Take another look at sentence diagramming! (For some, this may be your first look!). Some people love it--they say it clarifies the elements of grammar. Others hate it-- they say it is confusing and a waste of time. What do you think? Have you ever tried diagramming sentences with your students? Do you think you might venture there?
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6 comments:
I have looked at the sentence diagrams, and they seem to make so much sense based on the examples. I might try the first intransitive verb pattern with my fourth grade students. They could certainly handle it, and the visual would be very helpful!
I've heard about diagramming sentences, but I've never seen one in a class.
When I was looking over the book I noticed the difference between straight lines and slashes, but it's not explained.
What do the slashes indicate and how would a person know when to include them?
I think I would be much more likely to use sentence rods to teach parts of speech and the folders (that we saw in class) to teach different ways to organize sentences.
I feel that I use a form of diagramming every day with my elementary school students through a graphic organizer called the Fitgerald Key which was developed originally in the 1940s for the deaf population. Speech people have adapted this method of constructing a declarative sentence and have used it with many types of populations. Language is gleaned from the trade books with a focal point such as find a "doing" word or a "who" word. These components are then combined into a sentence format via the use of a sentence kernel and sentence expansion graphic organizer. Having my students organize and assimilate their vocabulary into categories is greatly beneficial to their retrieval and sentence assmbly skills. I can share this with you on Saturday if you are interested.
Sentence diagramming seems like a great way to analyze and break down sentences to explore each part of a sentence, but do these concepts identified and named transfer into students writing? I never learned how to diagram sentences, but I constantly hear about it in my Professional Learning Community in my school. We are trying to collaboratively design a grammar program that is tucked into our writing program. Many of our teachers suggest diagramming students own work on the Smart Board. This idea sounds good, but I need more information and time to play.
I like the idea of diagramming sentences, because it worked for ME when I was in school. However, it probably won't work for all students. Also, will it transfer into student's writing?
I've found that using the diagrams works with very specific kids... I try to introduce it as one way for kids to figure out what they're writing..
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