Assisting Young Writers to Appreciate the Purpose of Punctuation

 

By the time students reach Grade three they have been exposed to, continually reminded and alerted to the importance of using ending punctuation at the conclusion of sentences. However, if we look at the writing samples they produce early in the school year, we notice how intermittently such marks appear in their work. Punctuation often appears by chance rather than conscious effort.

If we want developing writers to exhibit consistency in the use of punctuation, we need to teach them to value its use in their writing. The best case scenario is to have young writers using punctuation with thoughtful intent.

How do we achieve this?

Let’s start by initiating a close study of how such ending punctuation can be used to make writing more interesting for the reader.  The message needs to be- This punctuation helps to convey the writer’s voice!  Remind them to link their reading of their writing to an emotion - anger, happiness, frustration etc. The message and the ending punctuation form a partnership to assist the reader to select the most appropriate voice.

As Katy Wood Ray so importantly reminded us, ‘This is not a study of marks; it’s a study of the interesting decisions writers make about punctuation as they craft their texts.’

The starting point is a close examination of student writing samples to determine how students are applying punctuation. It informs instruction and highlights where the  learning gaps are.  The next step is to call on the literature in your classroom for assistance. That's where we find living, breathing punctuation residing - not some decontextualized grammar exercise totally divorced from the real act of writing. Allow your student to be text detectives!

Allow the inexperienced writers to witness the use of punctuation by a mentor author. For younger writers focus this close study of punctuation around picture story books where lots of interesting punctuation decisions have been enacted by experienced writers.

Older writers could look at extracts from favourite novels, memoirs, feature and news articles. Start by gathering a collection of suitable texts where the writers have used punctuation in interesting ways to craft the text.

Set the students the task (maybe with a partner or in a small group) to closely examine the texts and identify the punctuation used. They could use sticky notes to mark their observations.  Share their discoveries noting where punctuation was being used. Ask them to consider why it was used in that way. As a follow up, have them record the punctuation extract (in their writer’s notebook) and add their own comments about the interesting things they have noticed.

An alternative would be to record examples of the ending punctuation on sentence strips and then classify and display the various collected text examples for further discussion and observation.



In subsequent shared reading lessons use of punctuation could be explored and further reinforced. Students should be assisted to envision using these same punctuation marks in their own writing

The objective of such a study is to deepen students’ understanding and appreciation of such punctuation and its important role in the success of their writing. The potential of these differing punctuation marks to impact their writing begins to emerge among impressionable young learners.

As students return to their independent writing remind them to be intentional about the punctuation decisions they make in their written work. When it’s time for conferencing and share time ask students to explain or justify their punctuation use.

 


When a writing piece is discussed during a conference ask the writer to explain their punctuation decisions and the reasons for the decisions they made. 

I am confident that such a close study of punctuation will significantly increase the appreciation and application of these important craft elements in the writing students produce. I say this with confidence. I’ve seen it enacted with stunning transformations when the purpose of punctuation has been realized and applied.

Alan j Wright

 https://www.alanjwrightauthorpoet.com/

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