Boom Cards for Punctuation and Grammar Review

Digital resources are becoming more popular as schools go paperless, and one of the best platforms is Boom Learning. I've begun making decks of digital task cards for my students, and they are not only engaging for the students (and a nice break from exercises or worksheets), but they are self-grading, so you don't have to do anything. I use them for my older students as a way to review grammar and punctuation at their own pace on their own time. The Boom membership is free to start with options for upgrades. You can purchase decks from other teachers (like me!) or you can create your own for your students. All in all, it's a great paperless tool for you and your students. 

Here are some examples from a few of my decks. Click on the pictures for a preview.

Verbals: Participle, Gerund, and Infinitive identification and how they function in a sentence.

Commonly Confused Words:  Pick the correct word in context.

Commas:  Drag and drop commas where necessary.

Fun, paperless, and self-grading. What more could you ask for?

Tips for Teaching Grammar When You're not Supposed to be Teaching Grammar

The composition class I have been teaching for years is supposed to be all about research, critical thinking, and honing argumentative writing techniques. The students, allegedly, have already mastered basic grammar and writing skills. After the diagnostic essays on the first day, however, the same story emerges: the grammar mastery is shaky at best, and non-existent at worst. Over time, the topics that need the most review have held steady, and my teaching has evolved to meet this need.

Most of my students have gaps in their early education, or are returning to school after many years, so I am not so concerned that every student knows what a dangling whoseewhatsit is, but they need to review or be taught some basics in order to begin to present a coherent argument. The rest of it can be taken care of through critiques on their rough drafts.  Through trial and error, and ultimately modest success, here are my best tips for teaching grammar when the class is supposed to be at the next level:

1. Couch everything as a "review" since you will have students for whom it is, indeed, review.

2. Even though it's a "review," start with the basic rules and don't assume previous knowledge.

3. Keep the terminology as basic as possible.

4. Start with a review of the parts of speech. I use a cooperative game for this one, and call it an "English Class Ice-Breaker," rather than a formal lesson.

5. Teach sentence fragments and clauses first, then move on to run-on sentences. These two items are the crux of most of the issues, and writing improves significantly with these two errors corrected.

6. Keep the lessons short and to the point. I use a short power point, handouts with the explanations they can study at home, and self-check practice quizzes.

7. Check for understanding with a self-check quiz. Offer to meet with the students who need more help or provide more resources. I often send students to interactive websites for practice.  My current favorite is chompchomp.com.

8. Have students keep an "error journal" where they keep track of where they are making mistakes on their rough drafts. This will help them be self-aware and hopefully, self-correcting.

9. Do short writing exercises to practice the skills your class is really about, but each time, give special emphasis to one point of grammar and grade accordingly.

I would love some feedback on how you teach grammar in the classroom under similar circumstances.

If you'd like to use my resources, which include power points, worksheets, handouts, games, quizzes, and two comprehensive assessments, I've put them altogether in a money-saving bundle. These are what I use each quarter in my class. I hope you find them useful.

Student Quiz Questions

At the end of the year, I have my students write their own quiz questions, and count these as part of their final test grade. I told my some of my colleagues about this, and their reaction was, "What a good idea to save time!" Actually, it's not a time-saver at all--just the opposite in fact, but it's well worth the effort.

By having students create their own questions, and providing an answer key, I can measure their understanding of the topics much better than a traditional multiple-choice test. It's also a terrific study tool, because writing quiz questions is not easy. The most common reaction from the students? "This is haaaard" (insert whiny voice). I just smile and think, welcome to my world!

We start by writing a list of topics we covered over the quarter on the board, then come up with guidelines (how many questions, must cover at least five topics etc...) and formatting choices (multiple choice, T/F, short answer, matching etc...). You can let them work in groups or individually. After everyone has their questions and answer keys, I copy all of them and pass them out to the students for review. Their task (in groups) is to go through all the questions and mark any that they think are unclear, unfair, or should not otherwise by included on the final quiz. Again, this serves as a great study tool.

When grading the questions, it's surprising how many students answer their own questions incorrectly, and it's interesting to see which topics they avoid and which they gravitate toward. All in all, it's a valuable learning experience for both the students and the teacher.