Demonology
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
We are attacking DEMONS - those persistent, annoying word and writing errors that prevent us from communicating with our best language. It is true that teachers have been correcting and teaching about these errors since grade 3 (at least), but we continue to make them in our published writing. It is time to get rid of the demons!
We will be practicing the old fashioned way: writing sentences using the words. I have constructed a group of challenges for students. In each challenge, there are 4-10 demons. The 1st challenge level is to use all of the words correctly in as few sentences as possible that link together. The 2nd challenge level is to write as few sentences as possible, but the sentences do not have to link. The 3rd challenge is to use the words twice, writing as many sentences as necessary.
We are going to publish these sentences by posting them as Comments to the blog post. All students will be able to read, and read critically, all other posts. We will use Post-It notes to inform classmates about incorrect usage and mechanics.
Hopefully, this grade 8 group will conquer its writing demons by the end of the year - through practice and a heightened awareness.
