Teaching Tips


Stack the Deck Writing Program


Teaching Tips

The Stack the Deck Writing Program
P.O. Box 5253
Chicago, IL 60680
Phone: 1-312-675-1000 and 1-800-253-5737
Fax: 1-312-765-0453
Email: stackthedeck@sbcglobal.net



Help a teacher do a job, and you win a friendis the rubric upon which The Stack the Deck Writing Program has been based. One of our goals with our web site is to provide writing teachers with practical strategies to make your job easier. Periodically, we intend to include teaching tips on this web link. Please share them with your colleagues.


"GOT" Drill Mini-Lesson


The Verb Column of our Sentence Opening Sheet helps students identify weak and repetitious verbs. It also helps with verb tense consistency. If you notice your students having a problem with a repetitious verb, develop a mini-lesson to focus on that difficulty. Here's an example of a "got" mini-lesson.

GotDrill

Teachers love when students use strong verbs in their compositions. Too often students rely on forms of gotin place of strong verbs.

Replace forms of gotwith descriptive verbs. Do not use any substitute verb more than once. Let's complete the first three together. Work on the remaining sentences in your cooperative learning groups. Expand when necessary. Let your creative juices flow.


Special Prize:
No homework for the group with the best set of replacement verbs.


  1. Melvin got up at four o'clock.
  2. Zelda got her own breakfast.
  3. Herman got molasses on his new shirt.
  4. Mrs. Jones got to the office late.
  5. Ziggy got a reprimand (tough word) from his teacher.
  6. Uncle Billy gots to brooding about it.
  7. Jose got the ill will of his fellow workers.
  8. Bobby tried to get what they were saying about him.
  9. Shirley got behind in her math.
  10. The saleslady tried to get some of the other workers to help her.
  11. Shag could not get any help.
  12. Elmer gots ready to go out at noon.
  13. Sheila gots some books from the library.
  14. Kim Su gots a light lunch.
  15. On his way home from school, Jake got run over by a truck.



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