Coming into this class I figured I would be learning the basics of how
to use grammar—what I didn’t realize was that there is no “correct” way to
write [dash to indicate the quick change in tone]. When it comes to
teaching grammar, it’s a whole new process that I had no idea about; you have to
keep culture in mind. This concept is not something I had thought of when I
thought of becoming an English teacher. In the article by Christianson when he
spoke about students making no mistakes because they were holding back in their
writing it really spoke to me. In my writing I tend to stick to Standard English
just because that is what we are taught is correct. As I think about it though,
as the reader, many people enjoy reading books that have a certain voice and
tone that writer has created for the story, rather than a text book that is
written in Standard English. It is so important to add a voice to your writing,
or else everyone all sounds the same. As the article by Christianson and “Grammar
Alive!” both covered, it is still important to teach Standard English because
in our society they are going to need it. It is basically “adding another
language variety to the students' linguistic toolbox” and as Christianson put
it, “it’s the language power of this country”. The context behind Christianson’s quote is that her student Fred was
struggling with writing; while she helped him find his voice in his writing,
she also felt it would be cheating him if she didn’t teach him Standard English
as well [run on sentence broken up by a semicolon].
Something
that I really took from Christianson’s article was the lesson where she had all
of his students talk to each other about hardships that they each faced. To me,
this is very important in writing because without that openness you can’t write
from the heart, which is what someday I hope own student will feel comfortable doing.
I also think that it will create the class to feel much closer to each other
which is also so important in writing because when you’re just learning to
write, being comfortable with your audience is a huge key to success.
Overall, our reading scared me in a way… [ellipsis
used for dramtic effect] As a
teacher you aren’t just given a curriculum and told to teach it—it’s so much
more than that. America is a “melting pot” and every single person in the world
has their own language and their own voice that is still considered English, so
as a teacher you are required to learn to teach everyone for their own voice.
As a teacher I never want anyone to feel as though they have to change their
culture or their background because it causes them to make grammatical errors
in Standard English. As a teacher I want to embrace all the different cultures
and my main focus to be that my students are writing from the heart about
things they’re passionate about without having to hold back.
I like Brandies thinking when she states how as an English teacher she didn’t think about having to teach grammar to her students. I feel the same way because I thought by teaching high school it was something that most teachers didn’t focus on. I agree when Brandie called this a melting pot because it is true… everyone comes here with different ideas of how to write and speak to others. I like how you incorporated many of these patterns in your paper. It shows that you have an understanding about how to use these grammar rules. Though, I think a spot where you could have used a semicolon is in the sentence where it states “In the article by Christianson when he spoke about students making no mistakes because they were holding back in their writing it really spoke to me.” I think adding a semicolon after this sentence and connecting the following sentence will work since they are similar.
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