tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post8387199873915897858..comments2024-03-28T11:57:21.902-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: The Basic Unit of WritingPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-12708625623576177212017-03-20T12:10:54.005-04:002017-03-20T12:10:54.005-04:00You are so, so correct, Mr. Curmudgucation!You are so, so correct, Mr. Curmudgucation!Cheryl Miller Thurstonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02406028709886568314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-54195172319417778142017-03-17T19:31:08.387-04:002017-03-17T19:31:08.387-04:00It's true that simply learning grammar termino...It's true that simply learning grammar terminology and rules does not necessarily translate into improved writing. I was the weird kid in seventh grade who loved diagramming sentences, but that didn't make me a good writer. It takes a combination of ideas, knowledge, organization, and word choice and syntax. Reading good writing helps, but textbooks and most things on the internet are not good writing. The best way to help students improve their writing is to go over it with them one-on-one, but if you have 30 students, that's pretty difficult.<br /><br />The most important thing to remember is that the purpose of writing, like speaking, is to communicate: to get another person to understand what you think and feel. Grammar is really only important in that too many misspellings or bad syntax or poor word choice can make it more difficult for you to be understood. (And people might assume you're an idiot.)Rebecca deCocahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13168718846105012814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-68751548972596084722017-03-17T15:41:31.729-04:002017-03-17T15:41:31.729-04:00I've been teaching writing for almost 25 years...I've been teaching writing for almost 25 years, and everything Peter says is dead right. <br /><br />When students write terrible sentences, it's sooooo tempting to explain what's wrong; and it's so hard to shake the idea that this explanation will address the problem. But all the research, plus all my experience and that of my colleagues and peers, tells us otherwise.<br /><br />And so does common sense, come to that. No one learns a practice by memorizing abstract rules, and then practicing out-of-context corrections. It's like teaching babies to walk by forbidding them to cross the room until they've filled out a worksheet on the proper posture of the foot and the twenty mistakes to avoid in toe usage, because god forbid they just learn by staggering about, getting up, and trying again. Madeleinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16055922376249533020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-36136963538077323082017-03-17T06:45:02.462-04:002017-03-17T06:45:02.462-04:00There has been an uptick in my kids' ELA instr...There has been an uptick in my kids' ELA instruction in discrete aspects of writing: grammar, spelling, usage, vocabulary, structure (5-sentence paragraphs and 5-paragraph essays ad nauseum). These things are too often being addressed apart from *actual* writing, through drills and busywork-type assignments, but Heaven forbid through actual writing that might conform to some other structure. Doesn't help that teachers have less and less time available for reading and for giving meaningful feedback, but those one-thing-at-a-time drills ARE good for one thing: gathering measurable data in data-driven school systems like mine. *sigh*CrunchyMamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14434606158400653601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-15004394107634662432017-03-16T13:58:31.326-04:002017-03-16T13:58:31.326-04:00Ugh, I was going to say, "My kids do have a p...Ugh, I was going to say, "My kids do have a pretty good idea what they want to say without worrying too much about what the teacher wants to hear." I decided to delete the last part of that, but I guess I didn't get all of it. Sorry. Yes, English is my first language....Diennehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04570040547158789834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-12583069983749435042017-03-16T10:58:25.095-04:002017-03-16T10:58:25.095-04:00"And in the modern test-centered education er..."And in the modern test-centered education era, we have compounded the problem by teaching students that their central question should be "What am I supposed to write for this?""<br /><br />Well, maybe. Maybe the testing age has made that worse. But I grew up well before the testing age and I knew from early on that the question was never what do I want to say, but rather, what does the teacher want to read? I think the bug there is in the nature of traditional schooling.<br /><br />On the other hand, having now been through nearly five years, I'm not sure that progressive schooling is the answer either. My kids do have a pretty good idea what they want to say without. But they have no idea how. Their writing is atrocious because they've been taught very few rules of grammar, usage, spelling, sentence structure, etc.<br /><br />There's got to be a happy medium.Diennehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04570040547158789834noreply@blogger.com