96 minutes of grammar?

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96 minutes of grammar?
By Beth S

96 minutes of grammar? Wow! I have never heard of a middle school teaching grammar as a separate block of instruction. I have taught 6th & 7th grade language arts on a 90 minute block schedule. I am trying to imagine how
I might break down my block of time if I was in your shoes. Hmmmm.... I would definitely try to follow the block pattern I was trained in: whole group instruction, then small groups or pairs, then individual practice, then back to the small group or pairs, then end with whole group. For example- if your lesson was on the four types of sentences, you would begin with your "hook" and a mini-lesson

on the 4 types of sentences delivered to the whole class. Next, move into an activity which allows them to work in small groups or partners to explore the concept of the 4 types of sentences. Perhaps they would be looking through magazines together for cool pictures that they could cut out & glue to a poster, then write one of the 4 types of sentences beneath it as a caption for the picture- & they must find an example for all 4 types. When a group is finished & their poster reflects understanding, then you move them on to the individual assignment (page in grammar book, worksheet, etc.) After individual work time, allow them to partner up and discuss (NOT copy) their answers to the individual assignment. Then, you move back to whole group instruction to discuss what they learned, go over correct answers, and summarize the key points of the lesson.
Following the whole group, small group, individual, small group, whole group pacing will keep your students from becoming stagnant during 96 minutes of grammar. There is no way they are going to make it through the block each day without opportunities for movement & interaction with others. If I were you, my warm-up each day would be DOL (Daily Oral Language- your school should get this for you if you don't already have it). And even though you are not supposed to "teach" writing, your students are certainly going to have to do a lot of writing to practice the grammar you are teaching them. One cool thing I've done in the past is something called "Write In, Write Out." For the first 5 minutes and the last 5 minutes of class, my students wrote in a journal. The Write In prompt would be on the board. It might be related to content, or it might not. My choice. Every Friday was "free choice" & they could write about anything. The Write Out prompt was always to write about what they learned, found interesting, did not understand, etc. about the day's lesson.
Another thought I'm having is that after introducing a new grammar concept, a certain portion of your block might be dedicated to having students identify examples of that type of grammar within authentic text (newspapers, magazines, novels, poems, etc.). Doing this could take from 5 to 25 minutes or more, depending on how you approached it & how far you wanted to take it. For example, if your lesson was on gerunds, then have them read a piece of text like a short story & jot down any gerunds they identify in their reading. This would be a great way to not only include literature in your grammar class, but also for you to circulate and get a quick assessment of who understands what you're doing. A quick glance at what they are writing on their paper would do it.
Keeping 6th graders motivated in a grammar block will be a challenge, but you can do it! Be creative and connect your lessons to things in the real-world that will keep it relevant to them. Best of luck to you!
p.s. Do you know how to diagram sentences? It seems like no one teaches that any more, but I LOVED it when I was in 6th grade! Then again, I was pretty much a nerd.