Advice for help with Sentence Composing Tests

Several students and parents have asked for advice on how to succeed at our sentence composing grammar tests such as the recent ones on prepositional phrases, simple sentences, and compound sentences.

These tests at fist appear to be very easy, in that students are only expected to write a sentence and count up its parts. However, a very high level of analytical thinking, synthesis of knowledge, and application of abstract concepts are interwoven together.

Here are my recommendations:

1)  DAILY ENGAGEMENT.  Be engaged during in class during our daily sentence composing activities.  Students who raise their hands to ask questions, who remain focused, and who explore the ideas on a daily basis will fair much better than those who sort of sleep walk through our daily work and go through the motions.

2)  ONE PAGE NOTES.  During each unit, students receive a page detailing all of the basic rules as wells as common "traps" to avoid based upon years of teaching this subject.  There are helpful mnemonic devices.  Instead of asking students to blindly memorize lists, those word banks are provided.  However, these great tools are only valuable if they are actually used both in class every day as well as on the tests.

3)  COLOR CODING.  Students have the option of color coding the words in their sentence composing journals as a way to hard-wire their brains into seeing the grammatical patterns.  Students who finish early or are looking to study our sentences during Flex Friday would do well to color code their work.  This is especially helpful because students' journals are available to view during the tests.

4)  FLEX FRIDAY HELP.  During Flex Friday, students can meet one-on-one with Mr. Chappell, or can work with a partner to review the grammar concepts.  Sometimes a friend can explain things more clearly than a teacher.

5)  ONLINE EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS.  We show mini-lessons from the Khan Academy, School House Rock, and others to help teach these grammar concepts.  Students are welcome to use these resources to review and study.  Usually just using the "Search" engine on Youtube with the name of the grammar concept will help you find good sources.  Also, on the Most Excellent Blog links are often posted.

6)  USE THE BLOG.  The PowerPoint slides for the sentences from the previous units are regularly uploaded to the blog.  These can be invaluable reviews for the classwork we do each day, as well as tools for students who were absent.

7)  DILIGENT PRECISION.  Students who rush their work and are sloppy will not fair well with this type of work.  Think of it as needing a surgical scalpel as opposed to bludgeoning with a sledgehammer.  So take your time, make sure that you understand the concepts at play, and most importantly REREAD your work, checking for errors. Some students actually "read" the sentence out loud in their mind before submitting their work, making sure that they didn't leave out anything and that the sentence makes sense.

8)  REGULAR ATTENDANCE.  It's really hard to make up many absences because these ideas are sequenced and scaffolded one upon the other. Try to be in school every day.

9)  READ MORE OFTEN.  Just as students who listen to music all of the time excel in band or choir, just as students who enjoy a game of back yard football are more likely to excel in P.E., students who read by choice for entertainment are going to be exposed to thousands of hours of sentence structure and grammar construction.  Unfortunately, there is a significant decline in students who read for pleasure between 5th and 8th grade.  This results in those students who read having a huge advantage on all things related to grammar and writing.  So, if you really want to be more successful on these grammar tests, do yourself a favor and get back into reading for fun.  Go to the library.  Keep an influx of good books on hand.  Make time to read as a daily activity.  You'll thank yourself in the future.

I hope that these tools are helpful, and don't forget that I am always here to help.  :)