Transcript 12 Step Grammar Program

12 Step Grammar Program
By Natalie Giacone
[email protected]
A curriculum that provides students with
tools to revise.
So they can “check their grammar.”
Which side of the fence are
you on?
Discussion Topics:
 Grammar is essential.
 Grammar is secondary to
usage/writing practice.
 Diagramming sentences
should fix most errors.
 Terminology matters/
doesn’t matter?
What doesn’t work
“Diagramming sentences…teaches
nothing beyond the ability to
diagram.”
--1960 Encyclopedia of Educational Research
“The teaching of formal grammar has
a negligible or even harmful effect
on the improvement of writing
because it usually displaces some
instruction and practice in actual
composition.”
–Braddock, Lloyd-Jones, and Schoer, 1986.
What works better
• Discussing grammatical constructions and
usage in context of writing. –Harris, 1962
• Learning punctuation in the context of
writing is much more effective than
studying punctuation marks and rules for
punctuation. –Calkins, 1980.
• Extensive reading significantly promotes
grammatical fluency and a command of the
syntactic resources of language for both
first and second language learners. –
Krashen, 1993.
Our Students’ Profile
Write like they speak.
Subject verb disagreement
Issues.
Preposition and article misuse.
Cognitive overload.
Don’t take risks in their writing.
Where do we start?
 Share your own grammar
insecurities.
 Create writing time.
 Mini lesson
 Use students’ own words and own
contexts to practice construction.
Introduction to the 12 Steps

I. The Sentence as the SVDO

II. Punctuation

VI. Sentence Slots
I. The Sentence: SVDO
Learn the simple sentence formula
Review the parts of speech
Learn the formulas for the types of
sentences: simple, compound, complex,
and compound complex
Learn the Sentence
All sentences must have SUBJECTS and
VERBS
Most have OBJECTS
Refer to the predicate nominative as DIRECT
OBJECT.
S
V
D.O.
Ex. Natalie walks to school.
II. Sentence Formulas
Simple:
SVDO.
Compound: SVDO + , conj + SVDO.
Complex: DC + , + IC (SVDO).
or IC + DC.
Compound Complex:
DC+ , + SVDO + , conj + SVDO.
Parts of Speech Review
Keep it simple
Nouns are subjects and objects
Verbs are the action of the subjects
and objects
Prepositions show placement and
movement of the object
 Conjunctions link two sentences
together with a comma (FANBOYS)
Adjectives describe the noun
Adverbs describe the verb
Parts of Speech Writing
Application:
1. Identify the parts of speech from their
own writing
2. Tally up how many of each
3. Discrepancy work
ADD the missing parts of speech
4. Students teach it back
Sentence Formulas
Simple:
SVDO.
Compound: SVDO + , conj + SVDO.
Complex: DC + , + IC (SVDO).
or IC + DC.
Compound Complex:
DC+ , + SVDO + , conj + SVDO.
Types of Sentences with Formulas
Simple:
S
V
DO.
Ex. Bill walks to school.
Write your own and use the formula.
Compound:
S
V
DO + ,conj + S
V.
Ex. Bill walks to school, but Eva runs.
Write your own with the formula.
Types of Sentences with Formulas cont.
Complex:
D.C + , + IC.
(S V DO.)
Ex. When I listen to the Akon song, I feel like
dancing.
(S V DO)
IC+DC.
Ex. I feel like dancing when I listen to the Akon
song.
Write your own sentence and use the formula.
Types of Sentence with Formulas
Compound Complex:
DC+SVDO+,conj+SVDO.
DC
S V
Ex. When I listen to music, I feel like
DO +,conj+S V
DO.
dancing, but I don’t know how.
Write your own and use the formula.
cont.
Sentence Unit Writing Application:
1. Have students create their own sentence for
each four types with the formulas labeled.
2. Students identify all four sentence types from a
higher level of text.
3. Students identify sentence types from their own
or a classmate’s writing.
4. Students teach it back.
ESL and lower school
Application
Interactive
Sentences
II. Punctuation
» Punctuation is the sentence’s traffic
lights.
» Periods are red lights; they stop the
sentence.
» Commas are green lights; they build
sentences (preview of step III.)
» Learn the Punctuation Formulas.
Punctuation Formulas
Period: SVDO.
Semicolon: SVDO;SVDO.
Colon: SVDO:___.
Practice Punctuation

Write a sentence with a semi-colon
and use the formula: SVDO;SVDO or
SVDO;TW,SVDO.

Write a sentence with a colon and
use the formula: SVDO:___.

Pair share
Punctuation Writing Application:
1. Students write a paragraph that
demonstrates all marks.
2. Practice changing the marks.
3. Read a higher level text to identify
the marks, and confirm that rules are
followed.
4. Students teach it back.
Grammar Error Journal
• A place where the students log errors, the
grammar rules, and the errors corrected.
• Implementation can occur after Sentence
and Punctuation Units.
• Helps students connect grammar to their
writing and become aware of repeated
errors.
• The journal drives instruction to additional
mini-lessons.
VI. Sentence Slots
Learn why dependent clauses are used.
Learn how to expand a sentence with
dependent clauses.
Learn the slot formula.
VI. Sentence Slots
The basic SVDO can be expanded in three
places, called slots.
(~~~,) S (,~~~,) V DO (,~~~).
Left Branching Middle Branching Right Branching
(Dependent clauses go into the slots.)
VI. Adjective slot-describes the subject.
Because he loves pressure, Kobe took the
last second shot. (left branching)
Kobe, because he loves pressure, took the
last second shot. (between subject and
verb)
Kobe took the last second shot, because
he loves pressure. (right branching)
Write your own Adjective slot.
VI. Adverb slot describes the verb
Slowly and carefully, I walked to school.
(left branching)
I walked, slowly and carefully, to school.
(middle branching)
I walked to school, slowly and carefully.
(right branching)
Write your own adverb slot.
(ing and ed) Adjective slot
Bill, attending school everyday, always does
well on his tests.
Filled with blossomed flowers, the garden was
beautiful.
Write your own.
Absolute Slot (degraded sentence)
 Deleting the verb:
Ex. The house empty, I could hear my thoughts.
• Deleting the auxiliary verb:
Ex. The house recently painted, I put it on the market.
• Turning the verb into a participle:
Ex. The house falling apart, I abandoned it.
Try one if you feel like it….
Slot Unit: Writing Application
1. Build Sentences: Students expand
using left, middle and right slots.
2. Tear them down: Student groups put up
a sentence while another group moves
one phrase into a different slot.
3. Read a higher level text and identify the
SVDO and slot type for each slot.
Quizzes
 Parts of Speech
 Types of Sentences
 Punctuation
 Slot Writing
See attached student examples
12 Steps (Overview)
 I.
The Sentence as
the SVDO
 II. Punctuation
 III. Combining Two
Sentences
 IV. Building the
Sentence
 V. Transitional Words
(Conjunctive Adverbs)
 VI. Sentence Slots
 VII. Fill in the
Slots with Phrases
 VIII. Subject Verb
Agreement
 IX. Indefinite
Pronouns
 X. Comma Rules
 XI. Verb Tenses
 XII. Odds and Ends
Now which side of the fence
are you on?
Discussion Topics:
 Grammar is essential.
 Grammar is secondary to
usage/writing practice.
 Diagramming sentences
should fix most errors.
 Terminology matters/
doesn’t matter?
Questions?