Teach them what they need, not what you think they should know

Teaching grammar seems to transport us as teachers from the concrete reality of our classrooms — fluorescent lights, concrete walls, earnest students — to an orchestral symphony.

While we ride the waves of sound, analyzing chord progression, the complexities of harmonies, intentional dissonance — “Haha! Isn’t this clever! Rules don’t apply here!! Who would have thought!!” — our students freeze; they are shell-shocked. Confused, disoriented, and totally disempowered.

Just when they have learned the rule, we undermine it. While we are busy commenting on the purpose and function of EVERY. SINGLE. NOTE., they are somewhere else. Some obscure, scary dystopia.

And here you have it folks. The rabbit hole that is teaching grammar. We have all been here. You know, that moment when you try to “break down” what you have already “broken down.” The more “basic”, the more complex. More rules. More terminology. More exceptions.

Last week, I had a similar moment at home at the breakfast table.

“First there were dinosaurs, then there were monsters, and now there are humans.”

It was a Saturday, and my four year old was sitting at our kitchen table, pancake on fork, sticky syrup on cheek.

“Well, there were dinosaurs, and there are humans…but I’m not so sure about the monsters, sweetheart.”

Nodding enthusiastically: “It’s true. My friend Naomi told me.”

“Oh ya? I think she might have been talking about evolution.”

“?”

“Evolution is how we came into existence.”

“?”

“We used to be fish.”

In total awe: “You were a fish, Mommy?”

I started again: “You know how you have a grandma, and she had a grandma? Well, she had a grandma, too. And if you go back to the beginning of your grandmas, the first one evolved from a monkey. And monkeys came from fish.”

“So Grandma Penny was a fish?”

I grabbed a marker from our craft bin and began to sketch. I drew a blob, and then a fish and then an arrow and then a dinosaur — with an “x” above it to illustrate extinction, obvie — and then another arrow and a monkey, and then another arrow and a person.

“We are made of cells and these cells have changed with time.”

“?”

“We are made up of tiny blobs, like this one.”

“We are made of blobs. What do they look like?”

“Well, you can’t actually see them.”

“Then how do you know they are there?”

“…”

I was back in the classroom, teaching grammar. Ugh.

“…Let’s see if there is a video on youtube that will help.”

There was nothing. The videos went back even further than the blob. They went back to the Big Bang.

Why, as teachers, do we feel compelled to go back to the beginning? Can’t we just teach them what they need to know in the moment?

And then I came across a post on Edutopia: Steve Peha’s “There Has to Be a Better Way (And There Is!)”

Peha identifies 5 sentence patterns, and encourages teachers to help students recognize & write based on these patterns.

Instead of focusing on the rules, focus on patterns.

This week, I told my students, “I don’t care if you know what an independent clause is.”

Surprise. Shock. Confusion.

“I just want you to be able to write.”

“…?”

“Today, we are going to learn to identify one sentence pattern.”

Sentences, like melodies, can be appreciated and understood as patterns. Sure, there are rules. But you can learn to read and write intuitively. You just have to train your ear.

I’m not sure how this will go; but keep your ear to the ground, and I’ll keep you posted.