Why Your Grammar Lessons Aren't Working

 ...and How to Fix Them!

Teachers across the nation are confused as to why students have such bad grammar these days. There's a lot of talk about texting, social media, and now, even AI, but what if it all actually came down to something you were doing wrong? Don't freak out! This is actually good news because while we can't control the influence of tech on our students, we can control what and how we teach them. So take a deep breath, be honest with yourself, and get some strategies that work!

You Think Reading Will Improve Writing

OK, before you hunt me down and feed me to the literary wolves, hear me out. I admit that reading is a great way to improve spelling, vocabulary, and sentence fluency, which certainly do impact a conventions score. However, think about how often students are taught about sentence errors like run-ons, fragments, missing commas, unnecessary commas, etc. Then, think about the many classic texts we ask them to read that are riddled with errors like these, whether for impact or not.  Imagine how confusing this is for someone learning it for the first (or fifth) time. 

Additionally, some teachers who believe in the "reading-will-improve-writing" method employ very few others in terms of grammar instruction. This only leads to more frustration- both for the teacher and their students.

If you truly want what students read to impact their grammar scores, you need to get them talking about the grammar in the text:

• What sentence type does the author use the most often?
• How does this affect the style, tone, and pacing?
• How does this author use commas?
• What errors do you see in the writing?
• Were these errors made for impact?
• If so, what impact do they have?

Try to match up what you're learning in grammar to what you're discussing in literature, but don't over do it. A little bit here and there will go a long way.

You Devote too Much Time to Peer Editing

Don't get me wrong. Peer editing, when done right, can be helpful. However, teachers often spend the bulk of grammar work on editing. This takes me back to high school English when I had nightmares about getting papers filled with the mistakes of my friends. I used to feel so overwhelmed and annoyed at the tedious task that I simply did what we overachievers now call quiet quitting. I did the bare minimum I could get away with even though I was capable of much more. On top of this, my own paper would be handed back to me with no marks because my peers did not recognize the errors in my advanced writing style. This made the process helpful for no one. Plus, we hated it! This is how your students feel every time you ask them to trade papers. 

To get more out of the editing process, break up both the responsibility and the methods. I like to use the following process:

1. Class Editing Game: Gamify editing with Sentence Error Bingo, a game that gets the whole class excited to shout out the errors they see in their peers' writing in hopes of getting a Bingo. We play this using one paragraph from each student's essay. When a student sees their anonymous paragraph on the screen, they pause playing the game and make the discussed changes to their writing. You can play this game online or on paper, and it takes about 20-30 minutes to play depending on your class size.
2. Peer Read Aloud: While most students object to editing their peer's paper, most will relent if simply asked to read it. This method is called Read to React. A partner must read their peer's essay out loud as the writer follows along on their computer. The only requirement is that the reader pause 1 second for each comma, 3 seconds for each period, and as long as needed when asked by the writer to fix mistakes. Hearing the reader stumble over confusing punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure will highlight errors they didn't recognize before. Here, the editing responsibility is placed on the writer, not their peer. Additionally, confusion on the reader's part often sparks discussion about the writing, which is great for grammar learning.
3. Peer Editing Game: My favorite way to make editing fun is to turn it into a game. Essay Blackout challenges students to be the first to create a Bingo card using clues to the errors they find in their peer's writing. Then the tables are turned when the author tries to get a Blackout by finding and fixing the errors on their card first.

By the time you get through these three steps, you should have solved quite a few glaring errors, but that doesn't mean those essays won't still need some work.

You Give the Wrong Kind of Feedback

Are you spending hours, days, or even weeks giving students detailed feedback about their writing? Teachers do this through editing and conferencing, which takes forever! It's a lot of work for you, and it's overwhelming for the students. 

Take a break from this endless feedback loop and get more out of your students with this process:

1. Create Feedback Shortcuts: If you're lucky enough to use Google Classroom for Education, it has a very convenient Comment Bank feature. This allows you to store commonly used comments that pop up with a few key strokes. My comments start with a label for the error and then continue with a tip for how to fix that type of error. This allows for a lot of explanation with very little effort.
2. Limit Feedback Focus: This is a more popular technique these days, and I highly recommend it. Limit feedback to just a couple of error types. I try to focus on whatever I want that student to improve next. If they are a struggling writer, this might mean run-ons and fragments. If they are regular or advanced, this might mean comma errors. I also limit how much feedback I give across the essay. I normally only give focused grammar feedback (as in pointing out every error with my comment bank) on one paragraph. Then I ask them to find similar errors in the remaining paragraphs themselves.
3. Use the Right Rubric: The right scoring rubric can also provide helpful grammar feedback and save you time. For essays, I usually tweak the 1-Minute Essay Rubric. It's easy for students to decode, convenient for use on Google Classroom, and quick to get me through a lot of essays in not a lot of time. 

This less-is-more feedback process may seem to good to be true, but I promise it's a game changer!  

You Hate Teaching Grammar

Admit it. You're not exactly excited to get up and teach grammar everyday. This is understandable. As knowledgable as you may be, explaining the difference between a dangling modifier and a misplaced modifier doesn't really inspire the great teacher in you. A great literary work, on the other hand, is full of reasons to get inspired and immersed. So what if you taught grammar like you teach literature? In other words, what if your grammar lessons included all those bells and whistles you put in your novel units? I'm talking about games, activities, projects, presentations, posters, the works! 

To make grammar engaging for your students, make teaching it fun for you! For example, because I'm a tech geek, I like to use Pear Deck to make interactive grammar lessons. This allows every student to answer my question or complete the action every time instead of just one or two. It also makes gamifying my lessons easy. Additionally, I've stopped using worksheets. Instead, I incorporate a lot of class grammar games and team projects to reinforce the concepts we've been learning. The students are learning more and everybody is a lot happier come grammar time!

Remember, no social media trend or tech gadget can replace the impact of an innovative and dedicated teacher. Put these strategies to work and use your unique style of fun to make sure every comma, clause, and conjunction is a delightful discovery for your students!