As I'm grading their homophone tables, I have to practice strict self-discipline: correct no grammar or spelling other than the homophones we've learned.
For example, Lisa writes, "There is too many people here." Her answer is correct and goes unmarked because she used the correct "there" and the correct "too." If I were to mark her paper for subject-verb agreement (which we haven't learned, yet), she could possibly be either overwhelmed or discouraged and less likely to learn the grammar rule later.
It is especially careful to be use "the red ink" sparingly in the Title I classroom, where many students' home languages differ from the formal "Standard" English we teachers need to teach them to be successful in higher education or the work place. Lisa, for example, is a native Spanish speaker, and many of my other students speak in English grammars that are specific to African Americans or lower SES (socio-economic status) Southern whites.
I always have to bear in mind my specific objectives: this lesson was to teach them how to differentiate between homophones and spell them correctly. They know the perimeters, and in order to keep them safe and on board, I need to stay working within them.
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