Responses due by Wednesday, Nov. 12th, at class time
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Grammar, and the Teaching of Grammar
In chapter one, the book discusses what many people believe grammar to be. There are many different parts that fall into grammar, such as, parts of speech, syntactic structures, sentence structure, etc. But what is grammar. One definition that the book gives is "a description of the syntax of a language." That is to say grammar is breaking down and understanding sentence structure. Another definition states that grammar is "a set of prescriptions or rules for using language."
There are other definitions listed as well, but the book decides to tie them all together in one definition saying that grammar is "the unconscious command of syntax that enables us to understand and speak the language." The book as a whole chooses four main points to focus on: Grammar as a description of syntactic structure; Grammar as prescriptions for how to use structures and words; Grammar a rhetorically eggective use of syntactic structures; Grammar as the functional command of sentence structure that enables us to comprehend and produce language.
Throughout time grammar has been used to reach two major points: discipling and training the mind and teaching grammatical forms and word usages that were considered correct or socially prestigious. People in higher power were taught to understand the language others were left out. Another important fact mentioned is that early text books were based on the Latin grammars. As time passed people saw this as a problem. They wanted their own language. Therefore the English language was created based on rules of Latin grammar. The book states that for certain parts of the sentence, that if it could not be used in the Latin writing, then it should not be functional in the English Grammar.
Over the years, the English language has developed more. More linguist have studied and learned to understand it more. These new developments leave us with the issue of teaching grammar in the same old way. They teaching methods are ineffective. In the 19th century, teachers used memorization and recitation for many of their lessons. The students could regurgitate what the teacher had said, but were they really learning anything?
This brings us to Chapter two. In chapter two we see different researchers theories tested in order to see how effective certain teaching methods are. When reading, it did not seem to me, that the researchers were having much luck determining how to help students truly understand. "all teaching of grammar separate from the manipulation of sentences be discontinued… since every scientific attempt to prove that knowledge of grammar is useful has failed." Another point mentioned was that certain times, people were experimenting and not doing very good tests. For example, two reasearchers, Braddock and Meckel, did the same experiment and got "rather different" results. Certain types of teaching are not working.
The book list some alternative teaching methods: Teach only "correct" punctuation; Restrict the teaching of grammar as a system to elective classes and units, offered with no pragmatic justification as an incentive; promote the acquisition and use of grammatical constructions through reading; Emphasize the production of effective sentences rather than their analysis, etc.
Things to think about: Will you continue to teacher grammar as a separate entity or incorporate it into other lessons. How will you teach these lessons? How was grammar taught to you? Do you feel all the methods to have been effective?
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I think that it is still important to teach grammar in the classroom as a separate entity. However, creating a whole lesson out of a textbook doesn't appeal to me as a teacher. I would much rather teach grammar through means of studying other people's writing. If students can see the grammatical structures in everyday life, it may be easier for them to use more complex structures in their own writing. I was taught grammar through a series of worksheets out of a grammar textbook, and while they were useful some of the time, I felt that they were based more on skill learned by repetition rather than skill through knowledge of the rules. It is important to teach grammar in a way that will make students understand that grammar isn't just about rules in a textbook, but rather that these "rules" can be what makes our writing unique and interesting.
I truly think that the way that teachers are explaining grammar is not effective. I know a lot of times I do not use correct grammar, and I see it and hear it almost every day, even newspapers are sometimes using incorrect grammar!!! I do not remember learning grammar that well. In seventh grade I remember having to go up to the board and diagram sentences, but I still do not know the proper way to do it, even after having a mini lesson on it. When I have my own classroom I would like to teach grammar throughout different subjects, as well as having a separate section. I plan on teaching at a lower elementary school level, so I am sure that I would be teaching most of the basics; i.e: noun, pronoun, verb, etc. However, during other subjects like history I would try and point out different points of grammar so that there is a continuous learning of grammar going on.
I think that grammar should be taught as a separate entity up to a certain point, but I think there comes a time that the rules that they have learned should be integrated into all of the other subjects that are being taught. There are many untaught rules that we use everyday when we read and write and speak to one another. The way that we use grammar should probably vary depending on the audience that we have, the messages that we want to convey and the way that we want to convey them. I remember the way that I was taught grammar at a younger age, and I remember it being very boring and painful. I think one of the best ways to teach grammar is to observe it in other people's writing and speech, to compare and contrast what is right and what is wrong.
I think that teaching grammar is very important in the classroom whether it be incorporated in the lesson or separate. I think that teachers need to make the point that they are teaching grammar if it is being incorporated into another lesson. I was taught grammar separate from other lessons. It was strictly grammar. We did exercises and practiced. I think this was a very effective way of teaching. My peers and I learned the correct grammar and did well in our papers. We also had to peer edit some papers. I think that this is the way I would teach grammar, but I might also incorparate it into some other lessons every so often. I think that there is more than one effective way of teaching grammar
Though it has been found that rote learning and memorization of grammar is not as productive as once thought, I believe that grammar lessons can still be useful with some modification. Learning the rules is a great foundation for synthesizing the information and putting it to use. This, in my opinion, is how proper grammar is taken in, processed, and committed to memory. I was taught through the lecture and workbook method which served me well then, but as time passes, much of it has been lost. If I was given the chance to take what I had learned and applied it immediately in my writing, I may have retained it better.
As I remember in high school, the only grammar I was taught was my sophomore year, in which we spent about two weeks doing a million worksheets on different grammatical concepts. A majority of the information did not stick with me. The lessons were boring and provoked nearly no deep-thinking. I believe that grammar, in a sense, must be taught. I also believe that I would try to avoid teaching it in a way that presents it strictly as being about learning "proper grammar." I would involve it more with writing and its application. Also, I would teach it throughout the year, not just during a unit or a certain time period.
I do not remember having a grammar class in high school. Maybe I did have a class that taught grammar and just cannot remember it. However, I since I was in honors English I do recall my teachers correcting the grammar in the rough-draft of my papers. As a teacher I probably make grammar the first section of the year then I would somehow incorporate it in lessons throughout the year.
I think that grammar should be taught and reinforced in middle school first, and then incorporated into lessons in high school. Especially now, with text-speak and the internet, I believe it is important to emphasize correct grammar. I do not remember doing much grammar in high school, except for when we were preparing for the ACTs and AP English tests, and then it was just worksheet after worksheet. I'm not exactly sure how I would incorporate grammar, but I know that I would not solely rely on worksheets; I would try to make it more hands-on so the lessons seemed practical.
My grammar teacher in high school taught us revision skills. Revision really assisted in my learning of grammar rules. When I could correct my own mistakes, I could improve my writing skills and, on later papers, correct mistakes before I typed them. However, just because a student types and writes often does not mean that they will see grammatical mistakes. Every student learns differently, and I will have to take that into consideration when I begin teaching. I think grammar should be taught as a separate entity, but eventually, a teacher must imcorporate it with writing to improve his or her students' writing skills.
I really believe that teaching grammar is an important key in a child's education. I don't think I would teach directly from the grammar texts, because most of the books are out of date, but I think I would try and incorporate grammar into my other lessons so that the students can get a more rounded use of grammar outside of the normal "English grammar" setting of just repetition and memorization. When I got taught grammar in middle school, I was taught the old school method. You got a list of words and you memorized them.We also did a lot of sentence diagramming which I've noticed has been taken out of a few schools.
I think it is very important to teach grammar as a separate entity, especially at lower grades. As students get older, though, I think grammar could be incorporated into the actual lessons. I was taught grammar through the same worksheets over and over again all the way through high school. (Actually, I think I had the same worksheets in high school that I had in eighth grade...) It was useful to a certain point, but once I got older it didn't seem as effective anymore. I think maybe once students get older, we could try and incorporate grammar in different ways than just worksheets, such as maybe a unit on peer-editing or something like that. I think it's important, though, that however we teach grammar, we teach it in such a way that students understand that it is actually important.
Personally, I would teach grammar both ways as a separate unit and during different lessons. Grammar is something that needs to be taught repetitively, because it helps students become better writers and speakers. In school I was taught grammar, through different methods of teaching such as worksheets, grammar textbooks, small grammar lessons, etc. I feel that it was kind of useful back then, but a lot of my teachers never really went in depth with grammar rules and techniques. I think grammar should definitely be taught as a separate entity as well through other lessons.
I think that grammar should be taught separately and should be included in the writing process. Students need specific training on grammar, but they also need to learn how to incorporate proper grammar usage in their writing.
Grammar was taught to me mostly in 7th and 8th grade. I think that this was a good age to learn this topic, because I grasped English very well, yet was young enough to easily grasp the concepts presented to me. I believe that students should understand (at the very least) the basics of grammar before they enter high school.
This is not to say that I agree with the way that grammar is being taught in schools. High school teachers should not just abandon the concepts of grammar because "students should have learned that already," nor should students in grade school only get the bare minimum of lessons because "they'll hone their grammar skills in high school, where it matters." I have heard teachers say both of these things.
Grammar should be taught collaboratively.
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