Class #13--10th Age Grammar

Friday, October 8, 1:45 P.M. 10th Age Grammar Class. Class #13 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” journey. It is Friday afternoon, the sun is shining, and it is grammar time in 10-B! Ms. Silberstein’s attentive girls are eager for grammar! As I walk in, the class is just beginning, and I yet I can already sense the enthusiasm from the girls. Ms. Silberstein—who also coaches Middle School squash in the winter—displays a PowerPoint presentation explaining declarative and interrogative sentences. The PowerPoint is not static; rather, it incorporates software which allows for interactivity. Ms. Silberstein clicks on a button that is projected on the board, and then a sentence scrolls across the screen. The girls take turns reading the sentences and then stating whether it was declarative or interrogative. Next, girls go up to the board and punctuate sentences that are displayed. The girls who are not at the board copy the sentences down on paper and make punctuation and capitalization corrections at their desk. In this fashion, all the students are working and engaged—not just the one student at the board. Everyone is working hard! In a relatively short amount of time, the information was presented in multiple formats, and from my observations, I can tell that the girls “get it.” The period was an excellent review of some grammar essentials.