Although most adolescents can verbalize the definitions of the seven Parts of Speech, many do not comprehend their usage in a sentence. Others are confused by the various roles many words undertake. When I conference with my students about Subject/Verb agreement issues and vague pronoun/antecedent references in their writing, or exhort them not to use Indefinite Pronouns, they look at me as if I am speaking Early Alien.
After labeling every word in a two-paragraph story, highlighting each according to its designated POS color, and then by writing each one under the proper heading, students tend to grasp their usage more clearly. Reinforcement comes when they analyze their work in writing, and when they create, label and color their own sentences.
Great tool!
February 12, 2012
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Because one of my goals is to prove that studying literature, writing, vocabulary and grammar can be fun, I have created a number of innovative lessons for these strands of learning. Last year I collected many of them and compiled them in a book called Setting the Pace, for English teachers and college education students. Currently, the book is in revision; the title has been changed to NOVEL IDEAS, and it focuses on teaching literature as well as writing about literature. Veteran teachers and those aspiring to the field can utilize the hands on units and ideas for teaching while honing their skills on how to pace a lesson and to connect it to their state's standards of learning. I am an English teacher in the Fairfax County Virginia public school system, teaching English 12, Journalism 1,2,3 & 4 and Creative Writing 1, 2, & 3. As a result of the Teacher Performance Evaluation instituted by the county, I have been awarded the prestigious Career Two Exemplary level status three times. Besides the public high school venue, my teaching background includes an alternative secondary school for behaviorally disadvantaged adolescents, an adolescent psychiatric hospital, and a boys' reform school. Proud of my choice to be an educator, I have always hated the cliche, "Those that can, do; those that can't teach." Through my writing and my role modeling in the classroom, I show that not only do I teach, but I also practice what I preach.
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