I don't think that I have ever associated fun with grammar, but the discussion today was extremely interesting, and I can see the multiple viewpoints that everyone made. I did have a fair bit of culture shock when I moved to this area, and I could NOT get over the grammar. I know I said it in class, but it really helped my perspective to think of the Appalachian dialect as a dialect, and not as a string of grammatical errors. I really enjoyed Deb's idea to give students the opportunity to write in their own dialect, alleviating some of the pressure formal writing can bring, and also giving them something to compare formal writing to. This could help students choose the "correct" dialect for the situation.
I tend not to stress grammar and parts of speech in my class, but I can see Tanya's point of view that you need to have a frame of reference or a consistent vocabulary to discuss editing issues in class. If you and your students can't speak a common language your best efforts won't be good enough.
Something I want to try in my class in the future is the suggestion to look for patterns in mistakes to make the most impact in grammar lessons. I also want to do more of the idea someone had (sorry I can't remember who) or reading passages/stories together and discussing why is that comma (colon, quotation mark, whatever) here?
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I believe punctuation is able to make our writing more powerful. The better we punctuate, the clearer and more effective our message.
ReplyDeleteRon is right. I am always excited about the way punctuation is rhetorical and stylistic.
ReplyDeleteI, too, agree with Ron's statement. Punctuation enables our brains to grab, masticate, and ruminate what we read in order to gain insight and knowledge which we can then regurgitate into the conversation that I like to call life. It's almost like the subtleties we call body language in spoken language.
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