What’s grammar got to do with it…
Posted by dmlagrone on February 9, 2009
One absolutely critical part of reading is…writing! Yep, you just can’t separate the two, no matter how hard some folks try. Remember the elementary teachers who help the little ones by creating an experience and then taking dictation from the non-readers and non-writers about that experience so that the little ones can “read” their own words? (If you know this by the name, Language Experience Approach, cool; if not, don’t sweat it.)
While we can do that in a modified form with secondary students (and have success), I’d like to add a ramped-up version of language interaction created by Jeff House , a teacher, writer, and lecturer based in Santa Cruz, Ca. House suggests a novel approach to teaching grammar in his article “The Grammar Gallimaufry: Teaching Students to Challenge the Grammar Gods” (English Journal 98.3 (2009): 98-102). If students challenge the grammar that has had them flummoxed for lo, these many years, then would they not only learn it but possibly come to understand it and…dare I suggest…use it correctly? This would also be an approach that would support ELLs in our classrooms.
House delivers a concise explanation of this “Grammar Gallimaufry” idea and provides a link to some student examples that just made me howl (maybe it’s an English teacher thing…). His nod to June Casagrande’s work also led me to some other LOL’s as I sit here at a desk.
These ideas may be the very thing that our struggling grammarians need to finally master the use of language. After all, how many of the Conjunction Junction generation have forgotten that?!
As a former public school English and Reading teacher, I lead the charge to champion the use of correct grammar, but teachers have used the “drill and kill” worksheet approach since before I was born, with little lasting success. Why not attack this issue with some higher level thinking that just happens to be more fun, too!
February 9th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
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July 16th, 2009 at 9:27 am
I think grammar is not so important, when you read good, and write understandable. It’s more important to understand words, and know how to say them. Just an opinion:-)
July 16th, 2009 at 9:30 am
By the way, I’m glad you brought it up. Cause I write almost 100% correct in Norwegian. English isn’t too bad, but my girlfriend has some larger problems with her writing. She reads good, and much, so that is no problem. But grammar seems to be a small or larger problem for many people. I think this has to come from bad teachers, not doing something about it in an early stage. – No offense.