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Date: | Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:07:23 -0500 |
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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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