Middle School Grammar Class: Parts of Speech

In this highly interactive class, students will learn about five parts of speech: prepositions, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

Many students dislike learning grammar because the "rules" are confusing to them.  When a teacher lectures about grammar, she/he often sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher to the student: "Blah, Blah, Blah." Therefore, my approach to teaching grammar is to first engage students in a discussion about words.  I show them mentor sentences and ask them what they notice.  Where is the word located in the sentence? What is its function? Is it capitalized?  If so, why?

After the discussion, I will introduce the definition and rules of usage for the particular part of speech; however, my goal as teacher is not for the students to recite the grammar rules, but rather to have a basic understanding and most importantly, how to use the parts of speech correctly in their writing.  Grammar is like building blocks -- students must first understand nouns before they can fully understand verbs, adjectives, etc.  Students ultimately learn how to put these blocks together to build powerful sentences.

Using what they have learned, students will practice writing sentences with the different parts of speech and share them with the group.

The syllabus for this class is as follows:

Week 1: Prepositions and Objects of Prepositions
Week 2: Nouns (Common, Proper, Abstract vs. Concrete, Collective)
Week 3: Verbs (Action, Linking, Helping)
Week 4: Adjectives (Positive, Comparative, Superlative, Compound)
Week 5: Adverbs (Manner, Time, Place, Frequency, Degree)

While most students will have been introduced to the parts of speech, no experience or prior knowledge is required.