Grammar Blog #4

So ends another week of school, and of two meetings of English 326. I am enjoying the pace that the class is going so far, but I feel that harder times and larger workloads (from this class and others) are just around the corner. This week’s work load was very moderate, with only a few readings, but the two classes were both important.

On Monday we went over prepositional phrases and transitive and intransitive verbs. Prepositional phrases have always been easy for me, as I feel they are for most people, because it only requires looking for a key word such as: out, over, behind, etc. Intransitive and transitive verbs are still giving me a few problems, because they don’t always follow the examples that we have on our sheets. I feel like I can get them right about 75% of the time, but I think I understand them more and more every day.

The Socratic Circle was more important event of the week as we are trying to figure out what works best. Last week we tried the two circles where one circle still couldn’t talk, and this week we tried one big circle with open discussion. I found this to be an improvement over the two circles because it forced me to pay attention most of the time, but I still had several problems with it. My first problem was that although we are supposed to be having a conversation with the whole class I felt it was generally half the class talking and half listening and only making one or two comments. I know this because I was one of the students only making one or two comments, and yes, I did have more to say. I feel that students like me like to wait until they can speak without being interrupted, but this can be very difficult to do with big groups.

Another issue that makes the whole class discussion difficult is the long pauses after someone speaks. These pauses are caused because students feel they have something to say, but they also know that at least five other students want to speak, so they wait, awkwardly, not sure if they should speak.

The last problem I had with the discussion was that although Professor Monore was not speaking she sat in the front of the classroom with no students around her. Now, this is not a criticism towards Professor Monore, I am only mentioning it because I noticed this completely changed the way I went about saying things. When I commented I wanted to say things that would make the professor happy, and I also noticed I was looking directly at Professor Monore when I spoke, and I failed to look around the room. I doubt this was a problem with other students, but it did cause me to act differently.

I like discussions of any sort, even big group discussions as they are so much better than many of my other classes where the teacher lectures about the most irrelevant topics. The big group discussion does work, it does allow everyone to talk and allows everyone to listen and understand each other as a group.

Grammar Blog #3

It’s already the fifth week of school, and I am so happy. Mostly happy because I am an English major and that means I don’t have any tests! Anyway, the last week we have done several new things in grammar class including the Socratic Circle and sentence structure exercises.

Although the Socratic Circle was not as exciting as the uses of the F- word, it was still a good learning lesson. I learned that I didn’t like it. When I sat on the outside I felt like I had important things to say, but by the time I was on the inside my incredibly short attention span forced me to stop paying attention. The Socrates Circle is sometimes referred to as a fish bowl, unfortunately the fish bowl allowed my short attention span to resemble a gold fish. I also found that the other problem with the Socrates Circle was that sometimes a few students can take over the group and not allow others to talk. This is why I have always preferred small groups. I find that small groups give students more face to face interaction and forces students to pay attention.

Also the last week we worked with poetry magnets to learn about sentence structure. I must say this is one of the most entertaining English exercises I have ever done, and it will be used frequently in my classroom. Although my experience may have been more fun then other classmates as me and Carley made a country song that included entertaining lines such as, “Ugly woman are the reason I kill myself.” Overall along with being entertaining the learning experience was excellent as well. I feel like I understand direct objects, transitive verbs, and intransitive verbs a little better, and with practice I think I can completely understand them.

Although I said that I am beginning to understand direct objects, intransitive verbs, and transitive verbs a little better, I am still not confident enough to try to explain them in this blog (plus our last class was on Wednesday, and I tend to not think about school over the weekend), but does anyone have any methods they use to help memorize these and other grammar rules?

Blog #2

Grammar has always been something I have wanted to, and needed to know more of in order to be a decent English major when I graduate. It’s almost scary for me to think that in a year I will be teaching. The fear does not come from any lack of confidence in my teaching, but comes from my lack of grammar knowledge. At this point I am fearful that although I know what is correct, I still have difficulty explaining the reasons behind the rule. So, after three weeks of grammar class what have I learned? Well to be honest I feel it is still too soon to ask that question in a fifteen week semester, but there are a few new pieces of grammar I have picked up.

My biggest issue has always been commas. One rule we have discussed is: when in doubt, leave it out. I like this rule as it helps my papers flow smoother with fewer commas. But, like many English rules this rule is not really a rule, it’s just a guideline. This is where I and many high school students become very confused.
Apostrophes that show possession are also an area in which I have always struggled. Just by doing the house style assignment I feel like I have learned and noticed things that I have not noticed before regarded apostrophes. Again, I noticed that although there are rules, clearly people follow them differently. In Road & Track I found many inconsistencies with the apostrophes. With the many incorrect grammar mistakes with apostrophes, it’s obvious why someone would have a difficult time understand apostrophes.

Overall, by the end of the semester I hope to be able to explain grammar rules to my students efficiently enough that they understand me. I also hope to find rules that are concrete rules. This class is important for me and my future job, so I hope to learn as much as I can about grammar.


Question: Does Microsoft Word help or hinder grammar learning?