1. Daily Grammar Practice
A Grammar Program That Makes Sense
Daily Grammar Practice was developed Dawn Burnette, a National Board certified teacher who has taught high school English for 15 years. Daily Grammar Practice was first published in August of 2003.

2. Why Grammar?
Colleges and technical schools say that students aren’t prepared for the demands of academic writing.
Although most English teachers see the value in teaching grammar, here are a few reminders.

3. Note that college instructors ranked grammar and usage as the most important writing skill whereas high school teachers ranked grammar and usage as the least important writing skill.
Ezarik, M. (2003). Survey: K-12, higher ed grammar disconnect. (CurriculumUpdate: The latest developments in math, science, language arts and social studies). DistrictAdministration, 39(7), 46.

4. 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.
America’s businesses spend over a billion dollars a year teaching employees to write!
Students have to understand the intricacies of grammar and sentence structure before they can edit. They cannot rely on “how it sounds.”

5. Why Grammar?
In order to help students write better and write correctly, we must all share a common lingo, and that lingo is grammar.
Writing lessons are much more meaningful when we can use terms like subordinating conjunction and participial phrase. How can you explain parallel structure without grammatical language?

6. lie rise sit intransitive
Here’s a great example. A student who understands the difference between a transitive and an intransitive verb has no trouble with lie/lay, sit/set, and rise/raise.

7. 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.
We all hate teaching for tests, but the fact is that the high-stakes tests require that kids know grammar and mechanics. The new SAT has a third section (for a new high score of 2400). The new writing section is comprised of a 25-minute essay (33.3%) and multiple-choice grammar, usage, and mechanics questions (66.6%).

8. 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 ( ). New York: Macmillan.
In spite of all of these great reasons to teach grammar, research from the early nineties suggested that teaching grammar is harmful. While it is true that traditional grammar instruction is ineffective and takes too much time, we don’t need to forget about grammar instruction altogether. What we need is a more effective and efficient approach.

9. Why Daily Grammar Practice?
Works like a daily grammar vitamin
If you take the whole bottle at once, it just makes you sick. If you take one a day, the benefits pay off over time.

10. 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.
Correcting a sentence every day (i.e. Daily Oral Language) is great, but it goes in one ear and out the other if students don’t understand why the errors are errors.
I believe that grammar concepts should be reinforced in writing lessons, but if we try to teach them only in the context of writing, we end up spending too much time back-pedaling and repeating. Writing lessons are more meaningful when students already know the language of grammar.

11. The Vitamin Analogy
Learning grammar by trying to make it “fun”: eating candy
Learning grammar through DGP: getting a good multi-vitamin every day
Although there’s nothing wrong with making grammar fun—most students find DGP fun even though it’s not “fluffy”—if all we do with it is play games, students don’t really understand how it all fits together.

12. Why Daily Grammar Practice?
Is more effective than other daily programs
Is effective at every grade level
Is effective for every ability level
Is effective for English Language Learners
In most classrooms, we have students of different ability levels. The organization of DGP enables all students to understand the concepts at their own pace. DGP is not organized by concept (as are other approaches to grammar instruction). When you teach a lesson on nouns, a lesson on verbs, a lesson on adjectives, etc., a student who doesn’t fully grasp one of the lessons misses out when you move on. With DGP, all concepts are always connected so that a student who doesn’t understand a concept at week 2 will get it at week 5 or 10 or even 25, but he’ll get it. Special needs students around the country are working successfully on grade level.

13. 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).
DGP is also great for English Language Learners because students work with one sentence per week. As a result, students don’t have to deal with the added barrier of the language. Once they decode the week’s sentence, they can easily work with the grammatical aspects of it. Imagine facing a list of 30 grammar exercises in a foreign language. You’d be too busy figuring out what the sentences said to learn anything about the grammar.
Gao, C. Z. (2001). Second language learning and the teaching of grammar. Education, 122(2),

14. Why Daily Grammar Practice?
Is easy to incorporate into curriculum
Takes less time than traditional, less effective methods
As we all know, the English teacher has LOTS to do in the course of the year. DGP is quick and convenient.
DGP should take no more than three or four minutes a day. If your students are new to the approach, the first couple of weeks may take five or ten minutes a day; but after that, the lessons are very quick.

15. 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.
Back in the early nineties, while seeking a new approach for teaching grammar, I read this comment by Noguchi and took it as a personal challenge. DGP is specifically designed to meet this challenge.

16. Why Daily Grammar Practice?
Forces grammar concepts into long-term memory.
Teachers have long been frustrated by the fact that students insist they know nothing about grammar when we know good and well that they’ve “been taught it” every year since first grade. With traditional methods, however, students don’t remember grammar concepts because they hold them in short-term memory just long enough to pass the test.

17. 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).
DGP does just that: It distributes the practice instead of massing it. A little bit every day to keep it always fresh. No intensive two-week grammar units.
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.

18. 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
What good is grammar anyway if you can’t apply it to writing?!
The DGP scope and sequence (based on curriculum standards pulled from all around the country) is located in the back of each teacher guide.
Seeing how all of the concepts work together is key. Usually students get nouns, get verbs, get adjectives, etc., but they don’t ever get the big picture.

19. Students “struggle to understand concepts in isolation, to learn parts without seeing wholes” (Brooks & Brooks, 1993).
Brooks, J. G., & Brooks, M. G. (1993). In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
To me, grammar in isolation is “find the nouns in these 30 sentences” or “underline the dependent clauses in these 30 sentences.” DGP deals with grammar at the sentence level, allowing students to see all of the grammar concepts in context with each other rather than isolated from other grammar concepts.

20. Why Daily Grammar Practice?
Eliminates the need for tedious grammar exercises
Complements all types of writing instruction
It is not necessary to supplement DGP with traditional grammar exercises. Never will students need to complete grammar worksheets or complete exercises out of a textbook.
Regardless of how you teach writing, DGP provides the vocabulary your students need to make your writing lessons effective.

21. The DGP Process Monday: Identify parts of speech
So here’s how it works. Students work with one carefully constructed sentence for a whole week at a time, doing something different with it each day so that by the end of the week, students see how all of the concepts work together in that one sentence. Although the objectives are slightly different for each grade level, the basic concept is the same. This is the process for grades 5 and up. On Monday, students identify the part of speech for each word in the sentence of the week.

22. If students have any trouble (or don’t even know where to start if they’re new at the approach), they have reference notes divided by day of the week. Everything they need to know to figure out the parts of speech is on three pages of Monday Notes.
By the way, when I first experimented with the approach, I tried front-loading students with everything they needed to know about parts of speech. Then I gave them a sentence to try. Naturally, they asked, “Now, what’s a noun again?” So I decided that was a big waste of time. I recommend just giving them the reference notes and giving them a sentence and telling them to go for it. It’s amazing how much more meaningful their learning is when they discover things for themselves. And they use critical thinking skills unlike when they mindlessly underline subjects in a list of 30 sentences. If students are new to DGP, you can have them work in small groups for the first couple of weeks if necessary.

23. The DGP Process Monday: Identify parts of speech
Tuesday: Identify sentence functions
On Tuesday students get to see the connection between each word’s part of speech and its use in the sentence. Too often we don’t get past parts of speech because we’re having to start all over every year with nouns.

24. The DGP Process Monday: Identify parts of speech
Tuesday: Identify sentence functions
Wednesday: Identify clauses and sentence type
Now we see how the parts connect to make clauses.

25. The DGP Process Monday: Identify parts of speech
Tuesday: Identify sentence functions
Wednesday: Identify clauses and sentence type
Thursday: Add punctuation and capitalization
I save punctuation and capitalization for Thursday so that students learn to analyze sentence structure before making choices about punctuation and capitalization. This way, they understand why they’re using a comma—and it’s not just because they took a breath!

26. The DGP Process Monday: Identify parts of speech
Tuesday: Identify sentence functions
Wednesday: Identify clauses and sentence type
Thursday: Add punctuation and capitalization
Friday: Diagram the sentence
Yes, I use RK diagrams because I think they’re the ultimate graphic organizer. Diagramming 30 sentences for the sake of diagramming them is painful (and arguably useless), but diagramming at the end of the week allows students to “see” how all of the concepts they’ve just analyzed work together.

27. Again, students have reference notes to help them each day of the week.

28. Week 27
Monday
So here’s a sentence to try so that you can see how it works. This sentence is from week 27 (of 30) at the eighth grade level. Note that eighth graders don’t start with sentences this complicated!
Students can do their work at home and go over it in class, or you can allow students time to complete the work in class before going over it. Most students can work independently at home after the first week.
Note: depending on how much time you have, you can ask participants to work through each “day” before you go over the answers. Doing so usually allows teachers to get a better feel for how the approach works. If you do ask them to work through the days, I suggest doing Monday, going over it, doing Tuesday, going over it, etc.

29. we read the novel the giver which was
1 nom
pron
av past
rel pron
art n N hv
we read the novel the giver which was
written by lois lowry and then we wrote
an essay about it
av past
1 nom pron
av/past
prep N cc
adv
3 obj pron
art n
prep
I’ve planted teachable moments in each sentence. For example, was written is an example of passive voice and sets up a discussion on passive voice if the teacher wants to take the time. Also, we know that read is past tense based on the tense of the other verbs in the sentence.
On this frame, the answers come up in sentence order (we, then read, then the, etc.)

30. Week 27
Tuesday
Do the same thing in your classroom. Go over Monday’s work on Monday, and then have students do Tuesday’s for the next day. Students should correct their answers as they go and should ask questions as necessary. Remember, every student doesn’t have to understand every concept the first week. You’ll repeat this process 29 more times.

31. we read the novel the giver which was do
app s
we read the novel the giver which was
written by lois lowry and then we wrote
an essay about it v i op s v t ( )
adv pp do op
( )
adj pp
Dialogue for order of answers: Where’s the first verb? Who or what read? We read what? Since we have a direct object, the verb is transitive or intransitive? How does The Giver function? Where’s the second verb? Who or what was written? (Note that although novel can’t be the subject, which refers to novel.) Which was written what? Nothing; therefore the verb is transitive or intransitive? What do you see after the verb? What’s the object of the preposition? Is the phrase acting as an adjective or an adverb? Where’s the last verb? Who or what wrote? We wrote what? Since we have a direct object, the verb is transitive or intransitive? What do you see after the direct object? Where is the object of the preposition? Is the phrase acting as an adjective or an adverb? The first simple subject is we; does anything else go with we? Then we is also the complete subject. The first simple predicate is read; does anything else go with read? Then all of that makes up the complete predicate. The second simple subject is the other we; does anything else go with we? Then we is the complete subject. The second simple predicate is wrote; does anything else go with wrote (don’t forget then)? Then all of that makes up the complete predicate.

32. Week 27
Wednesday

33. we read the novel the giver which was
ind
adj dep [
we read the novel the giver which was
written by lois lowry and then we wrote
an essay about it ] [ ] [
ind ]
Order of answers: brackets around each clause; identification of first clause type, second clause type, third clause type; identification of sentence type; identification of sentence purpose. The teacher can also talk about how the sentence structure would change without the second we.
cd-cx
declarative

34. Week 27
Thursday
Now that we’ve figured out where the proper nouns, phrases, and clauses are and what kind of sentence we have, we’re ready to punctuate and capitalize intelligently.

35. we read the novel the giver which was
written by lois lowry and then we wrote
an essay about it T G
________ , L L , .
The capital letters appear first (in order). Then The Giver is underlined. Then the commas go around the adj. clause. Finally, the period goes at the end. This sentence presents the teacher with the opportunity to talk about when to put commas around appositives and adjective clauses and when not to.

36. Week 27
Friday
In the fifth and sixth grades, I recommend providing the diagram structures and having students fill in the words. Older students who are new to diagramming could use the same type of scaffolding for the firsts few weeks.
On Fridays, students like to diagram the sentence on the board. Most really enjoy the diagramming and see it as the culminating point of the weekly puzzle.

37. We (The Giver) read novel the we wrote essay an then about it which
was written
and by
Lois Lowry we
wrote
essay an
then
The whole diagram appears at once.
about it

38. I have developed sentences (with answer keys) for every grade level
I have developed sentences (with answer keys) for every grade level. The sentences are carefully constructed to include specific concepts at specific times, they incorporate teachable moments in usage and style, and they progress logically from one week to the next and from one grade level to the next.
If you want to implement DGP, you have two choices. You can either reproduce a list of all of the year’s sentences (like this one) from your teacher’s guide and have students write their sentences on notebook paper each day, or you can provide a workbook for each student. Workbooks present the sentences in the format we just used for the eighth grade sample sentence. The workbooks include the reference notes in the front; if you’re not using workbooks, you can photocopy the reference notes from the teacher’s guide.

39. The DGP Process (Grade 2)
Identify nouns, pronouns, interjections, adjectives, conjunctions, and prepositions.
Identify verbs, adverbs, and subjects
Identify sentence purpose
Add punctuation and capitalization
Write a new sentences based on criteria studied throughout the week
For elementary grades, the process stays the same, but the concepts vary. This is what second grade students do each day. The diagramming starts in fourth grade because watering down the sentences for grades one through three enough for students to be able to diagram them would mean the sentences wouldn’t be complicated enough to teach the necessary concepts.
First and second grade teachers around the country report that students are using vocabulary such as declarative and verb. They are starting every sentence with a capital letter and ending every sentence with an appropriate end mark. Hey, that’s more than we can say for some high school students!
To see the process for each different grade level, visit the scope and sequence link under Daily Grammar Practice at

40. Week 1
Monday

41. jimmy and i saw jeffs new bike X P PP C
Second graders use symbols for the different parts of speech.

42. Week 1
Tuesday

43. jimmy and i saw jeffs new bike A
Here they identify the subjects and verbs. They also determine whether the verb is action or linking. If there is an adverb in the sentence, they identify it here and draw an arrow to the word it describes.

44. Week 1
Wednesday

45. jimmy and i saw jeffs new bike dec
Students identify the sentence purpose.

46. Week 1
Thursday

47. ’ J jimmy and i saw jeffs new bike I J .
Now that we know where the proper nouns and possessive nouns are and what type of sentence it is, we can capitalize and punctuate correctly.
Regardless of the grade level, students practice analyzing the grammar concepts as they function in a sentence rather than merely dealing with isolated concepts.

48. Week 1
Friday

49. You and Martha read Taylor’s interesting story.
pronoun, conjunction, adjective, possessive noun, same purpose as this week’s sentence
You and Martha read Taylor’s interesting story.
On Friday, students have to write a new sentence that applies specific elements they’ve worked on during the week.

50. We also have a college level program because many college professors were using the twelfth grade program and asked for a separate college level book. Each week is divided into five steps instead of five days to better meet the needs of classes who don’t meet five days a week.

51. Scope and Sequence for first grade through college based on Common Core Standards
In the back of each teacher guide, you will find a chart outlining the scope and sequence of Daily Grammar Practice. The next frames help you to see easily how students progress from one grade to the next.

52. Grade 1
Monday: Find each noun (common, proper, possessive), pronoun, adjective, interjection, preposition, and conjunction in the following sentence. Use an arrow to show which word each adjective describes.
Tuesday: Find each action verb in the following sentence and underline it twice. Then find the noun or pronoun that is doing the action and underline it once.
Wednesday: Identify the sentence purpose as declarative, exclamatory, imperative, or interrogative.
Thursday: Write the sentence with correct capitalization and punctuation.
Friday: Write a new sentence that includes specific criteria we’ve worked on this week.
These are the skills addressed at the first grade level.

53. Grade 2
Monday: Identify each noun (type), pronoun, interjection, adjective, preposition, and conjunction in the following sentence. Use an arrow to show which word each adjective describes.
Tuesday: Identify the action verbs or linking verbs and any adverbs in the following sentence. Use an arrow to show which word each adverb describes. Then underline the simple subject once and the simple predicate twice.
Wednesday: Identify the sentence purpose as declarative, exclamatory, imperative, or interrogative.
Thursday: Write this week’s sentence with correct capitalization and punctuation.
Friday: Write a new sentence that includes specific criteria we’ve worked on this week.
As you view each successive grade level, you will see the new skills in red. In addition to picking up a few new skills at each grade level, sentences get a little more difficult. Also, students review all skills every year since every sentence has nouns, verbs, subjects, etc. Therefore, if a student begins the program in grade nine, he doesn’t miss anything. It sure is easier, though, when students use the approach every year!

54. Grade 3
Monday: Identify each noun, pronoun (nominative, objective, possessive, reflexive, indefinite), interjection, adjective, preposition, and conjunction (subordinating, coordinating) in the following sentence.
Tuesday: Identify the simple subjects, verbs (helping, linking, action), verb tense, adverbs, complete subjects, and complete predicates in the following sentence. Use an arrow to show which word each adverb describes.
Wednesday: Identify the clauses (independent, dependent), sentence type (simple, compound, complex), and purpose in the following sentence.
Thursday: Write this week’s sentence with correct capitalization and punctuation.
Friday: Write a new sentence that includes specific criteria we’ve worked on this week.
Again, note the new skills in red. Whereas first and second graders identified pronouns, third graders are getting more specific: nominative, objective, possessive, reflexive, indefinite. The Common Core requires that third graders identify compound and complex sentences, but they start the year with simple sentences.

55. Grade 4
Monday: Identify each noun (type), pronoun (personal by type and case, relative, reflexive, indefinite), adjective, conjunction (coordinating, subordinating, correlative), adverb, article, interjection.
Tuesday: Identify each simple subject, complete subject, complete predicate, and prepositional phrase. Then identify the tense of each simple predicate.
Wednesday: Identify the clauses (independent, dependent), sentence type (simple, compound, complex), and sentence purpose (declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamatory). Then write the sentence with correct capitalization and punctuation .
Thursday: Write a new sentence that includes specific criteria we’ve worked on this week.
Friday: Fill in the blank spaces in the sentence diagram.
New skills in red. Note that new skills do not necessarily appear in the first few weeks. A few weeks into the year, students start dealing with the new skills one or two at a time. Diagramming starts in the fourth grade, but students are provided the lines and some of the words. At first they fill in only the simple subject and predicate. Eventually they fill in more words.

56. Grade 5
Monday: Identify each noun (type), pronoun (type and case), adjective, verb (type and tense), adverb, article, preposition, conjunction (type), and interjection.
Tuesday: Identify the simple and complete subject, the simple and complete predicate, and any complements, prepositional phrases, and objects of prepositions.
Wednesday: Identify the clauses (independent, dependent), sentence type (simple, compound, complex), and sentence purpose (declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamatory). Then write the sentence with correct capitalization and punctuation.
Thursday: Write a new sentences that includes specific criteria we’ve worked on this week. 
Friday: Use this week’s sentence to fill in the following diagram structure.
Fifth grade students fill in the diagram structure, but no words are provided for them like they are in the fourth grade.

57. Grade 6
Monday: Identify each word as noun (common, proper, possessive), pronoun (type, case, person), verb (type and tense), adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction (type), interjection, or article.
Tuesday: Identify sentence parts including subject (complete and simple), complete predicate, verb (transitive or intransitive), direct object, indirect object, predicate nominative, predicate adjective, appositive or appositive phrase, and prepositional phrase (adjective or adverb).
Wednesday: Identify each clause as independent or dependent; identify the sentence type as simple, compound, or complex; and identify the sentence purpose as declarative, imperative, interrogative, or exclamatory.
Thursday: Add capitalization and punctuation including end punctuation, commas, apostrophes, underlining, and quotation marks. 
Friday: Fill in the diagram structure using this week’s sentence.
Whereas fifth graders identify complements in general, sixth graders get more specific: direct object, predicate nominative, predicate adjective.

58. Grade 7
Monday: Identify each word as noun (type), pronoun (type, case, person), verb (type and tense), adverb, adjective, article, preposition, conjunction (type), interjection, gerund, participle, or infinitive.
Tuesday: Identify sentence parts including subject (complete and simple), verb (complete and simple, transitive or intransitive), direct object, indirect object, predicate nominative, predicate adjective, appositive or appositive phrase, and prepositional phrase (adjective or adverb).
Wednesday: Identify each clause as independent, adjective dependent, or adverb dependent; identify the sentence type as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex; and identify the sentence purpose as declarative, imperative, interrogative, or exclamatory.
Thursday: Add correct capitalization and punctuation.
Friday: Diagram this week’s sentence.
Seventh graders are diagramming on their own.

59. Grade 8
Monday: Identify parts of speech including noun, pronoun (type and case), verb (type and tense), adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction (type), gerund, participle, infinitive, and article.
Tuesday: Identify sentence parts including complete subject, simple subject, complete predicate, verb (transitive or intransitive), direct object, indirect object, predicate nominative, predicate adjective, appositive or appositive phrase, prepositional phrase (adjective or adverb), gerund phrase, infinitive phrase, participial phrase, object of preposition, object of infinitive, and object of gerund.
Wednesday: Identify clauses (independent, adverb dependent, adjective dependent, noun dependent), sentence type (simple, compound, complex, compound-complex), and sentence purpose (declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory).
Thursday: Add capitalization and punctuation.
Friday: Diagram the sentence.
New skills in red.

60. Grade 9
Monday: identify parts of speech: noun, pronoun (type and case), verb (type and tense), adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction (type), gerund, participle, infinitive, article
Tuesday: identify sentence parts: subject, verb (transitive or intransitive), direct object, indirect object, predicate nominative, predicate adjective, appositive or appositive phrase, prepositional phrase (adjective or adverb), gerund phrase, infinitive phrase, participial phrase, object of preposition, object of infinitive, object of gerund, object of participle
Wednesday: identify clauses and sentence type: independent, adverb dependent, adjective dependent, noun dependent; simple, compound, complex, compound-complex
Thursday: add punctuation and capitalization: end punctuation, commas, semicolons, apostrophes, underlining, quotation marks
Friday: diagram the sentence
By the ninth grade, there aren’t many new skills. However, sentences are more difficult, and concepts stay fresh in students’ minds with the regular practice.

61. Grade 10
Monday: identify parts of speech: noun, pronoun (type and case), verb (type and tense), adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction (type), gerund, participle, infinitive, article
Tuesday: identify sentence parts: subject, verb (transitive or intransitive), direct object, indirect object, predicate nominative, predicate adjective, appositive or appositive phrase, prepositional phrase (adjective or adverb), gerund phrase, infinitive phrase, participial phrase, object of preposition, object of infinitive, object of gerund, object of participle
Wednesday: identify clauses and sentence type: independent, adverb dependent, adjective dependent, noun dependent; simple, compound, complex, compound-complex
Thursday: add punctuation and capitalization: end punctuation, commas, semicolons, apostrophes, underlining, quotation marks
Friday: diagram the sentence
No new skills—just more advanced sentences.

62. Grade 11
Monday: identify parts of speech: noun, pronoun (type and case), verb (type and tense), adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction (type), gerund, participle, infinitive, article
Tuesday: identify sentence parts: subject, verb (transitive or intransitive), direct object, indirect object, predicate nominative, predicate adjective, appositive or appositive phrase, prepositional phrase (adjective or adverb), gerund phrase, infinitive phrase, participial phrase, object of preposition, object of infinitive, object of gerund, object of participle, objective complements
Wednesday: identify clauses and sentence type: independent, adverb dependent, adjective dependent, noun dependent; simple, compound, complex, compound-complex
Thursday: add punctuation and capitalization: end punctuation, commas, semicolons, apostrophes, underlining, quotation marks, colons, dashes, hyphens 
Friday: diagram the sentence
A few new skills. You can certain teach colons, dashes, and hyphens before the eleventh grade, but the sentences in the eleventh grade level deal with them specifically.
Most of the eleventh grade sentences deal with American literature.

63. Grade 12
Monday: identify parts of speech: noun, pronoun (type and case), verb (type and tense), adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction (type), gerund, participle, infinitive, article
Tuesday: identify sentence parts: subject, verb (transitive or intransitive), direct object, indirect object, predicate nominative, predicate adjective, appositive or appositive phrase, prepositional phrase (adjective or adverb), gerund phrase, infinitive phrase, participial phrase, object of preposition, object of infinitive, object of gerund, object of participle, objective complement, subject of infinitive, absolute phrase
Wednesday: identify clauses and sentence type: independent, adverb dependent, adjective dependent, noun dependent; simple, compound, complex, compound-complex 
Thursday: add punctuation and capitalization: end punctuation, commas, semicolons, apostrophes, underlining, quotation marks, colons, dashes, hyphens
Friday: diagram the sentence
Most of the twelfth grade sentences deal with British literature.

64. College Level
Step One: identify parts of speech: noun, pronoun (type and case), verb (type and tense), adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction (type), gerund, participle, infinitive, article
Step Two: identify sentence parts: subject, verb (transitive or intransitive), direct object, indirect object, predicate nominative, predicate adjective, appositive or appositive phrase, prepositional phrase (adjective or adverb), gerund phrase, infinitive phrase, participial phrase, object of preposition, object of infinitive, object of gerund, object of participle, objective complement, subject of infinitive, absolute phrase
Step Three: identify clauses and sentence type: independent, adverb dependent, adjective dependent, noun dependent; simple, compound, complex, compound-complex 
Step Four: add punctuation and capitalization: end punctuation, commas, semicolons, apostrophes, underlining, quotation marks, colons, dashes, hyphens
Step Five: diagram the sentence
The skills for the college level are the same as those for the twelfth grade, but the content focuses on collegiate things like dorms, campuses, and roommates.

65. 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!
For some students that translates into “I don’t have to try,” but inviting those who just write “action verb” over every word in for one-on-one help usually does the trick.
Students know that the “old way” didn’t work for them, so they’re generally willing to try something new.
A colleague once pointed out that students don’t get grammar because they know they don’t have to. They just have to pass the test and then forget it all until next year’s teacher starts over again with nouns. DGP sticks around all year long.
One sentence a week isn’t overwhelming for any student.
Students truly get excited when they have a “eureka” moment!

66. Evaluating Student Progress
Pre-test and post-test
You can use a standardized, multiple-choice test, or you can have students take a sentence through a week’s worth of DGP.

67. Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Test
Kedron Elementary School third-graders
T=Total language arts
SCR=Sentence construction and revision
GM=Grammar and mechanics
This chart compares last year’s third graders (who didn’t use the program) to this year’s third graders (who did). Level 3 is the highest level of achievement. NO students scored Level 1 in 2005.

68. Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Test
Kedron Elementary School students
T=Total language arts
SCR=Sentence construction and revision
GM=Grammar and mechanics
This chart looks at the progress of the same group of students for two years. We see their first grade scores (when they didn’t use DGP) and their second grade scores (when they did).

69. 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)
This chart shows pre-test and post-test scores for a group of ninth graders, but it also shows retention. The same students were tested at the beginning of their tenth grade year to see how much they remembered over the summer. When students have had a year or two of DGP before they enter your classroom, they just pick up where they left off. No more starting over.

70. 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)
This chart compares two classes of eighth graders who didn’t use DGP to two classes who did.

71. Evaluating Student Progress
Pre-test and post-test
Daily sentences
Check students’ daily sentences and give them credit for an honest effort. Although you shouldn’t check each day for accuracy, students should correct their answers as you go over them. If you want more grades, collect a week’s worth every now and then and check for accuracy. This lets students know that they should pay attention when you’re going over it. You can also monitor how well students are understanding based on the answers they offer as you go over each day’s assignment.

72. I use this check sheet to keep up with completion
I use this check sheet to keep up with completion. When the bell rings, I move quickly around the room looking at DGP (which must be out on desks at the bell). A student who hasn’t completed the day’s assignment gets a tally mark. At the end of the grading period, I give a completion grade such as 75/75 for a student with no tally marks or 70/75 for a student with five tally marks.

73. Evaluating Student Progress
Pre-test and post-test
Daily sentences
Application of concepts
You’ll see students starting to use the terminology in connection with writing because they understand the concepts and see how they relate to each other. When you tell students to start at least one sentence with a gerund phrase, you won’t get that glazed-over look.

74. Evaluating Student Progress
Pre-test and post-test
Daily sentences
Application of concepts
DGP quiz
You can give a quiz however often you need to.

75. Just use this template, which has the daily instructions, and plug in a sentence you think your students should be able to do. Warning: Work through the sentence first!

76. 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.
You can’t go skipping vitamins or they don’t work!
The first few weeks WILL be difficult if your students haven’t done DGP before. Hold students’ hands and drag them through. By weeks three and four, light bulbs come on. Really.
It takes a while to get used to doing DGP every day.
If you’re not as comfortable with the grammar concepts as you’d like to be, just work through the sentences a few weeks ahead of your students!
Don’t be afraid to use the terminology when you talk about writing. Too often we avoid using grammar terms because we think students won’t understand them, but the more you use the terms, the more the students will see their relevance in their writing.

77. DGP Plus: Building Stronger Writers
DGP Plus: Building Stronger Writers is a book of writing strategies for all grades. The lessons all connect the grammar concepts students learn in DGP to writing. Here are a couple of activities from the book if you have time and want to try them.

78. Super Sentences My friend got a puppy.
This activity is designed for elementary and intermediate students but can be adapted for older students as well.
In Super Sentences, you start with a basic sentence. Students can work in teams or individually. The goal is to make the sentence as long (but grammatically and structurally correct) as possible by adding things like adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, appositives, or anything else the students have learned in their DGP sentences.

79. No Adjectives Allowed
Have participants try this activity using the bear picture.
Strategy #23: No Adjectives Allowed
Designed for middle and secondary
(A similar activity for elementary students involves listing as many adjectives as possible to describe the picture.)
To use the activity with middle and secondary, 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 phrases and clauses. Participles don’t have to be off limits unless you want them to be. You can also try paragraphs with no adverbs or with no articles. After they complete this activity, challenge them to use these skills to improve an essay they’re writing for class.

80. www.dgppublishing.com dburnette@dgppublishing.com
Here’s my website and contact information if anyone needs it.