Wow, lots of great responses.  Interesting thread.  I am viewing it  
from a high school English teacher's perspective.  The thing that  
jumped immediately to my mind was there must be many, many things  
elementary teachers have to simplify in all subject areas.  The  
definition of a noun is just one of them.

I think it is perfectly acceptable to tell students the basic  
definition of a noun--in fact, elementary teachers could even say  
"basic" to the students, thus implying when they get older, they will  
learn more.  I like to tell my students, "Remember when your teachers  
told you never to start a sentence with the word 'because'?  Why do  
you think they told you that when it's not true?"  Then we have a  
discussion about dogma and when to shed it.  I do the same thing with  
my 9th graders when I teach essay structure for the first time.  I am  
very rigid: "The thesis has to be the last sentence of the  
introductory paragraph."  But just like using the word "basic" in  
"What's the basic definition of a noun?" I do hint that there are  
other possibilities out there by telling them if they find the need  
to do it differently, show it to me before you hand it in or if  
there's no time to show it to me, write me a note in the margin about  
what you did and why.

To Linda, I completely agree.  Traditional grammar instruction does  
stop in high school.  (Our district curriculum specialist refused to  
buy new grammar books--luckily at our school we still have an old,  
beat up set from the 80s.)  Instead we are told to do "mini lessons"  
which I despise because nothing is learned if students have no  
foundation to understand these mini bits of wisdom.  I just saw "Are  
You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" and the adult contestant didn't know  
how many pronouns were in a sentence because he had no idea what one  
was.

I keep expecting the anti-grammar tide to turn but "the studies" that  
show no correlation to improved writing are always trotted out.  I  
simply can't believe the studies are accurate.  If a student enrolled  
in a carpentry class was never overtly taught the names and functions  
of the tools of the trade, the master carpenter would find it  
difficult to instruct the class.  Why more writing teachers don't  
find it difficult to instruct their students is a mystery.

Susan

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