Tuesday, February 26, 2008
compromise!
Grammar is one of those things that, I am sure, will never be agreed upon among English teachers. Some will focus on it, others will not, and often grammar will be part of the classroom but not a significant part. Although I do believe grammar is, most definitely important, there are other aspects of the joys of English that are much more so. "Why Revitalize Grammar" takes one side of the argument a bit extremely. I agree with Eric on the point that there does need to be a standard way in which we can judge and evaluate our student's papers. If there is not, then where do we draw the line on what is wrong and what is right? If a student hands in a paper which is in Ebonics how are we, as the teacher, even going to know for sure what they are talking about? In order for our students to be successful in communicating with us, we need to have universal grammar. I do believe, however, that grammar should not make up the majority of an English class. I think that my role as a teacher will be not to demand and teach grammar rules, but to help my students to enjoy the power of reading and writing. I know that once I was confident with my grammar abilities I was more prone to write and enjoyed it more, perhaps this will be the same for my future students.
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2 comments:
Whenever I hear the word "Ebonics," I am immediately reminded of our wonderful experience in the Success Center last semester. I remember trying to read that student's (whom I shall not name) paper after you and Emily attempted to edit it, and being overwhelmed with confusion. All three of us became "Error Beasts" and marked all over the poor student's paper. What were we supposed to do? I did not want to discourage her, but I could tell she was not happy when she got her paper back. I bet she did not even try to correct the mistakes. I wonder what I could have done differently to help her out instead of cover her paper in red ink.
Robin, I completely agree. After our last class, I couldn't help thinking about the pros and cons of teaching a standard grammar. I think it is necessary some of the time. If someone has a message they want to get out to their community, their country, or the world, they are going to have to effectively communicate that message. In most cases, that means following some rules of language and grammar. Should these rules be followed all of the time? Not necessarily. Most of us have probably read a piece of literature that strayed from the rules and obtained a lot from it. Students deserve to know how to effectively communicate and express themselves.
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