Group items tagged

find out what has worked and do more of that

foundational language skills and content

new skills are best acquired when students notice and understand

language acquisition

Students must have a strong command of the grammar and usage of spoken and written standard English to succeed academically and professionally.

grammar

usage

devise instructional approaches to replicate this success for other un-mastered language content and skills

explicit instruction

scaffold instruction

build upon prior knowledge

this comma and period inside the quotation marks business is strictly American usage.  The British don't do it that way.  They are inclined to place commas and periods logically rather than conventionally, depending on whether the punctuation belongs to the quotation or to the sentence that contains the quotation

that this comma and period inside the quotation marks business is strictly American usage.  The British don't do it that way. 

differentiate

comprehensible

oral language

input

pay attention to how you’re using the active and passive voices

even more important is the matter of consistency

usage issues

skill and content areas

we want to make sure our best feet are forward. That means making sure errors like typos or poor grammar don’t detract from what we have to say

make a conscious effort to use them in a way that produces clear, direct, and compelling posts

help the student practice skills and content already learned

Teach language form and meaning concurrently.

active listening

inside the U.S., periods and commas go inside quotation marks

Think about each sentence

what do you want to emphasize?

How can you construct a sentence that gets your point across and is engaging to read?

The rules in American English are different from the rules in British English

meaning influences form

Form influences meaning

In America, we use a hard-and-fast rule that was supposedly designed by compositors to protect the tiny commas and periods (1, 2). We always put periods and commas inside quotation marks.

interactive discussion

inform the student as to “what is correct and what is not” via immediate feedback

provide a meaningful rationale

analyze how writers and speakers use the language skill and content

Some emphasize the verb as the key part of speech, showing students how the sentence is built around it and how vivid verbs create vivid sentences.

It’s one thing to read about the rules, but another to put them into practice.

If the whole sentence, including the quotation, is a question or an exclamation, then the question mark or exclamation point goes outside the closing quotation mark; but if only the part inside the quotation marks is a question or exclamation, then the question mark or exclamation point goes inside the closing quotation mark.

think about the function of voice when evaluating your writing

In American English, periods and commas always go inside the closing quotation mark

question marks and exclamation points require that you analyze the sentence and make a decision based on context

if you are an American, you need to keep your commas and periods inside your closing quotation marks, where they belong

Writing

Spelling/Vocabulary

only American printers were more attached to convenience than logic

Grammar/Mechanics