I really enjoyed reading this approach to teaching high school students about 
grammar and writing.

Mary Mocsary
Southeastern Louisiana University


>===== Original Message From Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
        <[log in to unmask]> =====
>I assumed you wanted a private reply.
>
>  Thanks for the compliment on my post--I am as much impressed by many of the 
people on this list as you are and after reading their messages for several 
years now, I feel I almost "know" these people, especially the regulars like 
you, Paul, and Johanna ( I really love her posts--she must be an incredible 
instructor).
>
>  As to my approach--well, I have quite a bit of latitude in my school.  We 
are very small, rural, and few people take language arts seriously, so I get 
away with quite a bit.  However, I am pleased to say that I have a very good 
reputation for preparing students adequately for the colleges they attend, and 
over the years I have had students attend in colleges, both private and 
public, from Florida (e.g, Pensacola) to Washington, and even West Point.  So, 
yes, I do have my school's support, and since we are rural, my district tends 
to be more traditional (you know, the 3 R's), English wouldn't be English to 
my parents without the teaching of grammar.
>
>  I really just teach from the heart--common sense stuff--and have a great 
respect and love for languages in general--my maternal grandparents were 
Russian-German immigrants to this country, my husband's family are from 
Applachia, and my siblings are spread from one coast to another, so I have a 
great understanding of dialect and communication confusion!   I have received 
instruction from both camps--pro- and anti-grammar--and firmly believe that, 
whether conscious or subconscious, good writers are good grammarians, and the 
best writers know how to break, bend, or comply with the "rules" of 
grammar--they are true masters of the language.
>
>  What I meant by layering is that each year I try to take two steps back and 
one step forward, expecting students to review and master previously-taught 
concepts (for example, I will not "teach" parts of speech to 10th-graders--how 
absurd and, really, not that helpful) and when I do review that concept, I 
throw in the "tests" that most textbooks do not contain (e.g. nouns can be 
made plural, can follow determiners alone, etc.) nor will I drill them (I do 
teach them, though) on parts of the sentence because I don't think that level 
of grammar helps much in writing or speaking.  I also use a math formula 
(if/then, P + N, etc.) approach (again, not in textbooks) to teach phrases, 
clauses, parts of the sentence, even parts of speech.  This approach does work 
better with older students who have mastered algebra.  However, I will focus 
strongly on usage (not in a strict prescriptive sense), which is a broad term 
and varies from textbook to textbook, but usually covers informal wo!
> rd choice
> vs. formal word choice, proper use of modifiers (e.g. less/fewer, etc.), at 
every grade level, reaching the final limit when I work with my seniors on 
what I consider higher-level usage (e.g., proper use of prepositions following 
verbs.  Do I say "explantion of" or "explanation for,"  or "make amends with" 
or "make amends for"   By the way, I have never found a high school textbook 
that addresses this area of usage--I always have to refer to a usage 
handbook).  I had a wonderful linguistics professor in college who came from a 
transformational grammar background and I throw in lots of stuff I learned 
from him--my students all know what a determiner is and I frequently argue 
with textbooks that confuse verbs with participles (predicate adjectives) and 
reluctantly use the Reed-Kellog method of diagramming (I am an X-bar fan, or 
tree diagrammer).  I also stress agreement, logical use of subordinating 
conjunctions, and teach puncutation from a grammatical perspective--for examp!
> le, it's
> much easier to teach the use of semicolon and colon if students have an 
understanding to independent clause or verb/object first.  Each year, the 
amount of time I have to spend on review decreases as student cognitive 
ability increases.  I don't drill on tenses until the senior year--by then, 
they can understand mood, tense, and aspect so much more quickly.  Younger 
students can memorize irregular verb forms but I don't think they really 
understand when to use the perfect tense--their knowledge is simply 
mechanical.  My older students, who are writing quite critically by that time, 
see the real need to use tenses and aspect correctly in order to convey the 
meaning intended.  Same goes for many subordinating conjunctions and 
conjunctive adverbs, which express relationships that require critical 
thinking that many younger students simply do not have.
>
>  I don't know if that really explains to you what I do--so much of teaching 
is second nature and arises to address the need before us rather than from a 
prescribed curriculum.  My best description to people who ask how I teach is 
that I go back and forth, in and out, up and down with whatever I am 
teaching--writing, reading, or grammar.  My teaching is linear, but not 
perfectly so.
>
>  thanks for asking--I look forward to your future posts!
>
>
>
>
>
>  My supervising teacher during my student-teaching had spent a year in 
Australia where, at least then, they delayed grammar instruction until late 
high school because so much of grammar is highly abstract. I believe that.
>
>Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>  I was away from my mail for a day or so, so I'll reply to a number of
>posts in one message.
>Paul, I very much enjoyed your "rant" (much more sensible than the term
>implies.) It would be nice to have a sense of scaffolding so that
>students entering high school would have a solid base of knowledge
>about language to build on.
>Cynthia, I was impressed as much by the tone of your post as I was by
>its substance. I would love to know more about your approach and how
>you layer things in over those three grades. Are you supported by the
>school?
>Jan, Allison, I'm sorry if I created the impression that a scope and
>sequence draft already exists. What I was hoping to say, no doubt
>awkwardly, is that we should make it a very open process, and that
>everyone should have a chance to read it and comment on it as it
>unfolds. The ATEG website would be a natural place.
>A good place to start for reading about grammar would be Grammar
>Alive, put together by ATEG members and published by NCTE. It lacks
>scope and sequence sections because, if I understand this correctly,
>NCTE would not have published it if it had. You can't do wrong with
>Martha Kolln's two books (Understanding Grammar and Rhetorical
>Grammar.) A book I have found enormously rich and helpful is
>Halliday's Introduction to Functional Grammar, now in its third
>edition. It's not easy going, but I much prefer it to the softer
>explanations I have looked at so far. My own attempt at a new kind of
>synthesis (Meaning-Centered Grammar) is now in print. It's aimed at
>being a text for a college course in grammar, but I'm hoping it's
>readable and accessible. Ed Schuster's Breaking the Rules... casts a
>critical eye on entrenched practices and includes advice about
>teaching the rest. Lots of people like Joseph Williams' Ten Easy
>Lessons in Style and Grace (It comes in a few different forms with
>different titles.) All of these are easily googled and all are readily
>available from Amazon. I'm sure other people on the list could add
>their own suggestions.
>A good next step for the project would be to divide it up into smaller
>units, delegate responsibilities, and sign people up. The SCOPE
>section will be critical:it should include what a well educated
>citizen ought to know (on graduation from high school.) The SEQUENCE
>section would give advice for parceling that out (scaffolding) over
>various age levels. We should have an OFFICIAL POSITION, a clear and
>direct alternative to the position of NCTE. We need to make
>recommendations for ASSESSMENT, which should include a position on
>standardized testing practices and procedures. We should make
>recommendations about TEACHER TRAINING, the preparation that would
>help teachers confidently carry this out. I would also suggest
>recommendations for CURRICULAR PRACTICES, including ways in which
>grammar instruction should be integrated with critical reading and
>writing. Obviously, each of these sections should work in harmony with
>the others.
>Anyone who want to be a part of it should let me know and let me know
>your preferences and what you bring to the project.
>
>Craig
>
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>
>
>
>
>
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