{"id":3074,"date":"2020-10-12T01:24:37","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T05:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookunitsteacher.com\/wp\/?p=3074"},"modified":"2024-09-07T21:42:17","modified_gmt":"2024-09-08T01:42:17","slug":"negative-prefixes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookunitsteacher.com\/wp\/?p=3074","title":{"rendered":"Troublesome Words Effect vs Affect"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Troublesome<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Effect vs Affect – How many times have students struggled with this troublesome pair? How many papers have you graded that confused these words? Before Common Core State Standards, our state standards gave a long list of troublesome word pairs students had to learn. Teaching this skill was monotonous for both students and teachers<\/span>. Because of this, I experimented with different teaching methods. This skill hasn’t gone away with Common Core. Instead, it has become more general.<\/span><\/p>\n

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.1.G
\nCorrectly use frequently confused words (e.g.,\u00a0to, too, two; there, their<\/em>).*<\/span><\/p>\n

The main difference is unless you teach 4th grade you can select the confusing word pairs to teach depending on the needs of your students. Here is what works for me. <\/span><\/p>\n

Step 1 – Select Words<\/span><\/h2>\n

When I talk with students that grew up in the community where I teach, I listen for patterns of grammatical errors. Note that I didn’t grow up where I teach. If I did, I would ask a colleague to help me. Then I evaluate students’ writing during the first week or two of school. Pretty soon I notice patterns. <\/span><\/p>\n

The dialect has a direct tie to which troublesome word pairs to select as your area of focus. <\/span>For example, in the Southern Appalachian area leave\/let and learn\/teach are rarely confused. I find that pointing out that these are commonly confused pairs makes students overthink the use of these words creating problems where none existed before. <\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of a more traditional list, I might select the following:<\/span><\/p>\n