Here is something Eric Herman has been working on. The name of this activity is from Melissa Sadler. I think that this from Eric is a new blockbuster strategy on the level of jGR and Circling, or just under them. Why? Because our kids HAVE TO KNOW the verbs. They have to because verbs drive the language and because we never ever get enough reps on them. Eric’s idea helps solve that problem. It is a huge new idea for us. Here is Eric to explain:
The PQA of a high frequency verb is a new thing I’m trying out. I want to improve my PQA skills and I want to make a conscious effort to give kids reps on the 50 highest frequency verbs. I have a timer give me 5 minutes and I have a counter. I have probably been averaging 40 reps in 5 minutes. My best this past week was 57 reps/5 minutes. Now that we have established meaning (gestures) for these verbs, we are all more aware of them and I can use them and use the gesture simultaneously to remind everyone of their meaning.
That paragraph should be in a book somewhere. Eric suggested doing PQA with 50 high frequency verbs. If we all did that for five minutes (or more with older kids who have the patience!) per class, we would have:
1. one more varied activity for our lesson plan.
2. a much stronger auditory base in our kids for stories in general.
3. kids who know the most important 50 words in the language.
This is just brilliant. Maybe we should get a list – Eric could you send your list of 50 verbs that you target to me or in a comment field below, if you have it in list form? I honestly think that this idea should be taught at workshops like we teach CWB and OWI and all that. Now how do we prevent this idea from scrolling out into the past? How do we keep this strategy front and center? I will add it to the Big Ideas/Blue Chip Ideas categories for starters, but we need to get this idea out and keep it out and train new people in it. Those who are still awkward with PQA, by doing this particular strategy, would get a lot better at PQA and fast, in my opinion. It’s not hard to ask a class a bunch of questions about a single verb. And since it is a five minute activity, we won’t run into that “lost in space” feeling that sometimes happens when we do regular PQA.
I would also suggest that this activity could be done in different verb tenses at higher levels as well, once the kids have a thorough grasp of the present tense. Imagine – kids at the end of first year who can identify by sound fifty verbs. Imagine – kids in level 3 who can instantly identify common verbs in the imperfect, future or even compound tenses because their teacher gave them this kind of short intense PQA practice every day as part of class. Compare that with the old way.
Thank you for the detailed and thoughtful advice, Eric.