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      TeachingEnglish
      Course structure: bigger to smaller or smaller to bigger?
      Submitted by madhatter6 on 24 November, 2010 - 17:58

      I teach a high school grammar course. Next year, our school will begin using a new textbook, so i am currently writing lesson plans to go with the new book. The book is structured so that at the begining, it teaches about large umbrella concepts like paragraphs and papers, then narrows throughout the course down to smaller, more specific concepts like punctuation and individual words. I was wondering if you believe this is a good way to teach english grammar, or if it might be better to go backwards through the textbook, starting with the smaller concepts and working up towards the broader concepts.

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      rachclugston
      Top down or bottom up?
      Submitted on 2 December, 2010 - 11:04

      I think there is a place for both, and simultaneously if you can be strategic about your teaching goals.  You might be teaching the large umbrella concepts, but come across one aspect of the text for a language focus, referring this focus back to the contribution that it makes to the whole.  For example, if doing a news report, you might discuss the punctuation involved in quoting an eyewitness.  If kids feel the finer points of grammar serve the text as a whole, they can be motivated to see why grammar matters.