Middle School Math Moments (and more!): Partner Daily Language

Tuesday

Partner Daily Language

I don't often write about my new products, but I am excited to share this one, because it has been many years in the making. Years ago, after using Daily Oral Language in a variety of ways in my classroom, I decided that each student needed to become more engaged in our daily language instruction. Many were already engaged - students took turns coming to the board to make corrections and identify parts of speech, but typically, only one student had a turn at any one time. At that time, I was attempting to make sure students were understanding the grammatical reasons for the corrections they were making, and if they tuned out for even a little bit, they missed some information. So, using the Daily Oral Language sentences, I created a peer teaching method for our daily language, which I'll explain below. After using it for the first year, I found that my student absolutely knew the content better than students in the past, and so I have continued to use it on a regular basis for about 15 years now. I like it because I have seen my students develop a greater understanding of spelling, grammar, punctuation and parts of speech. The students like it more than previous methods because they are ALL able to be active and part of discussion. I have wanted to share this idea in the past, but couldn't use the "DOL" sentences to do so; so, I have finally taken the time to create my own sentences and decide what grammar, spelling, and

punctuation I wanted each particular week to focus on.

This is not the only method I use to teach grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc, but it has been a fantastic supplement to provide continual reinforcement throughout the year.

Here's how my Partner Daily Language works:

1) Each student receives a half-sheet of paper, labeled Partner A or Partner B. On the paper are two sentences. The first sentence is written incorrectly. The second sentence is written with editing marks, showing the corrections that need to be made. Beneath the second sentence are the reasons for the changes in sentence 2, as well as words from sentence 2, identified by their parts of speech. (The changes in the sentence are numbered, and the reasons are labeled with the corresponding number.)
2) Each student edits his/her first sentence. I have students number their corrections, and when they write the reasons for their corrections, their numbering should match up. Partner A's sentence to edit is the sentence that Partner B has the answers to, and vice versa.


This student wrote reasons on the side of the page.

3) Once both students have edited their own sentences, Partner A tells Partner B what corrections he/she has made, as well as the reasons for the corrections, and Partner B confirms (or corrects) Partner A's answers. Partner B then asks Partner A to identify certain
parts of speech in his/her sentence.
4) The students then switch roles and work on Partner B's sentence.
5) Each partner should write the correct editing marks, reasons, and parts of speech for his/her own sentence. The half-sheets of paper are then the students' study guides for quiz time. (Some students choose to write the information for their sentence on notebook paper and staple that to the half-sheet.)

Modeling
When I first introduce this procedure to the students, I give each student a half-sheet, and we discuss the set-up of the sheet and the way the corrections and reasons are numbered. Then I choose a student as my partner, and we model the process for the other students (I always edit my sentence aloud first, and then the student takes his/her turn.) Then the students give it a try. I model again for the first few days, using the same sentences that the students will use, and then they do it on their own. I always emphasize that partners need to ask each other why a correction was made, because I don't want them to skip over this part or simply copy the reasons from each other. We continue to model and I monitor their interactions until they are using the process correctly.