Grammar Time!

Grammar time...take it down now.  You hear the song, too?!

I confess:  I love teaching grammar.  Very.  Much.

But.  Most students do not enjoy nor share the passion I have for teaching grammar, and, to be honest, my thoughts on the teaching of said subject has changed much over the past decade, for I have taught straight out of the textbook (these years taught me grammar, also), traveling so far that I no longer use the textbook (although one is needed at times), now creating most of what I do utilize.

To be continued...

To Speak...or to Listen

Just bless them!  My students can talk...and talk...and talk some more when I would they prefer not; but ask them to present, and every nerve in their bodies become agitated!

In my now 30 years of teaching and encouraging students to present, only twice have I had a student have to take a Take 2.  Oh, many have wanted to bow out, but my expectations will always excel their willingness to negate.  Those who needed those few minutes to remember to breathe?  Yes, they survived, and I imagine have told this story themselves numerous times!

Why require speaking and listening skills of students?  Not only are they a part of the Arkansas State Standards, every secondary student must enroll in oral communications class, as required by state graduation guidelines.  Why?  The answer:   A student's success rests on the foundation of communication.  One's successes and one's failures, all stem from that person's ability to relate, whether verbally or non, to those in his/her culture.

Unfortunately, for students?  Teachers love to talk.  So true.  As I reflect on just the previous three weeks, I know that shift needs to begin...and soon...from so much teacher talk to more student conversation and responses.  Yet...here we are in a pandemic, where social distancing necessitates our every move, yet where becoming even better communicators remains vital.

Where once my desks were arranged to create tables of five, now those desks are lined up in rows as far apart as the room's breadth and width will allow.  Where once these gatherings of minds planned, created, and presented group projects, now they sit apart...but...thanks to technology...Rona will be conquered.

So tell me...for this project, once completed as a group face-to-face, how might this same (or modified) project be achieved?

Not My Job...or Is It?

This week, the teacher interns and I have focused on reading, mainly how to engage students, draw them into conversations, and stimulate their thinking.  All the fun aspects of teaching literacy!  Right?  Except for that student who does not read on grade level.  As a teacher of English 11, I have to ask, "How does a student arrive in Cafe Gillmore and not read on grade level (or at least secondary level)?  AND...how do I teach reading?!"  

In Arkansas, all third graders are to be reading on grade level 2020,  with the hopes of increasing graduation rates, for not to read on grade level by third grade more likely means these students will not finish high school.  Quite the challenge.  Especially when one considers...

To be continued...

Write Right...or Wrong?

Originally posted at Secondary English Methods.
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From my student intern (and she is not the first) who questioned why seniors cannot...or do not...write better than they do.  To this observation, I have several responses.

The Argument

1. We teach the "regular" students, meaning that, because of advanced classes, more of the "better writers" may not be in our classes.
2. English teachers are not writers, meaning that we do not practice what we preach; therefore, teachers themselves do not grow as writers and prefer to not model this in front of their students.
3. Teachers continue to teach as they always have, resulting in their students learning (or not) what they have always taught.
4. Teachers do not assign enough writing, and, as the saying goes, "practice does make perfect"...or, at least, more perfect...or not perfect, in this case, as students then do not write much, if any.

Now...take a few seconds, and re-read 1-4.  With whom do lack of writing skills lie?

Your answer?

The answer:  teachers.

Agree?  Disagree?

Pause for a moment and consider...would you write much more for this class than what I have assigned?  Are you writing much now?  Have you grown as a writer because of your college classes?

Now, for the other side of the argument = 

Yes, The Counter-Argument

1. Too many students are happy with a 59.45%.  They truly do not care to learn enough to master any skill being taught.
2. Some students just truly do not like to write.  Yes.  Those beings are really out there.  (Here's where you reply, "Sure glad I am not such a student!")

The Rebuttal

1. Do students truly dislike writing...or have they just not been taught The How?
2. Do these students dislike writing...or have they just not written enough?  Please see #2-4 in The Argument Section.
3. Are we beginning to go in circles?  Not accomplishing much, are we?
4. Accomplishment then becomes the answer.  See below!

The Gillmore Answer

1. Teach the kids to write.  Sentences.  Chunks.  Paragraphs.  Essays.  Just have them write!
2. Find a method that speaks to you, that drives your writing, that helps your students master The Unknown...aka The Land of Writing.
3. This happened for me when I attended my first Step UP to Writing workshop.
4. This continued when I learned about Jane Schaffer's Model.
5. This continued as I read...and read...
6. Are you reading?
7. Interesting, isn't it?  Good writers are good readers.  OR are good readers just good writers?  AND great writers are tremendous readers.  OR are write-beside-them writers absolutely the most ferocious readers? Are we going in circles again...OR are we witnessing a pattern that is true?

The Model

When all is said and done, YOU are the model...every day...from bell to bell.  Your writing skills, with a doubt, directly impact your students.  Every day.  Therefore, be a writer; assign writing; write with your students.  Just write right.

Good luck!