Elizabeth -
I've been doing a little reading recently on freewriting, and it was
interesting to note that its proponents are shocked when students insist on
following a structure when they write. If only the freewrite teachers would
consider grammar as something that actually spurs creativity rather than
inhibits it, they might find that "free-writes" can become
"valuable-writes."
Geoff Layton
>From: Elizabeth Clark <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Grammar - the "All Brain" Subject
>Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 11:18:34 -0700
>
>Confession: I absolutely hate freewriting because it is so unstructured,
>though I make my students do it on occasion.
>
>Elizabeth
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Geoffrey Layton<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 8:33 PM
> Subject: Grammar - the "All Brain" Subject
>
>
> Dick -
>
> I think that the issue goes beyond being "like us" (yes, I, too, admit
>to an
> ancient attachment to diagramming!) and reaches to the heart of the
>issue
> that we have with NCTE and their various attacks against grammar.
>
> If we can move grammar away from the side of the writing process that
>deals
> with error correction and more towards what classical rhetoric would
>call
> "invention," then we can demonstrate that grammar can, indeed, play a
>major
> role in creative ("right brain") part the writing process. In fact, I
> think that grammar can a more powerful creative tool than so-called
> "unstructure free-writing."
>
> Students can use standard grammatical constructions to create original,
> powerful sentences, paragraphs, and even entire essays starting with
>little
> more than simple subject-predicate combinations. There truly is a
>grammar
> for the right brain, and as you indicated, it doesn't need to be
>separated
> from the left brain. In fact, it is the structure of grammar that
>allows
> both halves to work so well together!
>
> Grammar is an "all brain" subject!
>
> Geoff Layton
>
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