Brock and others, I have been admiring the progress the 3S committee has
made this past year. Thank you for the report on the NCTE ATEG session.
Your suggestions for how to approach sessions on grammar for next year were
right on. The code word is USEFUL, better WRITERS/READERS (not analysts of
language, though it's unfortunate that language is not recognized as a
fascinating subject in itself).
With respect to diversity, I sympathize with a comparative approach, which
ATEG has officially taken, to the KINDS of grammar that are available to
us, as speakers from different speech communities. And I am increasingly
inclined to view grammar as relevant to MEANINGS in the non-linguistic
sense -- that is, to find insights into grammar by looking across the
levels of meaning that it makes possible.

Is anyone on this list familiar with the work of Michael Silverstein and
his students? Silverstein is interested in the meta-pragmatic work that
grammar makes possible -- just mentioning it because it's a functional
approach that, like systemics, looks at grammar in social context, but very
different from systemics and based here in the U.S. I'm just wondering if
teacher educators could turn some of the grammar-in-social-context THEORY
and RESEARCH into pedagogical resources. One thing that NCTE adherents
agree on is that students' lives should take center place in a curriculum,
so finding a way into grammar that is relevant to STUDENTS' social
realities might be one way to bring grammar 'back.'

Judy


At 10:00 AM 11/28/00 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear ATEGers,
>
>The NCTE convention was held this year in Milwaukee the weekend before last.
>ATEthe G's session was scheduled at a miserable time--4:45 pm on
Saturday--and
>yet about 40 people showed up for a discussion on "Grammar Education for
>Teachers and Students."  I spoke about ATEG and the position of grammar in
>the current English mainstream, and then we all discussed approaches to and
>difficulties with teaching grammar.  I am grateful to Jeff Glauner for
>helping with discussion.  Jeff's roundtable on grammar the previous day was
>heavily attended.  But aside from one other roundtable and a session someone
>told me about on "Grammar with Humor" (!), we were the only sessions on
>grammar out of several hundred programs.
>
>Next year's NCTE convention will be held in Baltimore, on their usual
>weekend, the one before Thanksgiving.  The deadline for convention proposals
>is January 19; information can be found at ncte.org.  I encourage ATEG
>members to consider grammar presentations.  After attending this convention,
>I have a better sense of the tensions between the NCTE program and grammar,
>ones that Martha Kolln has been expressing for years (but you have to be
>there, and read the literature, to really get it).  In brief, grammar is
>perceived as contrary to encouraging students to write fluently, and
>contrary to cultural diversity.  Program proposals that take an integrative
>approach on these two fronts might stand a chance.  Some approaches or
>topics you might consider if you are interested in offering a grammar
>program include: Showing students how to discover the rules of grammar for
>themselves; Using grammar in the classroom to appreciate diverse
>dialects/languages; Using grammar to help students read
>poetry/Shakespeare/literature; Options for Revisions.  I and Martha and
>others will be proposing a session on our 3S report as a work-in-progress.
>
>Brock Haussamen
>
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>

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