I got your diagram right here

Today I took my ninth graders into the writing lab to use some really cool software that teaches them how to diagram sentences. Most had never done that before, which is amazing to me. I remember diagramming every sentence I wrote in 5th grade (and believe me, Mrs. Prater had us writing a lot of them). I think it's a great way to connect the abstract concepts of grammar to something concrete and visual. Most seemed to enjoy the activity today. Granted, it was new, and the software made it much easier than the way I learned. But still, I'm always impressed when anything connected with grammar is met with "cool."