Grammar Essentials

word grammar under a microphoneWhile the Research and the The Writing Process areas are designed to be completely integrated into a curriculum, the content for Grammar Essentials is generally designed to be used on an “as-needed” basis. The content is somewhat scaffolded, and it could be used in its entirety for courses that focused heavily on grammar, usage, and punctuation. However, the comprehensive nature of this content means teachers would need to be careful to require this in “small doses.” Most students will use the content in Grammar Essentials only to look up and practice with concepts they are struggling with in their own writing.

Activity Ideas for Grammar Essentials

  • After assessing any issues related to errors for a class as a whole, teachers may use certain lessons in class or build them into an online course. Teachers would want to make sure that any of these lessons were relevant to common struggles students in the course were having. For example, if commas are a common problem, which they often are, students can be directed to the
    lessons on commas, complete the activity, and interact with the “Tips from the Grammar Professor” activity.
  • Teachers can have students assess their own need areas after essays have been returned to students with comments. Teachers may have students choose two or three common errors in their essays, view the lessons from the Excelsior OWL on those areas, and make corrections to their essays based on lessons learned.
  • Teachers may use the links to individual lessons in Grammar Essentials and insert them directly into essays when feedback is provided. For example, when grading electronically, teachers can go to the area of need, copy and paste the link, and put it directly into a student’s essay.

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