Weaver Ch 5

First off, I dreaded this chapter the moment I read the title. After spending this summer working my ass off and not having many breaks from a busy schedule, the last thing I wanted to do was read about grammar for anything other than my grammar class. Then I started getting into the text a bit more and realized I actually kind of liked it… sort of. I like that it speaks the truth about grammar. It’s often found to be boring, the way it’s taught is often too complex, and there are instances where it is taught improperly.

I liked the concept of simplifying the terminology to better suite the students. Right from the get-go the author talks about some of the mistakes teachers make. Whether marking every incorrect aspect of a paper or being afraid to do so, teachers need to be able to adjust to help the students learn properly and not do one extreme or the other. We need to, as the subtitle in the chapter states, “narrow our focus and limit the terminology.” But sticking to what needs attention and not going overboard with explaining it in terms the students won’t understand, we need to help them improve their skills without overwhelming them.

One part of this text that I really liked was the list of sentences from Hariston’s study on page 109. Giving this to students at the beginning of the unit and then revisiting them once the unit has been completed may help students understand their development. Not only this, but having basic sentences to work through will help students understand more clearly.

The portion of the text on what we should emphasis in our teaching also helped. Although I feel like this is just one opinion and that every teacher has a right to decide what to teach, just as much as the author. One aspect within this section that I found to be helpful was when the author broke down Hunt's research and showed specifics from different grades. She uses portions of students' writings and explains the significance of each excerpt.