I’m going to use this blog to express how I am still having difficulties in class. This week I was able to understand transitive and intransitive patterns better, but still have a hard time applying them. Even though I can apply them to headlines in the Daily Evergreen, I’m not sure if I would be able to do much more. I can identify a prepositional phrase but I couldn’t honestly tell you what exactly it is. I’m starting to think that I never learned about this because if it had, some sort of memory would have sparked by now. I’m extremely tempted to go out and buy a Grammar for Dummies book. I’m excited for the mini lessons because there are topics that I’m not familiar with at all. Such as: nonrestrictive elements, parallelism and indefinite pronouns. Should be interesting…
I’m not sure what else to mention here. I didn’t feel that I learned a lot this week, especially with the Dora article. I’m hoping the second part of that story is easier to relate to. I don’t want to seem like this week was a total waste of time, because it wasn’t. I think I’m just having a harder time than usual with this.
So my question for the week: does anyone know of a good reference book besides Nitty Gritty or Dummies that would be a good grammar guide?
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Blog Three!
This week in grammar we started out with the “Fish Bowl” discussion, or a Socratic discussion. I had never done this before and was, at first, skeptical. But after our group got rolling on the discussion, I loved it! I think that by doing this we will become better teachers. By being able to sit and discuss different teaching strategies we can learn from each other and each other’s opinions and techniques.
When I did my TL 317 Practicum, the English teachers did something like this. Not the “Fish Bowl” technique but they sat and discussed units from over the semester. They shared their opinions on which ones they should keep as well as new ones they wanted to try. Each teacher shared what they liked and didn’t like about each unit and it was their way of planning and preparing for the following year. As an onlooker, I liked being able to see what texts they were using for their units and how they incorporated their daily activities around these texts. I know they probably didn’t do this year-round, but when preparing for a school year I think it’s a good strategy.
My favorite part about our particular Socratic discussion was how discussed that while learning about the fundamentals of writing, learning the creative aspect of it is important as well. I believe this especially for secondary students because they are “at that age” so to speak. They are figuring out who they are and who they believe it and I think writing is a good way for them to play around with these ideas. Sometimes the whole “intro/body/conclusion” idea gets grilled into them that they forget to add themselves into their work, they forget their own voice. Something I mentioned in my quick write that one thing I love about creative writing is that students can get to engrossed in what they are working on that they forget they are actually learning through the process. Barbara commented on my paper asking me if this was a bad thing. Of course it isn’t! Apart of me hopes that I can make all my units entertaining enough that my kids don’t think they’re learning until they look back and realize what all they are taking from my classroom. Hey, a girl can dream.
As for my question for the week, I had a hard time with the three major sentence patterns and want to make sure I have it right. The magnetic poetry was ridiculously fun and for some, dirty! I know Melissa and I were blushing at our neighbor’s sentences.
An intransitive sentence is subject-verb pattern. It can stand by itself or have a modifier. Ex: The dog peed… on the tree (or window curtain if you have a dumb dog like me).
A transitive sentence is subject-verb-direct object pattern. Unlike the intransitive, it requires the direct object. Ex: My mom baked a cake.
Linking verbs are in a subject-linking verb-subject compliment pattern. So the subject is linked with a description of the subject. Ex: My car drives fast.
So I think these are right but I’m getting to the point where I might need to start making flashcards to keep up with everything. Does anyone have any techniques of how they remember all this? Thanks, and Go Cougs!
When I did my TL 317 Practicum, the English teachers did something like this. Not the “Fish Bowl” technique but they sat and discussed units from over the semester. They shared their opinions on which ones they should keep as well as new ones they wanted to try. Each teacher shared what they liked and didn’t like about each unit and it was their way of planning and preparing for the following year. As an onlooker, I liked being able to see what texts they were using for their units and how they incorporated their daily activities around these texts. I know they probably didn’t do this year-round, but when preparing for a school year I think it’s a good strategy.
My favorite part about our particular Socratic discussion was how discussed that while learning about the fundamentals of writing, learning the creative aspect of it is important as well. I believe this especially for secondary students because they are “at that age” so to speak. They are figuring out who they are and who they believe it and I think writing is a good way for them to play around with these ideas. Sometimes the whole “intro/body/conclusion” idea gets grilled into them that they forget to add themselves into their work, they forget their own voice. Something I mentioned in my quick write that one thing I love about creative writing is that students can get to engrossed in what they are working on that they forget they are actually learning through the process. Barbara commented on my paper asking me if this was a bad thing. Of course it isn’t! Apart of me hopes that I can make all my units entertaining enough that my kids don’t think they’re learning until they look back and realize what all they are taking from my classroom. Hey, a girl can dream.
As for my question for the week, I had a hard time with the three major sentence patterns and want to make sure I have it right. The magnetic poetry was ridiculously fun and for some, dirty! I know Melissa and I were blushing at our neighbor’s sentences.
An intransitive sentence is subject-verb pattern. It can stand by itself or have a modifier. Ex: The dog peed… on the tree (or window curtain if you have a dumb dog like me).
A transitive sentence is subject-verb-direct object pattern. Unlike the intransitive, it requires the direct object. Ex: My mom baked a cake.
Linking verbs are in a subject-linking verb-subject compliment pattern. So the subject is linked with a description of the subject. Ex: My car drives fast.
So I think these are right but I’m getting to the point where I might need to start making flashcards to keep up with everything. Does anyone have any techniques of how they remember all this? Thanks, and Go Cougs!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Post #2: English 326 So Far...
So far this semester it feels as if we have already gone over quite a bit in class. From apostrophe’s to identifying nouns and verbs in headlines, we are well on our way to becoming grammar experts (or so I hope). I enjoyed learning about the apostrophes because it sounds as if whichever way you prefer to use them, you can’t go wrong. There are the old and new ways they are used and we’ve learned from looking at various publications that they all use them differently as well. As much as a relief that is to me, it also is starting to make me consistently doubt myself in my reading and writing. I may think something is wrong but they could use the newer methods. So really, who is to say what is wrong and what is right? Apparently there are not only trends in fashion. This week in class, I thought it was not only interesting but fun to go through the newspaper and identify nouns, verbs and adjectives in the headings. Though I am glad I still remember the difference between those three, I was nervous when people started talking about adverbs and pronouns because those I don’t know the difference between. And I’m a twenty one year old English major! I would completely fail “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?” So even though the first few weeks of school are going well and I already feel as if I’m learning, while I am learning I am also noticing doubts in myself as a writer and future educator. I’m hoping that as the semester goes on, those doubts will go away.
Posing Question: What exactly are adverbs and pronouns and how do they differ from verbs and nouns? I know I could just google it, but it's more fun to ask you all. :)
Posing Question: What exactly are adverbs and pronouns and how do they differ from verbs and nouns? I know I could just google it, but it's more fun to ask you all. :)
Post #1: Self Assessment ... Again
Since my self assessment won't be able to be assessed at the end of the term because of my impressive lack of grammatical knowledge, here I go again...
Having an extra week to get a more solid sense of what will be involved in this course helps me pin down what I need to work on. There are the common apprehensions that I have such as effect vs. affect and the who vs. whom (I can't NOT think of Ross from FRIENDS when I hear "whom"). I think I use commas and semicolons okay but it will be reassuring to learn more about them. My largest concern though, came in class on Wednesday when we were going through the Daily Evergreen. I'm not a total dope, I know nouns, verbs, and adjectives but I felt a little uneasy at adverbs and pronouns. I'm sure once we discuss them more, it'll come back to me but I might need some extra practice.
I hope this gives a better idea of what I can work on, and hopefully at the end of the semester I'll have more confidence in my grammar skills.
Having an extra week to get a more solid sense of what will be involved in this course helps me pin down what I need to work on. There are the common apprehensions that I have such as effect vs. affect and the who vs. whom (I can't NOT think of Ross from FRIENDS when I hear "whom"). I think I use commas and semicolons okay but it will be reassuring to learn more about them. My largest concern though, came in class on Wednesday when we were going through the Daily Evergreen. I'm not a total dope, I know nouns, verbs, and adjectives but I felt a little uneasy at adverbs and pronouns. I'm sure once we discuss them more, it'll come back to me but I might need some extra practice.
I hope this gives a better idea of what I can work on, and hopefully at the end of the semester I'll have more confidence in my grammar skills.
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