"Ranking, Evaluating, & Liking" by Elbow and "Grammar, Grammars, and Teaching Grammar" by Hartwell

     I'm sure most people involved in education have seen this cartoon by now. I view this as a fair representation of the standardized test; some students are better equipped to climb the tree (or pass the test). It was one of the first things to come to mind as I read "Ranking, Evaluating, & Liking" by Elbow. As long as the end result is all that matters, students who may have different abilities will suffer.

     Elbow's section entitled "The Benefits and Feasibility of Liking" hits on something I learned a couple of years ago- I can offer much better feedback (which will lead to improvements in the writing) if I embrace each writer for who he or she is. Expecting each student to write like Hemingway, or trying to steer him or her in that direction, is counter-intuitive to helping that student discover who he or she is as a writer.

     It has been so much easier to accept the abilities of each individual and encourage personal strengths. As Elbow says, "liking leads to improvements." As long as the students don't feel that their hard work is going to be trashed, their will continue to work and may work harder the next time. In districts such as mine, where the average writer is struggling, this can mean all the difference.

     In "Grammar, Grammars, and Teaching Grammar", Hartwell addresses whether or not teaching grammar has an impact on students. My experience has shown that very few students put the rules they learn about grammar in their arsenal when it assignment time comes. When it is taught at the high school level, students will memorize it long enough to take the assessment, then forget all about it.

     My most recent bit of evidence for this came just this past week. The week before was spent identifying pronouns and antecedents. I was amazed at how involved the students were with the topic, mainly because I assumed freshmen in high school would have this under their belts already. My classes worked really hard all week, encouraging one another to the point that the class averages on the practices and the eventual quiz were in the upper 80's. I thought to myself, "Good. They learned that skill." How naive I was. 

     This past Tuesday, not a week later, I revisited the concept and asked the students to identify the pronouns in some sentences. These very same students were identifying verbs, adjectives, and adverbs; anything but what they had just showed me they "learned". The point of this long, heart-breaking tale? The students can still write using pronouns effectively, they just can't label them as such. Teaching the students proper grammar will not have as much an impact as teaching them how to articulate a thought and develop an idea.

     As far as the final project goes, I am good with the ideas discussed in class so far. I'm really excited for possibly bringing in some form of pop culture to cement a concept. It's something I do for my students a lot. We'll have to see what kind of ideas germinated over the past week.

I didn't want Calvin to feel left out