ABSTRACT
Ms. Walker reads the sentences aloud as the students follow along and then asks if anyone can locate the modal auxiliary in the first sentence. She encourages the students to look at the handout she gave them with the modal auxiliaries on it before responding. The students look over this sheet and then several raise their hands. Ms. Walker calls on a student who says, “The modal auxiliary is will.” “That’s right,” responds Ms. Walker. “Let’s think about what this sentence would be like with a different modal auxiliary. Can someone tell us another one?” A student raises his hand and asks, “How about might?” “OK. Let’s try it with might,” replies Ms. Walker. She writes on the board, “Mom looked me straight in the eye. ‘Because your father might never grow up,’ she said.” Ms. Walker underlines might to make it stand out to the students. “How is saying someone might never grow up different from saying they will never grow up?” One student volunteers a response: “Might never means it’s still possible. Will never means it can’t happen. There’s no chance.” Ms. Walker nods and elaborates on the student’s statement, further discussing the meanings of those modal auxiliaries. She then tells the students to turn their attention to the next sentence on the handout (“He could dance to pay for what I ate.”). She asks them to rewrite this sentence from The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane with a different modal auxiliary. The students work on this, and Ms. Walker moves around the room, looking to see if anyone needs help. Once all students appear to have finished, Ms. Walker asks if anyone would like to share a response with the class. Many hands shoot into the air; Ms. Walker calls on a student toward the back of the room, who says, “I wrote, ‘He must dance to pay for what I ate.’ ” “You changed the modal auxiliary to must,” replies Ms. Walker. “How do you think this changes the meaning?” “Now he has to dance,” the student answers. “Before, it was something that just could happen.”
