER filled with resources about teaching and learning grammar:


Also visit Cybraryman's page with dozens of grammar links.

Roxy from North Carolina follows us! 

Please follow @grammardogs on Twitter, and have students, parents, teachers and administrators tweet a picture of a pet(s) with a sentence showing application of a particular grammar skill. For example, here's Roxie from North Carolina showing us how to use state of being and action verbs.   

The goal is to create a gallery of pet photos, organize them by grammar skill, and share them so students can have fun reading and creating original sentences, applying grammar in a real life context! 

Buster, from Virginia follows us!  

Cats are welcomed!
Throw us a bone at @grammardogs 

because grammar doesn't have to bite! 

Check out our Picasa photo gallery! 
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos

Here is also an iPad app http://showme.com which allows students to create content and teach their peers.  Check out my "showme" on sentence types! showme.com/sh/?h=8ZtnPYO 

Credit: http://www.quickmeme.com/Condescending-Literary-Pun-Dog/?upcoming

Writers' Workshop Works Better with Paperrater!

Teachers know how difficult the editing and revising stages of writing can be. Along comes Paperrater.com to help students improve their writing skills. With this free resource, students upload their writing and paperrater.com checks it for plagiarism, style, grammar, spelling, word choice and overall quality. Paperrater.com offers specific suggestions for improvement, and assigns a grade to writing. Paperrater.com even offers a printable writing summary report with a detailed explanation, tip and/or suggestion for improvement for each of the different writing traits analyzed.

Regardless of grade level or subject matter, I definitely see how teachers could assign students to upload their writing to paperrater.com before holding individual or small group writing conferences. Students can bring their writing summary report to a writing conference with the teacher or writing workshop with peers to discuss the suggested editing and revisions. Paperrater.com has the potential to save teachers a lot of time, and obviously students benefit from the specific feedback. Students can submit the writing summary reports with their papers, and teachers can identify common needs to design specific writing mini lessons; teachers can also use the feedback on each student's summary report to pair up students according to writing strengths and weaknesses. Students can also make revisions, resubmit their writing and compare initial and final drafts to demonstrate growth. 

What other uses can you generate for paperrater.com?

Unlike other online writing analysis software, there is nothing to download, paperrater.com is absolutely free, and has a higher degree of accuracy because not only does it use artificial intelligence, the site is also maintained by linguists who have developed according to Paperrater.com: "a core Natural Language Processing (NLP) engine using statistical and rules based NLP to extract language features from essays and robustly translate that into statistical models."  So, it's ok to trust paperrater.com when they identify a fragment, a misspelled word, or wordiness because the site is run by writing experts. I tried paperrater.com using this particular text, and here are is my printable summary report.  

I guess a B ain't so bad...(I mean isn't)!

One Word Enhances The Journaling Experience!

When I was a kid, I hated walking into my English class to face the drudgery of the daily journal topic the teacher’s pet had written sloppily on the chalkboard. I loved writing, but boy, did I hate the routine of journal writing day in and day out. I hated the dumb prompts, the lack of follow-up with a discussion...there was no such thing as discussions back then...,and I knew my teacher never read a single word I wrote. I didn’t mind being asked to write, but I didn’t like that we had to write on command every day for 180 days at the same time about the same irrelevant topics without any type of engagement.  So, I vowed that one day when I became an English teacher, I would not resort or depend on the daily journal topic so I could take attendance and tend to other housekeeping duties. My students would have different writing experiences everyday at different times throughout a class period, and for the last 20 years I have tried my best to keep that promise.  

I have had many discussions with other educators about the effective use of the daily 15 to 20 minute “journaling” conducted at the beginning of a class period. For me journaling should not be forced, and definitely not scheduled so a teacher could tend to clerical responsibilities. I have always felt that journaling must be as spontaneous as possible, and if not, should be prompted from thought-provoking readings, current events, or any other inspiring written or non written text.  I believe students know when we assign journaling to keep them busy, and it’s a crime when students are forced to "journal" 180 days of the year, yet have no opportunity to share their writing, or give or receive writing feedback.  

Today, web tools make the academic or personal journaling experience exciting and meaningful for all students, and offer the most important tool of all, the ability for students to share their writing with a community of writers, and the opportunity for feedback from diverse readers, not just their teachers. The comment and share features web tools offer have redefined feedback.  Students are motivated to learn this valuable skill as they strive to join writing communities.

Oneword.com is a great web tool that allows students to practice a myriad of writing skills, specifically free-writing, and sharing with an online community if they choose to join the site. Users sign in free and see one word at the top of the screen; they have sixty seconds to just write about that one word. Students can choose to add their writing or keep it private, but if they add it, they will see the variety of responses for the one word prompt. Teachers can even use other contributors' responses as opportunities for revision and editing exercises. The learning opportunities are endless since students could analyze how other writers use different writing traits, such as figurative language, active vs. passive verbs, imagery, punctuation, and more.  Oneword.com supports so many different writing mini lessons from grammar to literary elements, to a writer’s voice and diction.  

Oneword.com is not the only web tool in cyberspace that supports the writing process and journaling.  Of course there are blogs, wikis, and digital diaries like my-diary.org, deardiary.net, or livejournal.com.  All of these options enable students to join a community of writers, provide opportunities for self-expression and creativity, and offer opportunities to practice revision and editing. The only disclaimer is that many of these tools are open to anyone so teachers have to be careful with inappropriate content kids could end up reading. 

Here are some examples of safe web tools all students could use for journaling:

Ever thought of using Voicethread.com as a type of Dialogue Journal. Students upload a thought-provoking image or video, and each student adds his/her written and/or verbal reflections. 

Kidblog.org can be used effectively to build Literary Journals focusing on reflecting or answering prompts about specific genres, themes, characters, conflicts, plot events, and other aspects of written or non-written texts.

How about using Glogster.com or Tumblr.com to create Subject Journals? Students not only add text and images, but all types of multimedia and widgets to explore one particular subject.  

Electronic journaling can satisfy every student’s need for self-expression or kill creativity if not used effectively. Journals can take many shapes, but whatever the purpose of the journal, students today are lucky to have tech tools that spare them from the monotony of the daily journal topic, and help them improve their writing skills. 

Take a look at a sample sharing page from Oneword.com. After having 60 seconds to write about the one word of the day, students have the option to post their writing to the community of writers.  

Peachy Keen Presentations!

Have you heard of http://photopeach.com/ ? It's just a peachy site! Students will be able to upload images, choose music to complement the image, add a brief description and voila, there's an amazing slideshow presentation!  Imagine the possibilities in your classroom! Students can use http://photopeach.com/ to summarize a text they have read, using images and sound that capture the main idea or theme of the text. They can create images of various steps in a math problem, upload these, and then add text to explain each step and solution. What about uploading images, music and text to demonstrate their knowledge about a historical or scientific event, or notable figure? Creating a slideshow to showcase a writer, define literary terms, vocabulary, or book genres won't be the pits anymore! Photopeach.com is sweet! 

Hope you'll check it out and share how you used this easy tech tool in the classroom! Endless possibilities!

See my photopeach sample featuring the web tool logos of tech tools I've talked about, and those you can look forward to learning about in future posts.