CI5461: Week 6
Being the kind of English teacher who enjoys grammar (well, enough to read Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, anyway), I found the readings for this week somewhat confusing. Some of the suggestions that Dean and Petit give for teaching grammar bore even me! I do not know any students who would be interested in analyzing the usage of the semicolon-- even if it is in an interesting context such as Martin Luther King, Jr.'s letter. Nor do I know many students who find an exercise such as modeling sentences intriguing, even if it is "just for fun." Somehow, teaching grammar needs to have immediacy for students; they need to see how it makes a difference. Neither of these articles made me feel the importance of grammar as it relates to high school students.
That having been said, I don't have a clue as to how to make this happen! I'm sure it has something to do with working it into the revision process. As students review one another's work, they can ask questions regarding sentence clarity-- which ultimately come down to punctuation, grammar, and syntax. But even with this kind of structure in place, students still need to have some kind of common vocabulary to talk about this, which requires some direct instruction on the teacher's part. This is where I'm stuck. How do I make that interesting? Any ideas, cohort?
There are some ideas at this website, but I think many of them are gimmicky and too cheesy to really engage and motivate high school students... but it's worth a shot.
posted by Tess Marie @ 10:33 AM
5 Comments:
I agree with you Tess that this week's readings were confusing and boring. While reading Williams I kept asking myself, "What's his point?" He kept claiming that grammar problems arrive from errors in usage but I don't think he ever really provided any solid suggestions for what to tell our students about grammar in the classroom. As for suggestions, I'm not sure either. I hate grammar myself and hope that I can avoid it if at all possible in my teaching, though I'm sure that's not possible.
I agree with you Tess that this week's readings were boring and confusing. While reading Williams the whole time I was asking myself, "What's his point." He kept claiming that grammar problems arrive from usage problems but I think he failed to give us any good solid ways for how we should approach the topic of grammar with our students. I hate grammar myself and hope that I can avoid it in my classroom but I'm sure that is close to impossible.
Sup TEss,
I think you are valid in the fact that you struggle with finding a way to make grammar interesting and fun for students. You are not alone, and everyone from me to all the authors we read for this week grapple with this issue. If you can find a way to get students to care about and get interested in grammar, you should publish it and make a fortune!
For me, looking up grammar issues while I'm writing a paper is fun. I want to know usage and grammar, and from the looks of it so do you. That's what let's me know two things: we are English nerds and we are in the right profession. Good points all around Tess.
Dan
Hey Tess,
I hear what you're saying about being at a loss in terms of making grammar study interesting, meaningful, and engaging for students and also grapple with this issue. As we have read from this weeks assigned authors, we are not alone. Believe me, if you can find a way to make grammar interesting to students, you should publish those ideas and make a fortune!
The fact that we even care about this issue lets me know two things: one, that we are English nerds and two, that we are in the right profession. See you in class.
Dan
I'm drawn to your idea of "immediacy" and would like to know more. I'm curious how context, power, and rhetorical effect fit into this idea? I think you're right to say that the meaning and purpose of grammar choices needs to be addressed during writing and at the right moment. I encourage you to further explore this idea as you work more with writing, grammar, and students. All of us who write and work with writers would benefit from an understanding of immediacy in our writing choices.
Thanks for the thoughtful inquiry that has me thinking about contextualization in new ways.
Candance
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