In a message dated 9/11/2007 6:37:34 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Whether or not Gretchen's students can now produce more "accurate grammar"
would be, I think, irrelevant, at least in the short term. Very real benefits
will be ignored if they are not thought of as valuable goals in their own
right.
Craig and Ron,
When I first started teaching (oh, those dear dead decades ago), my school
used Warriners. We grimly taught grammar three hours a week. The kids hated
it. Personally, I didn't mind it; it was easy to teach and test, and the
scope and sequence was clear. I kept seeing, however, the same errors in writing
over and over, regardless of what I had taught in the grammar class.
I did some research and kept up on it, to find that the experts couldn't
agree on the value of teaching grammar as a way to improve writing. I became a
disciple of Weaver and Noden, et al. Then my kids seemed better at error
detection, but knew very little about language. I complained loudly and
vigorously to this list and others about the lack of a coherent grammar program for
middle school.
People tired of that quickly. Then a lightening strike - why, one gentleman
inquired irascibly, did I insist that teaching grammar improve writing? Why
couldn't we teach grammar for the sake of grammar? Just because students
should know something about their own language? Hmmm. . . .
That's where this class is coming from, I honestly don't care if the
results are testable and sustainable. I care, short-term and immediately, that my
students chose this class, love this class, are learning more than they have
ever been able to about language (and yes, that part is measurable - I had
most of them last year, and their grades on the tests in my elective are
worlds apart from last year. I do realize that the sample size is ridiculous,
however!). They are excited and begging me to teach areas that stumped them last
year. That alone seems a worthy goal to me.
Thanks,
Gretchen
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