Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Riding , Essential Grammar Questions and rambling

A post without purpose................

I thought long and hard about riding the 6 hours of Ithaca this weekend. I was going to ride with team members, take some pulls and log six hours in the saddle. It would require 4 hours of driving, lots of $$ and that course is not very much fun. I am going to save my cash, ride at Fort Custer and prep for the Wilderness 101

What is the most effective and meaningful way to teach grammar in the secondary school? Practice, repetition and skittles as reward. Invite the kids to come to class on a Saturday, remove all outside stimulation. Hide the clock, pull the blinds closed and spend a few hours drilling it into their brains. It would be intense suffering but should last a lifetime.
Studies show that public schools are failing in this area. I did not learn grammatical terms until last summer when I was studying for the GRE. If I do not have a solid grasp as a writer, what can I expect from my students?

How are the science of grammar and the art of writing related, and how can they be combined for the purpose of instruction?
Both are involved in the process and you cannot have one without the other. A well polished piece of writing should communicate a message with clarity and be error free. These rules and regulations could be taught effectively through practice. You don't need an understanding of the rules to necessarily follow them.

a worshipper of martyrs, present,
future and past the point of just existing
keep listening to a message through headphones
avoid the 10 o'clock news
ignore the front page headlines
look past the shambles and
bullet casings on the sidewalk in your neighborhood.
Keep walking,
dreaming,
evolving,
ignoring.
DFrayer 7-15-07

1 comment:

moosta said...

I'm really glad that you mentioned that you are just learning grammar now (as a college student) and that both the science of grammar and the art of writing are involved in what you called "the process." You added to this in class when you said how you felt when you even saw the word "grammar" and that you felt that it was very opposed to creative writing (which you enjoy) but now you're seeing the relationship, and realizing that as a creative writer, you may a pretty extensive knowledge of grammar after all.