Haha.... sorry for the ridiculous title. I'm in a computer lab where a girl's headphones are blaring Fergie's "Fergalicious!" Anyway, after reading these two articles about grammar, I am realizing three main things. 1) That I honestly know NOTHING about grammar, 2) That it isn't a very "fun" or desired topic to learn OR teach, and 3) That is MUST be taught, we just need to find some innovative and creative ways to do it.
Let me elaborate...
1) That I honestly know NOTHING about grammar:
All my life I attended an average school district near Kansas City. (NOT Kansas City though!) We learned how to read, write, be a little creative, understand literature, and interpret reading. We did not, however, learn grammar. I am realizing this now that I'm in college, when in several of my English classes I am required to know what a modifier or a fragment is, and have to go to google to find out. I wonder how many other people are in my situation...
2) That it isn't a very "fun" or desired topic to learn OR teach:
This is obvious. No one likes the technicality of most anything. Like we talked about in class, when you teach a class how to write a research paper, you shouldn't read from a huge textbook about how to write a research paper. It's not fun. It's not practical. Kids don't want to learn this stuff. And worst of all, I bet many of us don't even want to teach it...
3) That is MUST be taught, we just need to find some innovative and creative ways to do it:
This kind of wraps up my point. I don't know grammar, and now I'm struggling. So to avoid my students being in this same situation, it must be taught. And because it isn't fun or exciting like poetry or graphic novels or something else, we need to find better ways for students to learn this stuff! Any ideas???
--Lacy
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2 comments:
i completely agree with you, Lacy (and am completely jealous of your title). I feel that i do not not know much about grammar either. I really wish we were required to take a class on grammar and other literary concepts that i feel equally unconfident in. My roommate, a journalism major, is getting more grammar instruction than i am as an English major. I don't expect that a grammar class would be very exciting but i absolutely believe that it is necessary.
Our little grammar debate in class the other day really caught my interest. Despite where a student comes from or how important his or her dialect is in a specific community, everyone needs to at least be capable of standard english. If a student ever wants to leave his/her community, he/she will be will need to be able to communicate in a manner that all will understand. I certainly don't think Creole or Ebonics are incorrect ways of speech, i believe these languages play an important role in the culture of a community. But the fact is that such forms of speech will be judged as ignorant by some whether it is true or not.
As a former student of the Kansas City school district..area, I'm sure we had similar instruction in the grammar aspect of English. Also like you, I have forgotten most of what we were drilled on through school. You raise a good point though: although it's not the most interesting topic, it needs to be taught. I think if we expand past what we experienced and incorporate it into more creative writing lessons, it will stick! That is my hope. By integrating it into everyday writing, without the mundane Daily Oral Language exercises, perhaps we can engage students to express themselves and be better writers.
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