Too Many Rules to Remember! Repetition is Key.

I remember being in elementary school, around third or fourth grade, and could not for the life of me remember all of the grammar rules. I repeatedly failed grammar tests and lost points off writing assignments for grammatical errors. Thankfully after elementary school, there aren’t many more grammar tests; however, I continued to stay confused about where to place a comma, when to use affect versus effect, or when a word got that pesky -ly added to the end of it to make it clear it was an adverb. I accepted it would just always be a struggle because there were just too many rules to remember. 

After my first two years of college, I entered into the college of education program at Appalachian State University. I always loved reading and was pretty good at understanding most anything I read, so I decided I wanted to be a high school English teacher. It didn’t occur to me that this choice would land me into a grammar class. When I saw this requirement, I sighed an aggravated and nervous sigh. I prayed I would make it through at least with a passing grade. Not only did I receive a passing grade, I almost had a perfect 100 in the class. The difference - repetition.

Elementary schools tend to follow a 3-step process: students copy rules while the teacher writes them on the board, students complete a worksheet on the rules, and students take a test. This process is repeated with the next rule, and then the next rule, etc… This class at AppState took a different approach. There was no endless copying of rules, one worksheet, and then one test. We read the rule, looked at a few examples, but then spent the next hour repeatedly applying the rule. For homework, more practice repeatedly applying the rule. The homework was graded harshly. If you misapplied the rule even once, you failed the assignment. The good news - you could redo the assignment as many times as you wanted to to get the grade you wanted. The professor knew repetition was the key to mastering the art of grammar.

Do you have a similar elementary school experience without the fortune of the college experience I had? Let Fulcrum Learning Group design a plan anchored in repetition that helps you improve your writing skills.