As high school English teachers, we know that grammar can be a challenging subject to teach—and for students, it can often seem tedious or irrelevant. However, teaching grammar is not just about enforcing rules. It’s about equipping students with the tools they need to communicate effectively, think critically, and succeed in both their academic and professional lives. In this post, I want to show you why you need to teach grammar in your high school English course.

(Know you need to teach grammar but not sure where to start? Check out my done-for-you Grammar Curriculum!)

Why Need To Teach Grammar Reason #1: Some Students Love It

Ok, I know. I know. You don’t believe me. Who would love grammar? But I swear, every year, I had a few students who preferred grammar work to reading and analyzing literature. 

A lot of students are frustrated with English classes. They hate that there’s never “a right answer.”

However, in grammar, there are right and wrong answers! Your analytical (often math-focused) students might find grammar to be their sweet spot in your English class. 

I had one girl who was difficult during literature discussions. She always wanted to get to the point and know exactly what she should write down on her worksheet. She struggled with sitting through analysis, discussion, and hated when I answered, “Write down what you think.”

But she excelled at grammar–even volunteering to come up and annotate sentence structure for the class. 

I know you might think that your students are going to dread grammar, but it might actually make your class more accessible for some.

Why Need To Teach Grammar Reason #2: It Will Make YOU Better at Grammar

So many English teachers resist teaching grammar because they don’t feel confident with it themselves. 

If this is you, give yourself some grace. 

First, chances are you are going to be way, way more skilled at grammar than your students who struggle to write anything longer than a Tweet. 

Second, there’s one way to become an expert in anything: teach it. 

By breaking down grammar ideas, diagramming sentence after sentence, and being confronted with examples that seem to break the rules, I guarantee you that you yourself will become a grammar nazi by the end of the school year. 

If you’re hesitant because you don’t have a solid curriculum that’s scaffolded and sequences for you, I recommend checking out my full Grammar Curriculum.

The full curriculum includes all of the lessons, practice worksheets, and assessments you’ll need.

But even if you just teach these Grammar Lessons in order and do nothing else, I promise you that you and your students will see your grammar skills improve dramatically!

Why Need To Teach Grammar Reason #3: Students Need It

If you’ve spent any period of time in a classroom, then you know that our students desperately need grammar instruction. 

I think there was a pervasive belief for a while that students would just magically absorb most grammar rules by reading and living their lives. 

Students’ lives, however, are no longer full of professionally edited writing samples. They spend way more time reading texts with autocorrect typos, watching TikToks, and reading badly worded comments online than they do reading books. 

And the books they might read could be self-published. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that not every book in our students’ hands has been through editors and publishers. 

Students have way more bad examples of writing in front of them today than in the past. It’s up to us to give them good examples and to explain the difference between them. 

Why Need To Teach Grammar Reason #4: Grammar Raises Test Scores

Don’t come at me. I’m not suggesting that we teach to the test. 

But I would like to point out that at some point, your students are going to take a standardized test. It could be a district-wide final, the ACTs or SATs, or one of the other millions of tests we give our kids these days. 

And sometimes those tests are tied to performance reports or even funding. 

Taking students who are years behind in reading comprehension and critical thinking skills and making them test on-grade level in just ten months is nearly impossible. 

But you can teach basic grammar skills in that time. 

If you want to increase your students’ test scores as quickly as possible, it’s my belief that a strong focus on grammar is the easiest way to accomplish that goal.

Why Need To Teach Grammar Reason #5: Grammar Builds Critical Thinking

Speaking of those critical thinking skills, you can work on those too while you tackle grammar.

Teaching grammar isn’t just about memorizing rules—it’s about understanding how language works. This understanding fosters critical thinking skills as students learn to analyze how different grammatical structures affect meaning.

For instance, when students explore the nuances of verb tenses or the impact of word order, they’re not just learning grammar; they’re also developing their analytical abilities. 

Sentence syntax and punctuation can have a profound impact on a sentence’s meaning. Analyzing why an author might choose a semicolon over a period is a great way for your students to think deeper about writing and literature. 

These analytical skills are transferable to other areas of study and life, helping students to approach problems logically and systematically.

Why Need To Teach Grammar Reason #6: Your Life Will Get Easier

There are aspects of teaching that I love. 

And then there’s the rest of the job. This includes reminding students to capitalize the beginning of a sentence and to use end punctuation over and over again. 

If you, too, hate marking the same grammatical errors over and over, put a stop to it. Teach students how to do better. 

By the end of the year, grading papers won’t be quite so bad!

Why Need To Teach Grammar Reason #7: It Empowers Students

So many students are afraid to put pen to paper because they think they’re going to do something wrong. 

The idea of not having a comma in the right place and seeing those red marks all over stops them from even outlining their ideas. 

When you teach students grammar, their confidence in all of their writing will soar!

Conclusion

If you’re ready to teach grammar, but you’re not sure where to start, I recommend grabbing my whole Grammar Curriculum. 

You should also check out these blog posts: How to Teach Grammar to High School Students and How to Sequence Grammar. They’ll give you plenty of tips for creating your own grammar unit!