Learning Grammar Through Games and Writing

Through this fun, interactive class, students will be introduced to a grammar topic through a short lesson (about five minutes), practice through a fun online game (teacher's shared screen), and then application through a short time of writing. In my more than ten years of teaching, I have found that grammar is typically one of students' least favorite subjects (which is a shame). Through this process of a short lesson, engaging practice, and seeing the purpose through writing, I have seen time and time again students change their perspective on grammar. 

Each week of the month will have a different theme with the first week of the month being parts of speech (example topics: nouns, adjectives, prepositions). The second week of the month's theme will be mechanics (example topics: capitalization, punctuation, using dialogue, possessive nouns). The third week's theme will be usage (example topics: correcting fragments, using compound sentences, subject-verb agreement, and phrases and clauses). The fourth week we will focus on the writing process (example topics: choose the best topic sentence, revising for quality word choice, transition words, writing genre, which sentence doesn't belong in the paragraph). For example, in a given month, we may focus on nouns the first week, using dialogue the second week, correcting fragments the third week, and using transition words the fourth week. I do not pick out/publish exact topics before posting this class as topics covered will vary based on the needs of the learners enrolled in the class. 

Students will participate in games together and learn to encouragingly support each other in the learning process. Students will also read each other's writing and provide compliments and constructive feedback. 

This class utilizes https://webwhiteboard.com/ as it allows me to see students' writing as they write as opposed to only when they are finished writing. This does not require students to sign up. Instead, students will be given a unique link to that week's whiteboard each class period.