I'm on my way to the glorious Outer Banks of North Carolina, or else
this post would be longer.> I have been looking at state standards for
a number of states, and this is the norm rather than the exception. 
Our own Scope and Sequence recommendations (when we get them done) have
a chance to be a beacon of clarity in a dark and foggy world.
   I think it helps to have a clearer sense of what KNOWLEDGE is aimed at
and what BEHAVIORS are aimed at and how the one is or is not connected
to the other.  Mastery of commas, for example, is connected to very
complex rules of syntax, and anyone who thinks you can get there easily
or without a complex metalanguage is downright wrong. We should say
that and either do what needs to be done or drop it as a goal. Anything
short of that is a continuation of deep hypocrisy, standards that are
there to pretend we are doing something important.
   We also need to make a distinction between knowledge that allows us to
write and read with some effectiveness (which would include knowledge
of how and why the passive evolved, how it works in context)and
knowledge that allows us to follow what people AGREE on as reasonable
conventions(and awareness that many "Rules" have been seriously
challenged as "mythrules" and as highly dysfunctional, forbidding the
passive among them.) Is being correct more important than being
thoughtful?
   The early consensus on list is that we should aim at a
rhetorically-focused grammar.  If that's our standard, then this list
is woefully inadequate.
    It looks like standards by committee in a twenty minute brainstorming
session. Whimsical. Disconnected.
   In case I haven't made my point: Nonsense of the highest order, very
clear evidence of what has gone absolutely wrong in the teaching of
grammar.
   If you use these as a guide to your teaching, you will harm your students.

Craig

 In a message dated 3/31/2006 5:34:14 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> Question: did a note accompany this draft in which the committee
> appologized
> for the draft's roughness and asked for revision suggestions from
> teachers?
> I hope so.
>
>
>
> Jeanne,
>
> These were cut and pasted directly from the California State  Standards.
> This is what every seventh grade teacher in California is  responsible for
> teaching.
>
> ~Gretchen
>
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