I must admit it. I'm a total nerd, and my students pick up on that instantly.
They roll their eyes at me as I hold the sacred AP Stylebook and preach the importance of following it.
Luckily I have come up with some rather fun ways of teaching AP Style, so eventually the kids at least tolerate it.
1. Contests, contests, contests
I pull an article from Reuters Oddly Enough and murder it. I insert so many grammar, spelling and AP Style errors that it almost becomes unreadable. The kids have to correct everything they see and write on the top of the page how many errors they found. The kid who corrects the most errors using proper copy editing symbols gets a Snickers bar or something. Junk food is such a great motivator.
2. Funny test questions
I write all my own AP Style quizzes, so I try to pop in a few funny sentences. It's cool to hear the kids giggling as they take their quizzes.
3. Let the kids teach
Sometimes I let the kids take over the class, and they are in charge of teaching an AP Style rule. I let them pick any rule even if it's an obscure one that won't be used much. They always try to pick the most off-the-wall rule to get a rise out of their classmates. I think this is still valuable because it gets them used to using the book.
Next year I plan to use a lot of the humorous videos and photos that were shown to us yesterday. Does anyone have any other fun ways of teaching AP Style?
Elaine Broussard
Belle Chasse High School
Belle Chasse, La.
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