Teaching Grammar For Writers In A Process Oriented Classroom
This article made a lot of really interesting points, my favorite being on page 79, where Bishop stated: “If a text is viewed as revisable, then a student should not be encouraged to edit at the local, sentence level while pushing to develop ideas because those very sentences may disappear in a future draft. If a student spends too much time at this initial thinking-through stage on local issues, he’s much less willing to discard an ineffective sentence or paragraph in the interest of improving the global effect of a paper.” This is something that is super important when looking at process-oriented writing classes, but not something that’s really been discussed so far in our process-over-product readings. I know that focusing on grammar really isn’t the point of composition classes, but its still important. In reading some of the essays written in the class I’m shadowing, grammatical errors are still a huge issue with some of these students, and I’ve noticed the instructor not spending much time on it. I wonder if it might be effectual to kind of evaluate the grammar knowledge of the classroom before diving into grammar lessons though, because the needs of each classroom is different, and the less time you have to spend on the nitty-gritty, the better, but ignoring grammar altogether won’t help prepare students for the higher level classes, and as Bishop points out, is neglectful in our role as English instructors. While composition may be moving farther and farther away from the English department, that’s still where it’s primary focus is.
That being said, I would hope that the majority of students coming to FSU have a solid background in grammar and punctuation, and that the issues they’re still facing with it are quick fixes, because focusing on local instead of global issues denies them the kind of college education they deserve.
This article made a lot of really interesting points, my favorite being on page 79, where Bishop stated: “If a text is viewed as revisable, then a student should not be encouraged to edit at the local, sentence level while pushing to develop ideas because those very sentences may disappear in a future draft. If a student spends too much time at this initial thinking-through stage on local issues, he’s much less willing to discard an ineffective sentence or paragraph in the interest of improving the global effect of a paper.” This is something that is super important when looking at process-oriented writing classes, but not something that’s really been discussed so far in our process-over-product readings. I know that focusing on grammar really isn’t the point of composition classes, but its still important. In reading some of the essays written in the class I’m shadowing, grammatical errors are still a huge issue with some of these students, and I’ve noticed the instructor not spending much time on it. I wonder if it might be effectual to kind of evaluate the grammar knowledge of the classroom before diving into grammar lessons though, because the needs of each classroom is different, and the less time you have to spend on the nitty-gritty, the better, but ignoring grammar altogether won’t help prepare students for the higher level classes, and as Bishop points out, is neglectful in our role as English instructors. While composition may be moving farther and farther away from the English department, that’s still where it’s primary focus is.
That being said, I would hope that the majority of students coming to FSU have a solid background in grammar and punctuation, and that the issues they’re still facing with it are quick fixes, because focusing on local instead of global issues denies them the kind of college education they deserve.