I just read the article by Joseph Williams, so maybe error is weighing heavy on my mind. I am struggling in this area with the online grading. I never took a grammar class. Please do not tell anyone because so far, I am really enjoying my job. In my high school, if you were in the honors program, you took advanced literature classes instead of grammar. So while many of my classmates were learning "that/which" rules, I was reading Sister Carrie. At the time, I was loving it. I'll pick up a novel any day over a grammar handbook. Today, I'm loving it not so much because I'm feeling the effects (or is it affects?). See, I would know that if I had been in the grammar class. What I'm trying to get to here is I feel ill-prepared to correct grammatical errors in my students' papers. Sure, I know some things like when to use an apostrophe and usually when and where to use a comma, but I would never notice many of the errors Williams uses as examples in his article. Does this mean I am a terrible grader?
In addition, I struggle with the why factor. Many of the rules, thankfully, come naturally to me. I just sense that a comma goes here or there, but I don't know the rule. Is anyone else in this boat? Sometimes, then, I am not sure how to explain this to the student. I refuse to rely on the "Because I said so" phrase my parents loved so much. How important is it to be able to explain an error and correction with a rule in a grammar book?
I know I am helping the students improve their writing, but I always feel as if I fall short, that I could be helping them more.
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3 comments:
I am so glad that someone else feels a little grammar-inadequate sometimes! It is hard to understand how to weigh different 'errors' and how to try to work against them when we are so error-prone in different ways ourselves. I often wonder if students expect us as graders or teachers to be perfect and to absolute understanding of the subject. I remember being disappointed in my teachers when they were stumped over a question and they had to admit that they didn't know the answer. However, by what right does anyone assume that someone is a massive domain of knowledge? I know that I never claimed to know it all, especially grammar! However, I would love to be able to understand grammar and all the elements that I am going to teach thoroughly because I do not want to let anyone down... It's hard to acknowledge that one day, I will probably do just that.
I think everyone feels grammar-inadequate when they start teaching...but you DO, out of necessity, learn more than you knew before!
I also think your "natural" grammar proclivity is a direct result of your reading.
What we have to do, then, is either get students to read, or figure out how the other "literacies" they are involved with might help them structure their thoughts more coherently.
Ideas?
I also feel challenged in my grammar ability. In order to grade my students' essays (which I am very behind on) I had to take a couple of days to give myself a crash course in grammar. I'm still reeling from it. First I consulted the Webster's Guide, then something easier that I found online, then something easier than that, that uses bunnies to explain grammar. So when a grad student in our class complains that their 18-yr old students can't do grammar, I hang my grad-student head in shame.
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