Speaking Punctuation

If you’re still struggling to get students to utilize punctuation marks, then you’ll love Thomas Jefferson Middle School (Valparaiso, IN) teacher Jane Strayer’s idea! She has her students focus on their punctuation use when engaging in oral conversations.

When having a conversation about their weekend or what they ate for lunch, Jane will have them converse while articulating which punctuation marks they would use if they were writing down their conversations. For example, instead of saying I had soup, crackers, and applesauce for lunch. The speaker would have to say, I had soup (comma) crackers (comma) and applesauce for lunch (period).

It seems a little awkward at first, but it doesn’t take long for students to get the hang of it quickly. Of course don’t “talk punctuation” all the time; do it in short spurts. But Jane promises it makes a difference in students’ application of punctuation marks in their first-draft writing. Well (question mark)? Will you try it (question mark)? Let me know how it goes (period). I’d be curious to hear what your students think of this activity (period).