Lesson Fourteen: The Simple Sentence

Notice that today’s slide show begins with a nice transition from last week’s lessons on the parts of speech. I begin by asking the class to recall the two most important parts of speech. When they do this, a box with “Nouns & Verbs” appears at the top left of the screen. Then I ask them about descriptive reality, and a box appears top center screen with “Adjectives and Adverbs.” Finally, we identify the last two parts of speech, and a corresponding box appears top right of screen. With the six parts of speech clearly visible, I explain that all sentences that we write or speak are simply a combination of these six parts. These boxes remain across the top of the screen throughout most of today’s lesson.

In the past, I used to begin by giving examples of medium-length simple sentences, and the class would begin the process of analyzing themto identify the parts of speech. This method did not seem to engage the students effectively.

Now I begin with a sentence of two words (i.e., “Birds sing.”), emphasizing that a complete sentence only needs one each of the two most important parts of speech (a noun and a verb). Then we build upon the sample sentence, adding descriptive words and prepositional phrases. We build, adding one element at a time, until the final sentence is quite long, usually containing two or three prepositional phrases. The dynamic elements on the screen guide the students through the sentence building process, providing blank spaces where the students must add their own elements. Hence, each student creates her own variation of the sentence under consideration. In addition to showing my own choices for adding to the sentence, I have students read aloud their expanding sentences. This sentence building exercises engages students more imaginatively than the usual top-down approach to teaching the simple sentence.

Next, we look at some of the more complicated sentences we’ve constructed and begin to identify all the nouns in the sentence and, finally, the subject. (At this point, the boxes at the top of the screen contain the four types of nouns, reminding the students of the variety of nouns that may be present in any given sentence.)

Last, I identify the main goal of today’s lesson: the ability to identify subjects and verbs in a sentence. With the parts of speech once again in place at the top of the screen, I demonstrate how we can move backwards through the building process, crossing out prepositional phrases, and then the descriptive words, to isolate the subject and verb. At this juncture, using the same sentences that I’ve already constructed incrementally on the screen allows the students to move backwards (analytical) through familiar terrain; breaking down the sentences now appears a logical inverse of the building process. In my opinion, students seem fairly captivated by the elegance of this sequence.

Note to Researchers: Please evaluate the pace of this lesson. Does it move at a pace that clarifies each concept without losing the students’ interest? Are the examples sufficient or excessive? Please suggest any revisions that might fortify the slideshow lesson. Thanks!