*I have been suffering from the flu all weekend so this is as about as good as this blog post will, get I am very sorry to whomever has to read this. I just cannot think clearly right now*
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Crovitz
Crovitz makes a point that in order to understand where one is going wrong in their grammar, you must be able to understand the thought process behind the mistake. Because even when something looks wrong to you, in that students culture it could be correct and they just do not know the difference. And by understanding the thought process behind it you can better help them understand their mistake [FANBOY]. I also agree with his statement that standardized testing can lead teachers into doing repetitive drills for grammar rather than teaching them how grammar works in context. Just because a student will be able to recognize the fault in a sentence they have seen thousands of times; doesn't mean they will be able to recognize the same mistake when it comes to multiple variations of sentences. Not only will they not be able to catch a mistake in other types of sentences, I fear that they will not be able to recognize when a sentence is using a specific punctuation correctly in a way that they were taught before. I really liked the alternative of creating more complex sentences from basic sentences. I like this idea because I think that it will help solve to a degree the problem I just stated previously. Because basic sentences are just not a reality, when reading Mary Shelley for example her sentences are all over the place.
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Brooke,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you on your stance of culture, as teachers we may not always know exactly how students think or even realize that we could have our own biases. I also liked what you said about different types of writing like Mary Shelley’s. It is important to notice when people do break the rules and are still successful writers. I think your use of FANBOY was good, maybe next time you could try using the FANBOY in the middle of a sentence somewhere. I thought your sentence was good, just an idea for later writings.
Well first of all, I hope you're feeling somewhat better! The first point you make about culture was great. I completely agree that students get confused because in their home speak or cultural language, that particular grammar may be correct but in standard English, it is not. Good job on starting a sentence with a coordinating conjunction, it really adds more emphasis to the point. I think you could have added a rhetorical fragment starting with a coordinating conjunction at the end of your post, so something like this: Because basic sentences are just not a reality, when reading Mary Shelley for example her sentences are all over the place. Yet it works.
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