This was my first time of ever seeing grammar taught through
a visual; other than the human sentences we did in class. The only other visual
that I have ever had was just my teacher (or
myself) [an aside set off by parentheses] [reflexive pronoun to show
emphasis] labeling the parts of my sentences with acronyms so I knew what each
part of the sentence was. And honestly besides being able identify what a
specific word was in a sentence; we never looked at sentence structure in
depth. When I saw the visual in the book of the diagram I was very confused.
Which made me immediately recognize a shortcoming with the method: it is
probably only successful when taught in person and showed through example.
Because just reading it to me was very confusing and I became lost. I feel as
if that visual for teaching grammar would be best suited for older students,
not so much students who are just starting out early in the writing process. I
am also confused on how sentence diagramming can be used as collaborative projects
and used for debates. The human sentences showed me that there are multiple
ways to set up a sentence with all the different verbs and adjectives and pronouns [list without final “and” or with
all “ands” and no commas]. Bur it also showed me that there was pretty much a
common medium of the sentence structure that everyone agreed on and thought
sounded best. So when trying to turn the sentence diagramming into a debate I
do not feel like it would work because at the high school level their sentences
are all basically the same without much variety. I mean it could be a way to
induce variety. I guess I am just not a fan of this particular method.
I THINK I used a reflexive pronoun (I know it is a reflexive
pronoun but is it in the way I put it in my sentence I am unsure) in parenthesis
to tell the reader that my teachers where mainly the ones who were pointing out
grammar to me; but as time went on I began to add in my input or recognize
grammar just a little. I used the parenthesis because when I tried it with the
dash it was too much of an emphasis on something that was merely just a side
note not something that I wanted the reader to be drawn too. I also used the
listing method with all ands. I decided to do this because it did draw
attention to the fact that I was saying there are multiple/many ways to create
a sentence. So by adding in the “ands” it emphasized the continuation of
something going on for a long time. I really liked the way that I used the
listing method with ands in my paragraph and thought that it made the paragraph
flow nicely.
I feared I was the only one who had never seen diagramming before! I am glad I am not the only one. I totally agree with your point regarding some teachers only focusing on what each word in a sentence was identified as opposed to actually diving into sentence structuring within grammar. You make a great point by saying an immediate short coming you came across when reading the chapter, was when you were initially confused by diagramming. It is a really great point to criticize that it may be easier when it is being thoroughly explained in person but just seeing it on paper is extremely confusing. Another great idea you discussed was regarding how you can create a debate through diagramming and you explained how much simpler it is to be able to use the human sentences for components of grammar such as debate. I really like the way you incorporate the two patterns into your writing. It seems to fit naturally and not as if you just happened to force the pattern within your writing. The way you listed "verbs and adjectives and pronouns" provides a really consistent and flowing emphasis on those components of your sentence. One of the places where you could maybe experiment with the pattern of the week is where you have your colon in the first paragraph. If you wanted to switch it up it could possibly be done with parentheses around what you have after the colon. I feel like that is an important part of your first paragraph and you could do a lot of fun grammatical styles with that phrase after the colon. Your blog was very well thought out and I enjoyed your opinions and your incorporation of the patterns this week!
ReplyDeleteYou bring out a good point on your post. Not everyone has been introduced to sentence diagrams and they are really confusing (visually). I also liked how you said that these diagrams require the teacher to fully explain them in class and not simply give them out as assignments, without making sure that each student understands what they’re doing. You support your perspective very well; sentence diagrams are difficult to deal with and could discourage younger students. Were as older students could more easily learn from their mistakes and take more from exercises like sentence diagrams. Even now re-looking at the diagrams I was confused as well. Human sentences as you mention can be a great way to teach grammar especially to K-12 students. They are easier to understand and much more simple than diagrams. As for your sentences, they fit well with your writing. I like how you experimented with two of the patterns for your first sentence. It shows confidence and creativity and I think it works great! Swell as your “and” sentences it flows well with your post. You bring out a new perspective that I haven’t experienced before so it’s nice to see different ideas about sentence diagrams; good overall post.
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