I will admit I have never been a huge fan of grammar. All through high school only one of my teachers had the courage to try and teach her students the fine points of the English Language. It was hard and grueling and tedious work but I did learn a lot only to forget most all of it by the beginning of my next year of school. It wasnt until last year in college while fullfilling my language requirement that I once again was forced, kicking and screaming, to relearn grammar. It was this second time around that I realized just how important it really is to understand grammar and how much it will help you when writing your papers. Since last year I have been much more dedicated to understanding grammar.
The first twelve pages of the Image Grammar brought back some not so fond memories of learning grammar in High School. However, once I got a few pages into the text I realized that the technique for teaching the grammar was through creative writing which I think is a brilliant idea. Grammar is usually seen as a bunch of rules that must be followed when writing an essay or a formal paper but isn't practicle in poetry or stories. By teaching grammar with creative writing that myth is easily dispelled. I for one love writing poetry and I have found that the quality of my writing has improved dramatically since I've relearned grammar. Plus by allowing the student to do creative writing with grammar it makes the grammar more fun and engaging.
I also liked the amount of examples and the stress on modeling and repetition of the techniques learned. Grammar is somehting that takes hard work and practice and practice and practice if you want it to stick.
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2 comments:
Absolutely. One of my favorite things about creative writing is that it is limitless! I think a really good way to engage students in their own writing is to have them write about themselves and their own experience, because it is their story and no one else's, and therefore they get to make up the rules they use. We'll get into that a little more on Monday.
I love how Noden focuses on sentence structures, mainly, as opposed to parts and pieces. I think students have much more success and place much more investment into improving their writing if they can see how these structures can help them. Sometimes I ask them to choose one sentence and then make it into a "monster" sentence, using as much imagery and brushstrokes as possible to "grow" that sentence. Usually this one exercise shows them the potential they have to rethink their own writing and begin to see it creatively.
Good blogging John :)
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