Why Learn Grammar and Conventions?

What I'm reading

Spring break in the Japanese academic calendar means 3 weeks to learn everything a teacher needs to learn to be ready for the new school year in April. For this teacher, the biggest new thing is (drum roll…) 4th and 5th grade English language arts. I got my head pretty well wrapped around 6th and 7th English language arts this past year, so what’s one step earlier? I got a writing curriculum recommended by a former colleague (from Jamie Sears of the Not So Wimpy Teacher website and podcast—I'm getting a crash course in elementary teaching from all her wonderful resources!). I plan to expand the independent reading that worked well this year in 6th/7th. And reading Patterns of Power: Inviting Young Writers into the Conventions of Language, Grades 1-5. (I’ve also pre-ordered the middle school version, coming out in a couple more days: March 31!)

Here's what I find exciting: Rather than making grammar about what NOT to do, make it about what TO do. Don't teach grammar and conventions as an interminable list of inscrutable rules not to be transgressed, teach it as a search for the patterns that powerful writing uses. Observe what good writers do, consider why they do it, then practice their patterns—patterns of writing power.

There's even a pattern to the teaching. Author Jeff Anderson calls it a series of invitations, inviting young writers into the mysteries of the discipline: the invitation to notice, to compare and contrast, to imitate, to celebrate and apply, and to edit. These invitations constitute a series of 10-minute mini-lessons at the beginning of each writing class. Here's what they might look like in a first grade class learning about capitalizing names.

Invitation to Notice: Choose a sentence from literature that models one of the patterns and ask students, “What do you notice?” (I love this because it is one of the 8 activities that Making Thinking Visible identifies as the thinking we want to foster: “observing closely and describing what’s there”) For this example, Anderson uses a sentence from Kate DiCamillo’s Mercy Watson to the Rescue: “Mr. Watson and Mrs. Watson have a pig named Mercy.” Students may notice things from three periods in the sentence to the capital letter at the beginning, and you can ride the curiosity wave as long as you end up talking about why writers capitalize the first letters of names.  

Invitation to Compare and Contrast: Make up a sentence to pair with the original one to examine similarities and differences. 

• Mr. Watson and Mrs. Watson have a pig named Mercy.
• Dr. Gonzales has a cat named Aristotle.

Invitation to Imitate: With varying amounts of scaffolding, in pairs, or independently, students imitate the pattern: Mrs. Smith's class has a rabbit named sleepy. I have a goldfish named Fred. 

Invitation to Celebrate and Apply: Sharing what others have done and doing it more. Displaying examples. Finding them in textbooks. Scanning writing notebooks.

Invitation to Edit. After reviewing the mentor sentence, show 3 ways it could be modified and discuss what's different and what's the effect of the change:

• Mr. Watson and Mrs. Watson have a pig named Mercy.
• Mr. watson and Mrs. Watson have a pig named Mercy.
• Mr. Watson and Mrs. Watson have a Pig named Mercy.
• Mr. Watson and Mrs. Watson have a pig named MercY.

That’s the quick version. The full version is 446 pages. I’m on page 81, so now I’d better get back to my reading and learning. There’s also a podcast I recommend—15 minutes introducing each of the invitations for middle school.

What are you learning this spring break?