Welcome to Grammar 300-1!

Welcome to Dr. V's grammar course 300-1 for education majors!

This is going to be a fun course. Let's jump in at the deep end right away: here's your first prompt, which will be homework for Wednesday, August 20th, in case we don't finish in class today - go to the following link

http://www.kristisiegel.com/engfish2.htm

Read the excerpt "The Poison Fish" from Ken Marcrorie's book Telling Writing.
It talks about ENGFISH, a common form of student writing (AND textbook writing!!) that you will encounter during your future career as teachers.

Your task: write a short blog entry about your personal experience with ENGFISH - are you maybe student teaching already, and have seen it in your kids' writing? Did they serve you ENGFISH in their final exams when they wrote: "When I came into this class I knew nothing, but this semester I've learned so much; I owe it all to you, and you are a great teacher"?! Or did you produce ENGFISH texts yourself in certain situations? What do you think about the term? Does it work for you, or do you think it is inadequate? Better suggestions? Or do you perhaps have a funny example of ENGFISH you want to share? How can its use be avoided?

Hint:
Your blog comment should be about as long as this entry -- if it's too long, people won't be thrilled to read it, and if it's too short, it can't contain very much insight. Consider this blog as a discussion board. You can offer your own stories, or react to your peers'. The only time you have to publish a longer article here is when it is your turn to summarize a chapter reading from our textbooks or articles I distribute.