tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1339910176549966696.post3258038473299378591..comments2023-06-16T09:50:28.728-04:00Comments on I am a teacher et cetera: Writing for the WorldJennifer Wardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01459363843692965338noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1339910176549966696.post-68370792375815274212010-10-08T09:19:03.039-04:002010-10-08T09:19:03.039-04:00Daphne,
Thanks so much for your comment. I wonde...Daphne,<br /><br />Thanks so much for your comment. I wonder if you might have read my much earlier post on grammer (just kidding - <a href="http://etceteraward.blogspot.com/search/label/Grammar" rel="nofollow">grammar</a>).<br /><br />I did learn grammar in school, just not as a pull out lesson. Grammar was not taught in units isolated from reading or writing. Instead, when I was going through elementary school, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_language" rel="nofollow">whole language</a> was the dominant pedagogy. <br /><br />I see much of education theory and teaching philosophy swinging on a pendulum through the decades. First we teach grammar in isolation, then we teach it in context, now we're slowly moving back to pull-out units on grammar. Each has their merits and their pit falls. I fall somewhere in the middle, wanting to make grammar a meaningful part of writing instruction but not wanting it to have more emphasis than the content of the writing. You must know what you want to say before you can tinker with how you will write it.<br /><br />And of course, I learn right along with my students. I have learned more about grammar from teaching it than I ever did sitting listening to a teacher drone on about transitive verbs and passive construction. But that doesn't make me a perfect writer. Instead, I hope that others concerned with education read my posts and are either validated by my thinking or challenged by it. So despite my imperfect grammar, it seems you've understood my point, which is my main goal.Jennifer Wardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01459363843692965338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1339910176549966696.post-5051983594373355192010-10-07T17:16:21.994-04:002010-10-07T17:16:21.994-04:00Ms. Ward, I lament the fact that you didn't le...Ms. Ward, I lament the fact that you didn't learn grammar as it was taught when I was in school in the 40s and 50s. Of course, it wasn't your fault that some higher-ups decided to discontinue the long-standing intensive study of grammar rules and diagramming. This action began what I see as the downfall of the teaching of English in the United States. Language isn't just a mumbo jumbo of words on a page. Language has form and function. When those in power determined that we didn't need to know grammar in order to write, they, in effect, gutted our language. They cheated you by not giving you, in effect, an X-ray of language that shows you how to put the bones together to produce clear, concise, and effective sentences, paragraphs, and essays. It's true that students kept on writing papers. Most of them, however, didn't do it well. They didn't know how to write well because they had little to no grammar instruction. As new teachers entered the system, they came in without knowing the fundamentals of grammar themselves. The void this created fractured our language so badly that now no one seems to care to know the difference between lay/lie, its/it's, or affect/effect. They don't know, nor do they care, that 'everyday' is an adjective, whereas 'every day' is an adverb. If you teach your students these few things, you've made a great contribution to their education. However, I'm not sure you should be trying to teach grammar without working on your own skills first. I've read some of your posts and have seen sentence construction and punctuation errors that I wish I hadn't seen (each others' instead of each other's, for example). <br /><br />You have a difficult job working with students in today's environment. I admire your desire to teach and wish you well. As a teacher, you deal with much more than commas and misspelled words. The administration, parents, and discipline issues take a large part of your time and energy. I understand that. If you have any spare time, maybe you wouldn't mind using it to read some books on grammar. My latest favorite one is Woe Is I by Patricia T. O'Connor. It's a nice addition to my small collection.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br />DaphneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com