“Professor Katie. I don’t understand when you change sentences to passive tense.” “Teacher, what is a past participle?” “When do you use has and have?” “How do you say ‘cheap’, ‘sheep’, ‘sheet’, and ‘cheat’ so they don’t sound like you are saying ‘s—t’?”
The last question was real, in case you were wondering.
English grammar is the worst. I know if it’s wrong, I know if it’s right, but why… I have no idea. It’s been the bane of my existence in my time here. I dread grammar lessons. Even with fun activities and review games, there are questions thrown at me constantly that baffle me completely. Just one time, can someone come up to me and ask “What is your stance on the new Arizona legislation?” or “What were the causes of World War II?” or “How would you define substantive due process?” I mean, in case we all forgot, my certification is Secondary Social Studies. Not English grammar.
I don’t even like planning for it, to be honest. We’re half a unit behind in a few of my classes (not terrible) because I would rather read than pull out the workbook. Shockingly, the kids agree with me. They’d rather find out how Gatsby and Daisy are faring than work on present perfect. As a professional, the big girl thing for me to do would be to find ways to make the grammar more engaging, to spend hours finding out all of the rules. In real life, I do not have the time or patience. Yeah, I spice up grammar whenever possible by giving writing reflections that secretly practice the grammar unit assigned, or through fun around the world games, or by relay races outside. In the end, though, I am the worst at explaining grammar rules. And I think my students can pick up on it. Whomp whomp.
This is my first shout out post. If you are an English wizard and have some fun engaging grammar games, hit me up. I still have three days. And don’t just copy and paste online stuff… trust me. I’ve been there.
Thanks friends!
PS Also, do not send me all of the grammatical errors in this blog. I know some of you would SO do that.
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