The Great Grammar Debate Kim Buice SWP – Summer Institute 2010

How do you address grammar?

Sentence Stalking A way of teaching grammar using authentic texts that also showcases craft. Based on Everyday Editing by Jeff Anderson (and Tasha Thomas)

“If reading a book or short story teaches professional writers about writing, I wondered if a sentence or two could teach novice writers about craft and mechanics.” “A sentence ended up being a manageable chunk of learning that was easily digested.” Jeff Anderson

“Giving attention to effective sentences breaks down editing skills, giving teachers a basic approach that can be used to teach any editing concept or pattern – grammar, usage, mechanics, and craft. The secret is to let students delve into the sentence.” Jeff Anderson

What do you notice? My sweat smells like peanut butter. -Wendy Mass, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life A hand flashed in the air. -Jerry Spinelli, Stargirl A skinny gray cat stretched and jumped off the kitchen table. - Sharon M. Draper, double dutch

More noticing E.D. sat in the kitchen pushing a mini-wheat around in the milk at the bottom of her bowl. -Stephanie S. Tolan, Surviving the Applewhites The skittery, cat-footed dance along the baseline. -Robert Burleigh, Hoops The terrible foul odor of the dungeon did not bother Mig. - Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

Adding more He flails and tries to swim away, but the current is too powerful. - Cecelia Tishy, All in One Piece Alan Ferko’s face turned as red as Bo Peep’s pigtail ribbons. - Jerry Spinelli, Stargirl

The dark scares us, for we don’t know what is waiting in the dark. Alvin Schwartz, Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones The giants of the Industrial Revolution didn’t live forever, but their mighty companies and foundations are still going strong.

Adding something else Then one day when a guard looked away, Uncle John and the others had a chance to escape. While the agreement ended the long war, open wounds were left in America’s national consciousness. When Mama explains the significance of each item placed on the table, Katie comes to understand the depth of sacrifice that her uncle made. America’s White Table by Margot Theis Raven

Then I realized I was a skinny turkey. No one wants to eat me. Last Thanksgiving we did not do a lot. Sometimes we play turkey games outside in the yard.

1.[1]My people think I can work like a mule. [2]But I’m a Chihuahua. [3]And they make me work from dawn until dusk. [4]And they sit on the deck eating in my face. What is the best way to combines sentences 2, 3 and 4 above? a.I’m a Chihuahua, and they make me work from dusk until dawn and sit on the porch eating in my face. b.But I’m a Chihuahua and they make me work from dusk until dawn and sit on the porch eating in my face. c.But I’m a Chihuahua, and they make me work from dusk until dawn, and sit on the porch eating in my face. d.I’m a Chihuahua, and they make me work from dusk until dawn, and sit on the porch eating in my face.

Sentence Stalking Steps Identify the concept you want to teach. Find examples in real literature. Allow the students time to notice/understand the concept and how it works. Name it. Apply it.

Let’s Try It Use any text you have on hand. What is a grammatical concept your students struggle with?? Find some examples.

Image Grammar A concept that actually teaches craft through grammar. Harry Noden – Image Grammar

“Image grammar grew from questions like How does Jack London make you feel like you are not just reading, but living in the days of the Yukon gold rush? How does Erma Bombeck create images that trigger eruptions of laughter? It developed from the study of the writer as an artist and of grammatical structures as the artist’s tools for creating images.” Harry Noden

The Five Basic Brush Strokes the participle the absolute the appositive adjectives shifted out of order action verbs

Painting with participles can be simplified by defining it as an -ing word tacked on to the beginning or end of a sentence Example: –The diamond-scaled snakes attacked their prey. –Hissing, slithering, and coiling, the diamond- scaled snakes attacked their prey.

Painting with Participles Participles painted by Hemingway in The Old Man and the Sea: Shifting the weight of the line to his left shoulder and kneeling carefully, he washed his hand in the ocean and held it there, submerged, for more than a minute, watching the blood trail away and the steady movement of the water against his hand as the boat moved.

You try it Look through your writing to see if you can add a participle (an –ing word) to add to your craft.

Painting with Absolutes simplified: a two-word combination of a noun and an –ing or –ed verb added onto a sentence Example: –The cat climbed the tree. –Claws digging, feet kicking, the cat climbed the tree.

Painting with Absolutes Absolutes painted by Anne Rice in The Mummy: The mummy was moving. The mummy’s right arm was outstretched, the torn wrappings hanging from it, as the being stepped out of its gilded box! The thing was coming towards her – towards Henry, who stood with his back to it – moving with a weak, shuffling gait, that arm outstretched before it, the dust rising from the rotting linen that covered it, a great smell of dust and decay filling the room.

You try it! Can you find a place in your writing to add an absoulte?

Painting with Appositives can be simplified as a noun that adds a second image to a preceeding noun Example: –The raccoon enjoys eating turtle eggs. –The raccoon, a scavenger, enjoys eating turtle eggs.

Painting with Appositives Appositives painted by Cornelius Ryan in June 6, 1944: The Longest Day Plowing through the choppy gray waters, a phalanx of ships bore down on Hilter’s Europe: fast new attack transports, slow rust-scarred freighters, small ocean liners, channel steamers, hospital ships, weather-beaten tankers, and swarms of fussing tugs. Barrage balloons flew above the ships. Squadrons of fighter planes weaved below the clouds.

You try it! Can you add an appositive to add craft to your writing?

Painting with Adjectives Out of Order adjectives out of order amplify the details of an image Example: –The large, red-eyed, angry bull moose charged the intruder. –The large bull moose, red-eyed and angry, charged the intruder.

Painting with Adjectives Out of Order Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in The Hound of the Baskervilles And then, suddenly, in the very dead of the night, there came a sound to my ears, clear, resonant, and unmistakeable. Robert Newton Peck in A Day No Pigs Would Die I could smell Mama, crisp and starched, plumping my pillow, and the cool muslin pillowcase touched both my ears as the back of my head sunk into all those feathers.

You try it! Find somewhere to shift your adjectives to add emphasis.

Painting with Action Verbs eliminates passive voice and verbs of being Example: –The grocery store was robbed by two men. –Two armed men robbed the grocery store. –The gravel road was on the left side of the barn. –The gravel road curled around the left side of the barn.

You try it! Look into your writing – do you use passive verbs? verbs of being? Can you change them into action verbs?

What have we learned about teaching grammar?

Resources Anderson, Jeff, Everyday Editing: Inviting Students to Develop Skill and Craft in Writer’s Workshop. Stenhouse Publishers, Noden, Harry, Image Grammar: Using Grammatical Structures to Teach Writing. Heinemann, 1999.