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Week Eighteen(starting ______/______)

Monday: Identify parts of speech including noun (type), pronoun (type, case, person), verb (type and tense), adverb, adjective, article, preposition, conjunction (type), interjection, infinitive, gerund, participle.

at the corner of the street they met the counts steward who was awaiting his masterTuesday: Identify sentence parts including simple and complete subject, simple and complete predicate (transitive or intransitive verb), direct object, indirect object, predicate nominative, predicate adjective, appositive or appositive phrase, prepositional phrase (adjective or adverb), object of preposition, noun of direct address, infinitive phrase, object of infinitive, participial phrase, gerund phrase, object of gerund.

at the corner of the street they met the counts steward who was awaiting his masterWednesday: Identify clauses (independent, adverb dependent, adjective dependent, noun dependent), sentence type (simple, compound, complex, compound-complex), and purpose (declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, imperative).

at the corner of the street they met the counts steward who was awaiting his masterThursday: Add correct punctuation and capitalization.

at the corner of the street they met the counts steward who was awaiting his masterFriday: Diagram the sentence.

Sample Strategies from

DGP Plus: Building Stronger Writers

Strategy #4: Words-in-the-box

Cut out words from magazines (or let students cut them out themselves), glue the words to tag board strips, and

laminate each piece. Be sure to include words representing different parts of speech, and make cards with

punctuation marks as well. Divide students into groups and give them some sentence formulas. Formulas can

be as simple or complex as you deem appropriate for your students. Each group uses the formulas to create

sentences with the words, punctuating each sentence correctly.

Examples:

adjective, noun, verb, adverb: Funny birds sing loudly.

article, noun, verb, conjunction, article, noun, verb: The boy ate, and the girl played.

pronoun, present tense verb, plural noun: She likes flowers.

helping verb, pronoun, action verb, proper noun, preposition, pronoun, noun: Will you help Ricky with

his project?

Strategy #21: Sentence Combining

Give each student a pair of related simple sentences. (Example: Jay will like that new shirt. Jay always wears

stylish clothes.) You can make up the sentences, get them from books, have students make them up, or pull

them from student writing samples. Begin by having students identify the sentences as simple. Then students

will combine the sentences in a variety of ways, according to your instructions. Here are some examples:

two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction: Jay will like that new shirt, for he always

wears stylish clothes.

one independent clause with a compound verb: Jay always wears stylish clothes and will like that new

shirt.

an adverb dependent clause followed by an independent clause: Since Jay wears stylish clothes, he will

like that new shirt.

a sentence with a nonessential adjective clause: Jay, who always wears stylish clothes, will like that new

shirt.

a sentence with an introductory participial phrase: Wearing his new shirt, Jay looks very stylish.

a sentence with a gerund: Wearing that shirt will make Jay happy since he likes stylish clothes.

a sentence with an introductory prepositional phrase: In his new shirt, Jay looks very stylish.

a sentence with an appositive: Jay likes his new shirt, a very stylish one.

Strategy #23: No Adjectives Allowed

Have students write a descriptive paragraph, but don’t allow them to use any adjectives at all. Students will

immediately insist that this objective is impossible, but help them to see that adjectives aren’t the only

descriptive words in a paragraph. Writing a paragraph without adjectives will force them to use more specific

nouns and verbs as well as effective prepositional phrases. Adjective prepositional phrases don’t have to be off

limits unless you want them to be, nor do participles. You can also try paragraphs with no adverbs or with no

articles.

© DGP Publishing, Inc.

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Meaningful Grammar:

The Language of Writing

dburnette@dgppublishing.com

Why Grammar?

• Colleges and technical schools say that students aren’t prepared for the demands of academic writing.

Why Grammar?

• Business leaders complain that employees can’t write grammatically correct documents.

• We expect students to edit for grammatical and mechanical errors, but they can’t apply what they don’t understand.

Why Grammar?

• In order to help students write better and write correctly, we must all share a common lingo, and that lingo is grammar.

lie

rise

sit

intransitive

Why Grammar?

• A student who understands the nuts and bolts of a language can use that language more effectively.

• Students need to know grammar concepts for standardized tests such as exit exams and the SAT.

• Required in CCSS (and most state standards)!

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Why Grammar? George Hillocks and Michael Smith (1991) argue that “the teaching of school grammar has little or no effect on students” and that grammar instruction wastes valuable time that could be better spent on writing instruction.

Hillocks, G., Jr., & Smith, M. W. (1991). Grammar and usage. In J. Flood, J. M. Jensen, D. Lapp, & J. R. Squire (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching the English language arts(591-603). New York: Macmillan.

Why Daily Grammar Practice?

• Works like a daily grammar vitamin

The Vitamin Analogy

• Learning through grammar unit: taking a whole bottle of vitamins at once.

• Learning grammar in context or through daily correct-a-sentence: taking random vitamins at random times but not getting a multi-vitamin every day.

• Learning through whole language: eating vegetables and hoping you get what you need.

The Vitamin Analogy

• Learning grammar by trying to make it “fun”: eating candy

• Learning grammar through DGP: getting a good multi-vitamin every day

Why Daily Grammar Practice?

• Is more effective than other daily approaches

• Is effective at every grade level

• Is effective for every ability level

• Is effective for English Language Learners

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Research on the teaching of grammar to students learning a second language suggests that grammar “provides rules and general guidance that facilitate better understanding of the structures of the target language” (Gao, 2001).

Gao, C. Z. (2001). Second language learning and the teaching of grammar. Education, 122(2), 326-336.

Why Daily Grammar Practice?

• Is easy to incorporate into curriculum

• Takes less time than traditional, less effective methods

Rei Noguchi (1991) states that teachers should “make more time available for other writing activities by making less grammar do more.”

Noguchi, R. R. (1991). Grammar and the teaching of writing: Limits and possibilities. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Why Daily Grammar Practice?

• Forces grammar concepts into long-term memory.

In order to apply skills that they have learned, students need to know the skills on a subconscious level. To achieve this understanding, they “must engage in practice that gradually becomes distributed, as opposed to massed”(Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001).

Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Why Daily Grammar Practice?

• Enables learners to apply grammar concepts to their writing

• Follows a logical progression at each grade level and from first grade through college

• Breaks concepts into small parts while helping learners to see how all parts work together

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Why Daily Grammar Practice?

• Eliminates the need for tedious grammar exercises

• Complements all types of writing instruction

• Meets Common Core and other State Standards

The DGP Process

• Monday: Identify parts of speech

The DGP Process

• Monday: Identify parts of speech

• Tuesday: Identify sentence functions

The DGP Process

• Monday: Identify parts of speech

• Tuesday: Identify sentence functions

• Wednesday: Identify clauses and sentence type

The DGP Process

• Monday: Identify parts of speech

• Tuesday: Identify sentence functions

• Wednesday: Identify clauses, sentence type, and sentence purpose

• Thursday: Add punctuation and capitalization

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The DGP Process

• Monday: Identify parts of speech

• Tuesday: Identify sentence functions

• Wednesday: Identify clauses, sentence type, and sentence purpose

• Thursday: Add punctuation and capitalization

• Friday: Diagram the sentence

at the corner of the street they met the

counts steward who was awaiting his

master

prep art n prep art n3 nom pro

pos n n rp hv av/past prog 3 pos pro

av/ past

n

artat the corner of the street they met the

counts steward who was awaiting his

master

v

sdo

top

v

s

t

( )op

adj prep ph

do

( ) adv prep ph

at the corner of the street they met the

counts steward who was awaiting his

master

[

] [

]

ind cl

adj dep cl

cx declarative

at the corner of the street they met the

counts steward who was awaiting his

master

A

,

,,

.

6

they met steward

corner

who was awaiting master

street

Motivating Students to Try

• It’s practice, so there’s no pressure.

• Your students know they don’t get grammar.

• DGP won’t go away like a two-week grammar unit will.

• DGP is served in small helpings.

• Positive reinforcement works!

Evaluating Student Progress

• Pre-test and post-test

Pre-test and Post-test Results

• 44 students tested

• Grade 9 pre-test average: 71.4

• Grade 9 post-test average: 90.1 (+19.7)

• Grade 10 pre-test average: 88.7 (-1.4)

0102030405060708090

100

44students

grade 9pregrade 9postgrade 10pre

Pre-test and Post-test Results

• 102 eighth-graders tested

• Average pre-test score: 69.1

• Average post-test score without DGP: 73.6 (+4.5)

• Average post-test score with DGP: 89.9 (+20.8)

0102030405060708090

100

classA (26)

classB (23)

classC (27)

classD (26)

pre-test

post-test (noDGP)post-test (DGP)

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Evaluating Student Progress

• Pre-test and post-test

• Daily sentences

Evaluating Student Progress

• Pre-test and post-test

• Daily sentences

• Application of concepts

Evaluating Student Progress

• Pre-test and post-test

• Daily sentences

• Application of concepts

• DGP quiz

Warnings

• You must make DGP a priority every day.• Don’t let yourself get discouraged.• The daily habit of doing DGP will take a

couple of weeks to instill.• You must know grammar well to teach it

well.• You have to use the lingo when you talk

about writing.

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Strategies for connecting grammar and writing from

DGP Plus: Building Stronger Writers

No Adjectives Allowed

Sentence Combining

• Two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction

• One independent clause with a compound verb

• A sentence with an introductory adverb clause

• A sentence with an essential adjective clause

The students learned grammar. They improved as writers.

Sentence Combining

• A sentence with a gerund as the subject

• A sentence with an introductory participial phrase

• A sentence with an introductory prepositional phrase

• A sentence with an appositive

The students learned grammar. They improved as writers.

Words-in-the-box

• article, adjective, noun, verb, article, noun

• article, noun, verb, adverb, conjunction, adverb

• helping verb, noun, action verb, preposition, article, noun

Words-in-the-box

• possessive pronoun, noun, participle, preposition, article, adjective, noun, noun, action verb, adverb, preposition, noun

• His feet freezing from the cold floor, Geoffrey jumped back into bed.

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dburnette@dgppublishing.com