I’m one of those people who loves rollercoasters. The rollercoaster that started it all for me was Space Mountain at Tokyo Disney Land. I was 22, it was a stinking hot day and my then-boyfriend (who is now my husband) said “This one seems like it won’t be too big, it’s inside a building”. Anyone who knows this ride knows he couldn’t have been more wrong! Space Mountain was massive, fast and scary. I laughed and screamed and I was hooked! I loved the thrill, the adrenaline rush and going bloody fast!
And sometimes I teach like I’m on a rollercoaster. Especially when I am teaching something I really love! I have this habit of whizzing through teaching points, zooming around content and racing past distractions. And although it might be fun for me to run the one-woman-teacher show, it isn’t a great way to teach. And when I’m teaching functional grammar it’s the worst way to go about it.
Grammar knowlege (like most subject specific knowlege) is cumulative. So, you have to understand the basics before you can understand more complex structures. It all makes sense when you also think of the cumulative way our language is structured. From discrete words, to phrases, to sentences, to paragraphs and finally to whole texts. It makes sense that grammar instruction is similar to the stricture of our language. Starting with the basics and building up. This layering of knowledge sometimes means going back over curriculum outcomes from Year 1 even when teaching Year 6 or Year 12!
I have taught grammar across a range of year levels. No matter who I teach, I have learnt that I always need to start slow. I need to start at the heart of it all, the clause, more specifically the process. With every year group I have taught I harp on about the process with a slow gradual release of responsibility model. I do this so that students feel comfortable and confident in explaining and finding the process. Because if foundational concepts like this need to be understood before any future learning around phases or sentences can happen.
For some classes, I find these foundational lessons in grammar go quicker than others. With one Year 5 group I taught, they were ready to move on after 20 minutes. This class had learnt some functional grammar in previous years and just needed a refresher. Whereas for a different Year 5 group who were new to functional grammar, information about the process had to be drip-fed over several lessons.
I understand that it’s hard to go slow sometimes, perhaps you are like me and get too excited. Or perhaps, and more frightingingly, you feel the pressure of a system that expects boxes ticked and curriculum marked off. If you are in this latter group I wish I could take away your tick boxes. I wish I could wave a wand and make them disappear and in their place all you would be learners. Who just need you to meet them where they are at.
Instead of a wand and a wish, let me tell you a secret. Grammar is not the finish line. The box will never be ticked. The lessons you teach will never be completed. There is always more to learn about language. So if you want deep inquiry into language and skills employing language knowledge, there is no point in racing because the race won’t end. The rollercoaster will leave you dizzy and sick! Instead, you have to go slow. You have to introduce concepts slowly, methodically and with lots of questioning. So take a seat and settle in this isn’t a rollercoaster you are on. It’s a scenic voyage.
