Regarding this:

After class, there was time only for a five-minute conversation with
the teacher.  I said that I would like to tutor especially in the
subjects of writing and language.

"Language?" the teacher asked.

"Sentence structure, for instance," I replied.  "I don't know if you
do anything specific with that."

"Well," the teacher said, "we usually infiltrate those topics into the
actual writing instruction.  Best practices show that drills and such
don't work with seventh graders."

I went home depressed.  So the choice is between "infiltrating" work
on sentence structure - people my age associate the word with the
Vietcong --  and "drills."  How much work we still have to do if many
teachers think those are the only alternatives!

I say:
I am facing a very similar situation - I have a professor who continually
tells me that I am "too married" to teaching grammar in my freshman
composition classes and says that I will end up "hampering" my students
unless I give them creative freedom in their writing.

Here's how I handled this situation when it came up in our conference
yesterday.  I gave him a concrete example of what I mean when I talk about
integrating usage.

As a simple example, Say my students have Essay 1 as their reading homework.
The day they come in, as part of the discussion, I'll write one of the
sentences that author used on the board.  We can then talk about what the
sentence means, how the author's usage gives the sentence meaning, how
context matters, etc.

THEN we can de-construct and re-construct the sentence.  Things like...ok,
what other verbs could we use instead of this one?  How would YOU say the
same thing as this sentence?  Can we change this sentence from active voice
to passive voice (or vice versa)?  How would you say this sentence to your
friends?  To your parents?  To me, your professor?

I think everyone here knows the underlying themes I'd be engaging by doing
this, but the thing is I would be transparent with my students; "See?  THIS
is why usage and grammar matter.  And remember, none of us is "perfect,"
even people whose work has been published.  We can always improve our
writing's impact, if we know how to use the words..."

Anyhow, my professor thought that this was a great idea, and he complemented
me on my ability to be flexible and creative about teaching.  So my message
got across.  He and I will never agree on the importance of grammar and
usage in the writing classroom, but at least now we can find a middle ground
for discussion.

-patty

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