What a wonderful feeling it is to give students frequent chances to succeed and feel good about themselves!
The way to achieve this is really simple, no matter what concept you're teaching. If you are using my books, break each lesson into several components when grading students’ group and individual practice exercises. (I always let my students trade and grade except on tests.)
For example, when you do Step 3: Finding the Subject, don’t just check for the subjects that students find in each sentence. That would only give students 20 answers at 5 points apiece and make it easy for them to get a low score.
Instead, count the prepositional phrase(s) in each sentence as one point, the verb phrase as one point, and the subject as one point. Voila! Now, there are over 60 answers, and students can miss several and still get a decent score.
Of course, these tips work with any assignment you give your students, whether or not it comes from one of my books.
For each step, you can decide which parts of the sentence are the key parts. For example, when working on Step 4: Finding the Complements, the key is deciding if the verb is action or linking before looking for the complement. When grading each paper, be sure to count the verb and whether it is an action or a linking verb, along with the complement as key elements in the score.
Use the answer pages in the back of the book to count the number of elements you plan to score in each lesson. Make your directions clear about which parts of the sentence students are to mark when scoring papers. This is another opportunity for the teacher to re-teach and emphasize that sentence analysis must be done in steps and that the steps must be done in order. Skipping a step is a recipe for confusion and disaster.
This method could become a bit too much of a hassle if the teacher has to do the math each time papers are graded and figure out the correct score for papers with 63 answers or 71 answers, etc. It could, but it won’t if you download my Grading Scale Chart.
You can print the chart on both sides of a sheet of paper, slip it into a plastic folder sleeve, and take it with you anywhere. You can even give your students a copy if you so desire.
Simple Steps to Sentence Sense is an easy and enjoyable way to teach grammar. You will find the books HERE. You know you are successful when you hear students say, “This is fun.” Grammar? Fun? Well, all right!
Please tell your friends and colleagues about my book. Simple Steps to Sentence Sense is also a useful tool for foreign language teachers, and it is helpful for special education and ESL students.
Visit my store for more helpful resources.
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