Punctuation Lesson Plan

Lesson: Periods and Commas
By: John Foley
Primary Subject: Language Arts
Grade Level: 9-12

Punctuation plays an important role in a writer’s style. Writers are concerned with sound and flow, and punctuation affects both of these key elements. Let’s look at two popular writers, Cormac McCarthy and Garrison Keillor. McCarthy rarely uses commas in his writing. Consider the following passage from his novel (which later became an Oscar-winning film) No Country for Old Men:

They say the eyes are the window to the soul. I don't know what them eyes was the windows to and I guess I’d as soon not know. But there is another view of the world out there and other eyes to see it and that’s where this is going. It has done brought me to a place in my life I would not have thought I’d of come to. Somewhere out there is a true and living prophet of destruction and I don’t want to confront him.

Next, read the following passage from Keillor’s Lake Wobegon Days, about a fictional town in Minnesota that features women who are smart, men who are good-looking, and children who are all above average:

The first white folk known to have spend time in the Wobegon area were Unitarian missionaries from Boston, led by Prudence Alcott, a distant and wealthy relative of the famous Alcotts of Concord, a woman who sent a stereopticon and a crate of boysenberry jam to Henry Thoreau at his cabin by the pond, although he never mentioned her in his book.

Compare and contrast the two passages. What difference does the punctuation make in the sound and flow?
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Overall, Foley did a decent job on this grammar mini-lesson, but let's dissect the lesson a little further.

What was GOOD about Foley's lesson?

• Foley involves texts from novels, instead of only using boring examples in a grammar workbook.
• Foley provides an example and a nonexample of good punctuation.
• Foley asks the students to apply what they have learned about punctuation, specifically periods and commas, to compare and contrast the two excerpts. Genius!

What would I do to IMPROVE Foley's lesson?

• Provide more examples and nonexamples.
• Read the examples and nonexamples aloud to students, as they follow along. This will help students HEAR the difference between the excerpts and allow them to hear the need for punctuation to assist in understanding. If I didn't want to read the examples and nonexamples, I could also require students to complete this activity in small groups. You might be wondering: Is group work really beneficial? Watch the YouTube video below.
  
  
• Be specific on the assignment requirements! Let students know EXACTLY what I want them to do.