{"id":3751,"date":"2021-07-11T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-11T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itslitteaching.com\/?p=3751"},"modified":"2025-01-19T09:41:08","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T14:41:08","slug":"how-to-teach-grammar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itslitteaching.com\/how-to-teach-grammar\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Teach Grammar to High School Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You know that you need to teach grammar. But when you look at your high school students’ writing, you’re overwhelmed. How can you possibly explain a semicolon or all of the comma rules when your students can’t even write a complete sentence?<\/strong> I’ve gone through the same struggle, my friend. While you probably can’t turn all of your students into Shakespeares in a semester, you can <\/em>help them improve greatly. In this post, I hope to help show you how to teach grammar to (struggling) high school students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Looking for a complete grammar curriculum for your high school class? My High School Grammar Unit Bundle is everything you need!<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Why You Should Teach Grammar to High School Students<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A lot of English teachers just don’t teach grammar. Or maybe they toss out a lesson about apostrophes here or a semicolon activity here. Too often, grammar and punctuation<\/a> are viewed as filler lessons–not the main event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is also why a lot of English teachers don’t see their students’ grammar abilities improve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching grammar is not for the faint of heart.<\/strong> It’s hard, and students are bored by it. It’s much harder to get kids excited about infinitives than it is to get them excited about a good book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you can’t just assume that your high school students were taught the basics in elementary or middle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if you want to see your students’ standardized test scores improve, give them real-life skills for any job beyond high school, and help them turn in work that doesn’t make you ill, then teaching grammar is a must.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even high school students who don’t use periods can become better at writing.<\/strong> You have to be persistent, patient, and consistent in your instruction to make it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still not convinced? Check out these myths about teaching grammar.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grammar in your Curriculum<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you are serious about helping students become better writers at a technical level, then you are going to have to commit to teaching grammar. Grammar needs to be woven into the curriculum on a regular basis.<\/strong> You can’t just teach a one-off lesson here and there and expect students to improve–especially if you’re working with students who struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grammar needs to be taught, practiced, reviewed, and assessed consistently. <\/strong>Teach or review grammar in some way every. Single. Day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will need to teach lessons directly. You’ll need to model how you make grammatical choices. Students will need to practice grammar independently, but they’ll also need to apply it to their writing regularly for their new skills to stick. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Committing yourself to improving your students’ grammar skills isn’t an easy task. You will need to dedicate a lot of time on your lesson planning calendar to grammar skills.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only will you need to give grammar the time it deserves, but you’ll have to mix up how you present it and how students practice and apply their knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Before You Begin<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before you begin even attempting teaching grammar, you need to take stock of where your students are right now. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Skip the prep and grab these Grammar Assessments<\/a> to find out where your students are at QUICKLY.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Most of my students didn’t write in complete sentences. Many made common errors like not capitalizing proper nouns or forgetting end punctuation. A few didn’t even capitalize the word “I.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look over your students’ writing skills. You need to decide where to begin and what, realistically, you can accomplish in your time with students. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giving some kind of grammar pre-assessment (like the one included with these Grammar Ass<\/a>essments<\/a>) can be an easy way to establish a starting point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What My Own Students Needed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I worked exclusively with remedial students. The vast majority move on to a technical college. Very few go to a four-year college, and still many go straight into the workforce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To serve my students best, I didn’t necessarily need to turn them into professional linguists, but I did have to teach them enough grammar that they could function in the workplace. Yet, most of my students couldn’t tell me what a complete sentence needed or how to find a verb.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Students don’t necessarily need to understand what a gerund, participle, or infinitive are–but they do need to understand that these are NOT verbs!<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

If you’re teaching a similar population, cut everything that students won’t need on a daily basis after high school.<\/strong> Prepositional phrases are nice to cover, but most people don’t need to identify them for their job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decide what your students absolutely need to know.<\/strong> I wanted my students to just be able to use punctuation correctly most of the time. To me, that means making sure they understand clauses<\/a> and punctuation<\/a> rules. So that’s what I focused on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Get more information on teaching punctuation here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t be afraid to go back as far as you need to.<\/strong> I always started by reviewing verbs and clauses. (I don’t really think most people need to understand all of the parts of speech in great depth to function in society.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I covered a hard topic–like verbals<\/a>–it was only so students better understood verbs and clauses. Sometimes I touched on the difference between active and passive voice if we had extra time. I highly recommend mapping out your “must teach” grammar topics before beginning.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Teach Grammar to High School Students Step 1: Direct Instruction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Teaching grammar is difficult. I mean, who really remembers the different verbals anyway? But remember, the best way to master a topic is to teach it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So even if you’re uncomfortable with covering grammar, just get started teaching.<\/strong> The more you teach it, the more confident you will become. (And the more you’ll learn yourself!)<\/p>\n\n\n

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If your students aren’t writing in complete sentences, it might be because they don’t actually understand what makes a sentence “complete.” Show them with this lesson on sentences. <\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We assume that our students know what a verb is. Or that they should punctuate the beginning of sentences. Or what a sentence sounds like. But we can’t assume anything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want your students to know something, you’ve got to teach it to them first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And nothing is wrong with a lecture and slides. (Just keep it short!) I know we want every lesson to be fun, but this stuff is hard. Burying it a Webquest or station activity isn’t going to cut it. Save the fun stuff for review. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So direct instruction is going to be the first step in teaching grammar.<\/strong> If you’re not sure where to begin, I recommend at the beginning: sentences and basic sentence structure<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mostly taught remedial students, so even this was a challenge for them. If you’re teaching AP kids, you might be able to start elsewhere. But starting at the beginning certainly doesn’t hurt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if trying to create lessons on grammar makes you groan, I have some done-for-you ones right here. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Teach Grammar to High School Students Step 2: Provide Plenty of Examples<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ok. You’ve introduced and covered the topic. You’ve defined the terms. Now, give students examples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You cannot give students too many examples.<\/strong> In my grammar lessons<\/a>, I include examples. But you may want to cover even more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pick up a novel and go through sentence by sentence. Tear them apart. Discuss why authors may have left fragments in the book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep student writing to use as samples and examples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Build in time on a regular basis to look at examples and mentor sentences<\/a> with students.<\/strong> A regular D.O.L. practice or daily grammar warm-up could help you provide students with ample examples every day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n