Hooray for Grammar!

A few posts back, I stated that I was fortunate to *attempt* to teach a grammar lesson about comparatives & superlatives (i.e. beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful; easy, easier, easiest) and had a difficult time because I was unfamiliar with the vocabulary. And while the lesson took place (and once the regular teacher took over) I wondered how well the students would remember, and was the vocabulary necessary for them to understand the concepts. Essentially, the question was when to use "er" and "est" vs. "more" and "most". Then a couple days later, Mr. S. taught the same lesson, but very differently.

For one thing, he didn't have the students take notes (which is a consistency between their differences; Ms. L. always has them take notes and Mr. S. almost never does). Secondly and most importantly, while Ms. L. broke them into pairs and gave them different categories on index cards (i.e. if they received "sneakers," they would have to write sentences like "Nike are better than Adidas" or if they received "soccer players" they would have to write "Ronaldo is the best soccer player"), Mr. S. gave them each an adjective as they walked in the door and had them literally hop for "ugly, uglier, ugliest," etc., until he was satisfied with both their words and hopping. Was it more effective? Hard to say. Was it much more fun? Indeed. Chances are, then, Mr. S.'s lesson was more memorable for the students, and therefore, probably more effective.

Furthermore, when Ms. L. asks her students to move around the room, they groan. They are used to staying in their seats the entire period. Mr. S., on the other hand, *always* has them get up and move at least once during his class. It is more chaotic and more noisy, but it also forces the students to be more engaged. I'm not saying Mr. S. is definitely the better teacher, but I am saying his methods are certainly more interesting and more energetic, and he is by far the favored teacher. Therefore, his students most likely remember his lessons better and therefore probably score better. Of course, this is just my humble theory, but based on everything I learned in grad school and my observations during the day, I certainly prefer Mr. S.'s methods over those of Ms. L.