The Value of Modeling

I reflect in this post on events which took place on December 1st.

Four days after coming into the high school to work with my new assignment, I led a grammar drill.  This was a useful experience and leading the drill after that was and will be extremely useful in acclimating me to high school students, high school content, and the best methods of teaching high school students the content.  I was excited to hear my co-teacher would be working on grammar in direct approach because I had also done this in my past class with the middle school students.  It had usually taken us 10-15 minutes to get through it there, which was too long.  I like seeing and trying different approaches to ultimately find and utilize the best practice for my students-to-be.

Before running the grammar drill, which usually lasts for five minutes in my new co-teacher's classroom, I had the opportunity to see her teach it.  I saw how she interacted with students, how they responded, and how she warmly but decisively prodded them to moving efficiently towards the correct answers.  I also had the opportunity to hear what her goal is with having the grammar practice.  The grammar drill for the 11th graders is the first introduction and practice they have with specific grammar techniques such as appositive and gerund phrases.  Then they will practice these techniques in their writing and then required to include them in a large essay.  It was also nice to see how she planned these drills to achieve exactly what she wanted.

So I wrote some practice questions for students to continue to try appositive phrases.  I included some questions which had information about myself to begin to familiarize the students with who I am.  I also included vocabulary words in the questions so the students would have more practice with them.  Here are the questions:
My brothers, a seven and a 21-year-old, live in Michigan.
Joe likes the corner store, _______________, where he gets some chips for lunch.
Janie’s second husband, _______, died of liver failure.
I conjecture, or ________, if you do not confer, or ______, with your vocabulary notes for Monday’s quiz, your grade will dwindle, or ________.
_____________, my favorite book, is one I recommend for you to read.

The questions and the general delivery of the drill went pretty well.  But there was some stilted hesitation for the second to last question which  included vocabulary words.  My co-teacher gave me some insightful advice which she exhibits daily.  She told me this question was so awkward for the students because they didn't have a model their work after.  She is a big believer in teachers providing an model example for most exercises and activities teachers wish their students to perform.  When experience is so highly praised, this makes perfect sense; words cannot possibly be enough to help students fully understand what is required of them.  This will be something I work towards next semester while I do more drill writing and especially while I prepare for the unit I will teach.