Teaching Grammar

    Every student hates when they hear the word grammar and it is my job has a teacher to develop a unique strategy which encourages students that grammar can be fun. So, how would I do it? Well of course by allowing student to access their strengths and by this I mean adapt a grammar lesson around their preferred way of learning. I would feel horrible if I sat through a class which was completely auditory. This is because I am visual and kinematic learner. I can't imagine student becoming interested in grammar if we solely teach it to them in "one direction." (Oh boy, I did just reference One Direction in my blog...where has my mind gone). Therefore, I would like to enable my students to learn grammar through pictures, sounds, and movement. One way I have seen pictures or comics used to teach grammar/vocabulary was by my middle school Coop. He used comics as a link to the meaning of the new word or phrase. For example, one of the words for the last unit was "efface." Its link was "erase." There was a pictures of a person effacing a picture and a sentence which described the picture using the vocabulary word. My Coop then had some students read the word, link, and sentences below the picture. I think one reason for doing so is because sometimes students need to hear the word to remember it and also because if you hand a packet to middle school students who says they are actually going to read it. Haha. One I idea I have to spice up this lesson would be to include some form of physical movement. Like, the activity Nicole and I did for our brushstroke teach. We had students act out the action verbs through a game we called "What Are You Doing?" I am sure everyone enjoyed this...especially Evan. Haha. I am almost positive students would have enjoyed this activity over the one we found in the book. When teachers use activities to make grammar fun then I think students actually enjoy learning. For example, this small comic I included in my blog made me laugh. It encourages students to use correct grammar through the use of a  funny ninja. I think students would remember this comic and probably ask to see more comics like it. I thought about using comics like this also as maybe a free write activity or discussion activity before class starts. My purpose in using this comics would be to lighten the mood before a grammar lesson or have a mini lesson on grammar before the main lesson begins.
 
I am still a little nervous about teaching grammar because student may find it boring. I will strive though to make it as interesting as I can and I will also ask other teachers for advice. I guess we will see how it goes when I have to teach some grammar during student teaching. :)