Self-assessment

This will be my second attempt at a grammar class for teachers; the first time being a few semesters ago. This semester I have already overcome my issue: staying enrolled in class past the first week! Just kidding, but on a serious note- this semester I would like to make my writing more exciting to read. I have discovered that the type of writing I enjoy the most is very formal and standard English style formatting. My background and upbringing really influence my appreciation and natural ability for this type of writing. But I fear that although I may sound very educated or polite, my writing may lack something to give it life. I tend to use only commas and I introduce quotes the same way every time; the standard “lead in, “quote…quote”. I had no idea that you could use many forms of punctuation to introduce a quote. If I could learn new techniques of sentence structures it could help my writing become less boring and more pleasurable to read. In fact the first three or so sentences of this paragraph I just threw in some of the punctuations we discussed in class. I am still not positive if I am using them correctly but I won’t learn unless I try.

I have now taken two English courses where the first lesson we have had is about Gee’s views on discourses (you may or may not have heard of him). If you haven’t, he states that literacy is the ability to master discourses out of your primary discourse. And that literacy is always plural meaning that you can have multiple literacies in different areas. He also explains that literacy is not a measure of overall intelligence; this still is very hard for me to adjust too because I have always grouped the idea of being literate with being intelligent, and literate meaning a whole: singular not plural. Because of his article I believe that another way to enhance my writing is to start utilizing all of my discourses. My dominant discourse is very present in my writing. And I sometimes find myself thinking that my dominant discourse is inferior to other discourses. If I could incorporate my primary discourse with some of my secondary discourses it could give my writing more depth. I also found that while reading GA, although it does not directly state discourses: it instead uses the phrase “language variety”, that I have a hard time appreciating different speech patterns especially when they largely stray from Standard English. I tend to look down upon them or want to correct and say they are wrong. According to GA there is not wrong grammar, because language and grammar is situational. This can be compared to Gee as well because different discourses are situational as well. If I can unbound myself from my primary discourse and pull from other discourses I hopefully will not necessarily agree, but have a better understanding or respect for different language varieties.