Resolving the Mysteries and Miseries of Punctuation
For many children, even when reading and writing are going well, there is an aspect of the printed page that eludes them. That aspect is punctuation. (That word may send a few shivers down your own spine since many, many adults report that they do not really understand how to use punctuation with any sense of mastery.)
The difficulties are understandable. Punctuation is designed to capture some powerful dimensions of language such as pauses, questions, emphasis, and hesitations--to name but a few. However, to carry out this rather significant assignment, punctuation--and its partner capitalization--have been given a paltry set of minute marks that hardly seems up to the task.
Do these limitations mean we, and our children, are to be condemned to being "punctuation illiterates?" No, not at all.
Generally, because it is so hard to talk about and explain, the teaching of punctuation is delayed till about third grade. By that time, the children have long ignored those small marks on the page and getting them to suddenly notice them and use them is no easy matter. But for both reading and writing, mastery of this realm is critical.
Consider, for example, the following segment --which is taken from a book by Jean Fritz titled Shh! We're Writing the Constitution. To help you see it through the eyes of a child who does not attend to punctuation, what you will see initially are the words bereft of any of those marks.
It starts out saying that the leaders suggested a plan that "sounded innocent." Then it states:
no one would quarrel with that but they did rhode island refused to have anything to do with the convention
I watched a boy who read and reread the words and still could not figure out how they fit together. He particularly got stuck at the point "but they did rhode island.." He knew it was not making sense, but he could not figure out what to do--until it was read to him, with the adult pointing to the relevant punctuation at the appropriate times. Then it became the message that the author intended:
No one would quarrel with that. But they did. Rhode Island refused to have anything to do with the convention.
It is, of course, easy to help the child over the difficulty when in a one-to-one teaching setting. That type of instruction, however, does little if anything to empower the child to learn to attend to, and use, punctuation independently--when there is no one looking over his or her shoulder.
So what can be done? One of the best techniques is to take a book that your child can read easily and smoothly. It is best if the book is not a narrative but an expository text such as one in social studies or science. With the book chosen, you take paragraphs from it, typing them up without punctuation. It is important that the placement of the lines of words in what you type be different from the original. For example, if the original has the 6 -7 words on a line, make sure your lines have either fewer (4-5 words) or more (8-9 words) on a line. That way your child cannot memorize the punctuation on the basis of its placement on the page.
Next print out your paragraphs--making sure you have several copies of each paragraph. Then, show one of the original paragraphs to your child, saying that he or she "should look at all the punctuation and capitalization in the paragraph." After that, you remove the model paragraph, provide the same paragraph without punctuation and say, "Now fill this in so that it has all the capitals and punctuation as on the page that you just saw."
If a child fills in everything correctly, you can move on and provide up to two more paragraphs in the session (for a total of three paragraphs.) This type of perfect result is unlikely. But if that is what you get, it is great since it is a sign that your child has good punctuation skills.
On the other hand, if your child produces the more likely result and makes an error, you immediately stop him or her and say, "No that is not right." You do not point out the error. It it important that the child examine the material and figure out what is needed. To enable him or her to do that, you show the original paragraph and give your child the time needed to examine it. Once again, you remove it and provide a fresh copy of the paragraph sans marks. You keep repeating the process till your child completes the paragraph correctly in a single turn. A full session consists of three paragraphs.
It is best if this activity is carried out about three times a week. As your child improves, you can ask your child to fill in the punctuation on paragraphs where he or she has not seen the original text. You can also move to more advanced books. You know you have achieved your goal when your child is (i) comfortably and accurately filling in material that is at grade level and (ii) using punctuation correctly in the writing he or she is doing for assignments.
And then you can sit back and tap yourself on the back for a job well done.
