"From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put."
Winston Churchill
Quick, who can state the rule that governs the nonsense stated above? Ding, Ding! You are correct in stating that you never end a sentence with a preposition. But what if applying the grammar rule makes the sentence nonsense? On more than one occassion, I've struggled over whether something I've written is grammatically correct. If I can't figure it out, I rewrite a different sentence altogether to avoid being judged by the "grammarians" among us. I doubt I'm the only one who has ever been in this situation, so if adults occassionally struggle, imaging how kids feel!
Writing is perhaps the most challenging of all subjects I’m asked to teach at the elementary level, and I believe that many, if not most, elementary teachers would agree. Math, science, social studies, even reading, I can find usually find some approach to meet the needs (and often inspire) even the reluctant learners in my classroom. (Remind me again why I opted for an elementary classroom where I have to teach all subjects, instead of secondary where I could focus on one or two?) But getting a student to put pencil to paper and document their thoughts – that’s a tough one. Meeting the increasing demand over the past several years to fine-tune writing across the curriculum (mostly geared toward improving standardized test scores) - that’s even tougher. So when someone poses the question about whether teaching grammar improves students’ writing, it seems like a no-brainer. Except, that it’s not...
Writing is perhaps the most challenging of all subjects I’m asked to teach at the elementary level, and I believe that many, if not most, elementary teachers would agree. Math, science, social studies, even reading, I can find usually find some approach to meet the needs (and often inspire) even the reluctant learners in my classroom. (Remind me again why I opted for an elementary classroom where I have to teach all subjects, instead of secondary where I could focus on one or two?) But getting a student to put pencil to paper and document their thoughts – that’s a tough one. Meeting the increasing demand over the past several years to fine-tune writing across the curriculum (mostly geared toward improving standardized test scores) - that’s even tougher. So when someone poses the question about whether teaching grammar improves students’ writing, it seems like a no-brainer. Except, that it’s not...
The question was first posed to me in a rhetoric class last semester. Having taught grammar as part of our district’s curriculum for the past ten years, my gut reaction was, of course, to answer, “Yes!” (I may have even been thinking, “Duh, what a stupid question!” but fortunately I kept this thought to myself!) After some discussion and reflection as to how and why grammar instruction does or does not improve students’ writing, my initial, somewhat emotional, gut reaction waivered somewhat, but I didn’t have enough information to definitively change my mind. After reading Connor’s historical account of how grammar came to play a part in rhetoric, and Hartwell’s argument in support that grammar does not improve students’ writing, I am waivering even more.
Our reading for this week suggests that children’s cultural language is engrained within them by the age of five, without any study of grammatical rules. When I teach my fourth graders about writing, I tell them that when they read aloud what they’ve written, they will know whether or not it sounds right. Obviously, when Churchill moved the preposition from the end of his above quote in accordance with the rule to never end a sentence with a preposition, it just didn't sound right. This seems reasonable based on what we’ve read. However, I am shocked to read that the debate about whether or not writing improves students’ writing has been going on for so long. I am equally shocked that scholars still can’t agree on a position. It seems that we should be able to look at what’s been tried in the past and learn from these experiences. Perhaps Hartwell stated it best in when he said that we are constrained to reinvent the wheel, [but] too often the wheel we reinvent is square (581). Research seems to support that teaching grammar does not improve students' writing. Research also supports that writing a word numerous times does not help a student become a better speller. Yet we continue to follow this old and beaten path as we assign our students the "three times each" for their spelling lists. Now granted, change takes time, and it would be a hard sell to convince school districts (and many teachers) to stop teaching grammar. I'm not 100% sold myself, but I'm at least willing to entertain the thought. But how can we ask students to learn from past mistakes when we as adults struggle ourselves? While we continue such battles as whether teaching grammar improves students' writing, how important is it to spell correctly (especially given today's technological capabilities), etc., the students continue to fall farther behind. Isn't it time we pay attention to what works and what doesn't and come up with some concrete answers? Our children's futures are at stake...
I keep coming back to our conversation a few weeks ago in class. If students will never write the way they are expected to write in our classrooms, why teach that style of writing? Text messaging is a variation on the skill of shorthand. Is grammar and physical format important if the rhetoric is present and effective? I think the biggest fear is the unknown. What will the future bring? What will the expectation be for our students? What will teachers be held accountable for in relation to test scores? In this economy, can non-tenure teachers go against the grain AND can we relax these grammatical concepts that may be a deciding factor as to whether or not our students find jobs after school in this competitive market?
ReplyDeleteThe three times each thing on spelling drives me nuts. I can see using it as a tool for children who may benefit from the repetition and practice, but why start off that way?
ReplyDeleteI had to chuckle at you quote--I think of that every time I end a sentence with a preposition. Sometimes it just works better to do so! That's what I tried to teach my students . . . that sure, there were "rules" but sometimes you need to break them for stylistic purposes.
I also didn't teach as if Standard English was the "right" language . . . I taught from the perspective that it was more formal and mostly wide read and understood. That dialects were okay and and there's a time and place for most forms of speech.
I am with all of you when it comes to breaking the rules. I tell my students rules are made to be broken, as long as breaking the rule(s) is more effective for conveying your messag eto your audience. I try to ingrain that all of their choices in writing should be filtered and influenced by audience and purpose.
ReplyDeleteI am also on the bandwagon regarding SAE and dialects, again considering audience and effectiveness.
So, what to do when so many agree, but we're still NOT MAKING PROGRESS??!!