Grammar-Part Two

These articles really put some more perspective on grammar in the classroom. The Anderson article is really the approach I was looking for. I really feel that it is important to be able to approach grammar in this way. As I mentioned in my last post, I feel that we are caught in the middle. Some teachers are stuck on the same old grammar instruction. Then, you have the other extreme, which doesn’t really teach it at all. I feel that this zooming in and out does a great job of merging the two in a non-boring or overwhelming way. A couple things really stood out about this article. First of all, that examining grammar should be “part of the meaning-making process,” instead of an interruption. If you approach it this way, then I think the other parts will fall into place. I also like how they point out that the best place to start is listening. Once you listen, and know your students, then you can pick subtle ways to teach the grammar, where the students don’t even realize it’s grammar instruction, and they actually might find somewhat fun. The article shows that with a little bit of guidance, you don’t have to be at the front of the room lecturing on the “rules” of grammar. Rather, the students are figuring out how to write well, and correct their own mistakes. The reason I liked this article the most, however, is because of one sentence and idea, “whatever it takes to move students toward correctness, reminding myself that students have to make errors to improve.” I feel that so many teachers feel that students should just know these things. So, they get out their red pen to write wrong to this, and wrong to that. However, these mistakes in the right environment, are what help students to learn individually and as a class. They should be used as tools, rather then confidence and grade downers.

The long article seems to be a great reference. I didn’t receive a lot of grammar instruction, so the quick little clarifications about the common mistakes were quite helpful. The Anderson article was my framework, but the other articles helped to complete the way I feel I want to incorporate grammar instruction in my classroom.

Grammar

Grammar is a very interesting topic for me. I feel that our generation is kind-of caught in the middle of a grammar debate, and how much, or even more, how important it is, in comparison to the other subjects in the English classroom. Personally, I didn’t receive a lot of grammar instruction in school. It was just something that I picked up along the way. I don’t know the names of a lot of different characteristics of grammar. However, I can usually tell you if something looks or sounds right. I have met people my age that received a lot of grammar instruction in school, and can spout it off. It leads me to wonder, which school of thought is better? Is it best for students to be drilled and drilled on grammar, in what I would consider a very boring English classroom? Or, is it best to almost let students figure it out on their own, and just teach the characteristics that are truly important. Is it crucial for a student to know the name of an aspect of grammar, if it’s not an issue in their writing? As I have said, I don’t feel that I have a very strong background in the complexities of grammar of the English language. I have done some teaching of grammar during my observation, and I just had to teach myself it, before I taught the students. But, there have been one or two questions that I couldn’t answer. Does a lack of grammar knowledge make me an incompetent English teacher? I don’t think so, but I have heard that statement before. I just kept my mouth shut at the time, but I’m not so sure how important grammar drills are to the everyday student. As a more experienced teacher, I probably would’ve said so. I think that a good teacher can assess the students writing, and go from there, to see what needs to be taught, and what isn’t an issue, in an effort to not have the same old boring English classroom, which some students don’t even find applicable to what they want to do with their lives. It’s hard to figure it out, when we are caught in the middle. I guess I need more experience before I make my final decision.

Poetry

The Milner and Milner readings really helped me out this week. I am teaching poetry for the first time this week. I was kind-of nervous about it, because I feel like responses to poetry are very personal, so besides the technical terms, I wasn’t quite sure how to approach it. It really bothered me in school, when a teacher would say that my interpretation to a poem was wrong. I really feel that poetry is one of those things that needs to be personal, so our responses to it shouldn’t be wrong, because each of our personal experiences, will shape how we interpret the poet’s meaning. I found some strategies in M & M that made me feel a lot more comfortable about the lesson.

Poetry, as these articles show is something that is so important to the English classroom. I feel that students either love it or hate it. However, with some of these techniques, I think it can become something that more students love, and really walk away with a lot from. It is one of the few times in the classroom where most rules go out the window, and students can just worry about connecting with a piece of writing. They don’t really have to have correct grammar, and they can express themselves. I really like in the wordplay article how they show it can help your bilingual students feel more comfortable in the classroom, because they can combine all of their strengths in poetry. I agree with this, but I had never thought about it before. I also think its cool how the article shows that students can make up words. Sometimes, I feel that students get frustrated, because they can’t find the perfect word. The ability to make up a word would really show some deeper thinking, as I would have them explain how they came to that word.
The Exphrasis poetry can be really helpful as well. I’m doing something similar with this in the poetry lesson I’m teaching this week. Some poems seem so random, and out there, but seeing the inspiration helps students to feel more comfortable in unlocking the poem. I feel that activities like this really do make students more confident in their poetry reading skills. I like activities like this, because it shows students that they can understand things like this, and they are capable.



Switching gears a little bit, I just have a few comments about the ipod article. I love this idea in the schools. I feel that if the school provides the ipods, and they stay in the schools, you can assure that the material on them is appropriate, and educational. I think that this is a trend that will spread to all schools that can afford them, and they really can be a great resource. In the school system I want to teach in, they have laptops that teachers can sign out, so the students can do work in the classroom. For example, in science they can have the computers as a supplement to the activity. Ipods will probably be quite similar. They really help students get more excited about learning. I think that it’s a great way to bridge the gap between school and their personal lives, so students are more eager and interested to learn.

A Few Thoughts....

Last week, I had some interesting interactions with technology. I was substitute teaching in a different school, and I just happened to be in the workroom while some different conversations were going on. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but it was kind-of hard not to listen, and it ended up being useful information. First of all, the issue of ipods in the school came up. I was just sitting there thinking they were going to talk about music that wasn’t appropriate for school and stuff like that. However, the teachers started talking about how students use ipods to cheat. I was stunned. I had never thought about ipods in this way. They were talking about how they download books to listen to, or I guess are able to somehow record themselves, and put answers to the test on them. One boy, even strategically sat near the wall, so he could have one headphone in, without anyone seeing. I felt so naive. I had never thought of ipods in this way before. Has anyone had experience with this? I know about the use of cell-phones, but I just didn’t think a student was so bold to just put their headphone on. I guess, though, if they know that the teacher isn’t really paying attention, then they know it’s not a big deal.
My other issue arose with notes online. In two of the classes, they had set-up a place where students could print off packets online. However, the teachers were very confused, because one girl was really upset about it. Also, they had planned for the students that didn’t have computers, to pick up theirs in the library. This caused another level of concern for the teachers, because other students took those packets, leaving the librarians to make a bunch more during school. I just wonder, if for something like notes, and homework assignments, if this is really fair to the students. I know, for me, in highschool, my computer always froze, or would mess up, and I was the type of student that would get really upset if I didn’t turn something in on time. This type of system would have really aggravated me. Does anyone have a more successful story about these types of classes, where all materials are online, and you are held responsible for them? My other problem was that the students were ninth graders, and they were thrown into this system that was causing a lot of frustration. It’s not like they were a.p students. They were just getting used to highschool, and they were almost being treated like college students. It was just interesting, and something I hadn’t really seen before.

Assessment

The readings on assessment really brought up some interesting things for me. I feel that assessment can be really hard to do. You want to reward students for putting a lot of effort into an assignment, but what do you do if all of that effort doesn’t lead to a product that really matches up with what they should have come too. Recently, I had to teach my first lesson, and then give the student’s an assignment. They turned these in to me this past week and I really didn’t expect it to be so hard to grade them. First of all, it took me a long time. Most of their projects were only 1-2 pages, but after giving them feedback, it really took a while to arrive at a grade. Another hard thing was that the topic allowed for a lot of creativity. As a naive, just starting out teacher, I didn’t expect to have a student write about the legalization of marijuana. The paper was well-written, and she had done a great job. The topic, however, was obviously a little questionable. After discussing it with my CT, we decided that I should just go ahead and grade it. I ended up giving her an A, but I wondered if I sent the wrong message, or if I did the right thing by not hindering her creativity. I’m still not sure of the answer to that question. The grading procedure was also frustrating. I listed exactly what should be in their papers. I then stood at the front, and read an example of my own, which included all of the components. Some students still, however, completely left parts out, which was hard, because I had to take away a lot of points. Their topic would be really good, but it was obvious they didn’t quite understand the style the paper was in. Finally, grading their papers made me wonder if it is better to read through all of the papers first, then go back again, and assign grades. Would this make you less patient, because it is too time-consuming? I was just wondering after the fact. I learned a lot from just grading one assignment. I wanted to give them all A’s, but by following the rubric I made, which they also had, I think I was able to be pretty fair.