In our English Education preservice teacher program at the University of Pittsburgh, we require two methods courses related to the one you are proposing. We require a course entitled Teaching Writing and another entitled Teaching Grammar and Usage. Some topics covered in the classes overlap, of course. We're about to change the title of the second course to better reflect the broader approach we take to teaching about language in the context of English Language Arts classes. The texts we use are: Language and Learning by Elise Trumbull & Beverly Farr. Pub: Christopher Gordon: 2005: ISBN # 1-929024-80-0 Grammar Alive! by Brock Haussamen, et al. Pub: NCTE: 2003: ISBN# 0-8141-1872-0. Systems in English Grammar by Peter Master. Pub: Prentice Hall Regents: 1996: ISBN # 0-13-156837-X. M.A.K. Halliday, ³Uses and Users of Language² L. Wong-Fillmore & C. Snow, ³What Teachers Need to Know about Language² Diane Larsen-Freeman, ³Teaching Grammar² NCTE Guideline ³Some Questions and Answers about Grammar² www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/gram/107646.htm <http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/gram/107646.htm> Guadalupe Valdes, ³The World outside and inside Schools: Language and Immigrant Children² Educational Researcher, 27, 6, 4-18. Starla H. Anderson; Syd Butler, ³Language and Power in the Classroom: An Interview with Harold Rosen² The English Journal, 71, 3, 24-28. The film _American Tongues_. Topics covered include: Uses and Users of Language Why Teach Grammar? Language, Culture and Society Language Acquisition and Children English as another Language (ESOL/ESL/ELL) Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Language and Literacy Instructional Strategies Language and Assessment Students also do work (through the Master's text) on understanding how parts of sentences function and explaining these to students (particularly English Language Learners). -Amanda On 11/21/05 10:00 AM, "Craig Hancock" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I am in very preliminary discussions about developing/teaching a > graduate level course in grammar and writing, essentially for current > and prospective teachers. Is anyone currently teaching such a course? > If so, would you have a course description and/or syllabus you could > pass on? > As I had the need described to me, these students tend to see > grammar in largely prescriptive terms and don't have a base of > understanding sufficient to carry out even that limited agenda. The > people considering supporting the course want an approach that wouldn't > contradict progressive practices or diminish the whole enterprise of > writing. > My first thoughts are that there's too much to cover in a single > semester without some sort of strategy for limiting it down. I'm > wondering if anyone else out there has faced this problem and come up > with solutions. Is this a somewhat standard course anywhere in the U.S.? > Should it be? > > Craig > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html > and select "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ ***** Amanda J. Godley, Ph.D. Assistant Professor English Education University of Pittsburgh 412-648-7313 To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/