A Systematic Approach to Grammar Instruction

Joan Berger was an english teacher that taught 7th and 8th graders, and she was worried about the students misused commas, run-on sentences, plodding subject-verb agreement, and she was trying to figure out how she could improve their writing. So what Berger began to do at the beginning of every class are mini lessons that will teach them the different techniques of writing. When she first started with the mini lessons she didn't see a change until she saw one of her eighth graders papers and they compared it to her seventh grade papers and they saw an improvement in her writing. From that point on Berger planned out the different mini lessons she would teach her students from their seventh through eighth grade years and after each lesson she would make the students incorporate what they learned in their writing. I believe that the method she used to teach her students was a great way to help them learn, because when the average elementary student would of forgot what they learned within a few hours they left the school, which is why teachers will give you homework to refresh their memories. But the way that she made sure that her students remember the lessons is but making them incorporate all of those lessons that was taught in every assignment they have.