Blog 7

After reading Deborah Dean’s article, which was about the idea of no longer teaching grammar from a textbook, it made me think of a few things (starting with an AWWUBIS to create a complex sentence. Deborah was taught—as an educator—what to and how to teach her own students (dashes to show emphasis, also an appositive to give more information on the noun, in this case Deborah). She believed that teaching by the book, using strict guidelines to teach her students the ins and outs of what is known as “Standard English.” It was originally believed that this was the best way to accomplish the goal of educating young students and preparing them for the world. Standard English was the way to go, and these rigid rules were to be followed, if not, the student would be marked wrong, shown how to correct and made to rinse-and-repeat, so to say, the uses, rules, and applications of English Grammar.

This was until an epiphany she had. Written language is supposed to be a documentable version of English’s spoken language. When we speak, we don’t think about grammar. When we write, we write as if we would be speaking. A professional author probably does not bother him or herself much about how many semicolons they are using, if they properly used a colon, or if there is a balance between complex and simple sentences in their art. They just write. They don’t go over every nook and cranny of their essays with a “How to: English Grammar for Dummies” guide. They just write.

Writing is an extension of our own voice; it is a finite and concrete way to ensure that what we have to say will be preserved on paper for years to come. Enforcing traditional grammar hinders students’ voices. It forces them to speak in only properly defined guidelines. It smothers their creativity and chokes out their identity of self. These are the things I want to keep in mind when teaching my own students. Because one’s writing should reflect their voice, grammar should be taught with spoken language in mind. Use punctuation to best reflect your ideas of how your spoken word would appear on paper. Don’t concern yourself with the logistics off the why... look at the why not.

Writing should give students freedom to express themselves. My mini lesson would be centered around those ideas. An idea I had would be to teach the students all of the different punctuations, their meanings and their uses in rhetoric and which can be substituted for another, then have them write anything they felt like. It wouldn’t be long, just a paragraph about something important to them. I would have them write it and use punctuation to make it read as close to the way that they would speak it. This lets them practice their own patterns and exercise their own creativity, using their own language. Once they were done, I would have them defend why they chose a certain punctuation over another, tell why they wrote it they way they did.

Language is a tool to use; and a tool should never control the user. Written language is a convention, humans invented it, and they can change it too.

Blog 6

Growing up military, and namely outside of Louisiana, I would always get the same question from my teachers after roll call.( Participle, shows state of action) As their eyes skimmed the list, absentmindedly calling names to a chorus of “here,” I would see them stop and stare at one near the bottom of the roster. As their eyes flitted between confusion and curiosity, I knew it was my name they had stopped on. “Taylor—um—Taylor T?” I would laugh and correct them, and inevitably, this question would follow: What an interesting last name! Where did it come from? I would say its Cajun, to which I would always get the answer “You mean. . .  Like the food?”

There are very few out there who know that Cajun is a culture, a language, and a way of life. This springs from the fact that the Cajun culture is only found in south Louisiana, a very small area. But Cajun culture is as diverse as any, and rich in traditions. Unfortunately, the Cajun language was all but obliterated in as little as a single generation.

The Cajun people originated in France. In the 1700’s, a small group, no more than 15,000, left France for Canada. Once there they lived in peace with the local Indian tribes, sharing farming methods and land, until in 1754 the British army invaded. One of the Majors of the British army, Major Charles Lawrence, demanded the French settlers—now called Acadians—to convert from Catholicism to the protestant church. (Two Appositives, shows more information on the French settlers)

When they refused, chaos followed. Many where shipped off to kingdom come, landing either in England or along the new colonies of America. Some tried going back to France, where they where, and still are, treated as outcasts. This wandering continued for the Acadian people, until they came to the Spanish Colony of Louisiana. While the Spaniards thought of the Acadians as illiterate and uneducated, they offered them a home, and over the next decade or so, about 3,000 Acadians settled in the bayous and swamplands of Louisiana.

In the 1920’s, to be labeled “Cajun” was synonymous with “hillbilly” or “redneck” or “trailer trash.” Hardly anyone was proud of their Cajun heritage; many refused to speak Cajun, a dialect of French, and refused to teach their children it. Because of this, there rose a generation of people who could understand Cajun French, but not necessarily speak it.

Blog 5

The article I read was on Chicano English. After reading this article, I realized there was actually very little I knew about the subject [complex sentence with a dependent clause to begin, this shows the connection in time and emphasizes when the events take happen sequentially, it also emphasizes what comes next]. This article’s main purpose was debunking several myths about Chicano.

The First myth was: “Chicano English is spoken by people whose first language is Spanish, and whose Spanish introduced mistakes into their English.” This myth was debunked by the fact that most speakers of Chicano English are not actually bilingual. This means those who speak Chicano don’t necessarily speak Spanish [ In this I used the relative pronoun “who” because it is talking about all speakers of Chicano, it is also used to encompass a large number of people].

The next myth was: “Chicano English is the same as Spanglish.” This really threw me around the loop. Before reading this, I had never heard of Chicano before, in all of the places I grew up, most people spoke Spanglish. As I read this, I immediately assumed that Chicano was another variation of Spanglish, but this is not the case. Most speakers of Spanglish are fully  fluent in both Spanish and English, but, like previously stated, this is not the case in Chicano.

Next was the myth: “Chicano English is a dialect spoken mostly by gang members and not used by middle-class Latinos and Latinas.” This myth is actually a common misconception with most dialects of standard English. Cajun dialects are thought to be only used by rednecks, Appalachian dialects are stereotyped to hillbillies. What seems to be perpetuating these awful labels are films. Many gang members in films are portrayed as speaking Chicano English, which only serves to make those who don’t know about Chicano to get the wrong ideas about it.

The last myth was: “Chicano English is merely incorrect grammar.” This myth, similar to the last, is also not only reserved for Chicano. Many people believe that the different dialects of standard English are simply people brutalizing the language. I would have to admit, a while back, I too thought that people that spoke the dialect in say, Philadelphia, were simply too lazy to use proper grammar. Then I moved out of the south and to Arizona. There, where people constantly told me that I was using incorrect grammar, I realized something was up. It wasn’t until I got back from Germany, were I spent three years speaking what is known as Standard English, because that was the English that the Germans knew and when I used my own variation of slang it confused people, I realized that grammar is a personal preference.

What I consider to be “proper grammar” differs greatly from others. Every dialect has its own complex grammar system, and we don’t even realize that we use it. It is ingrained into us at a young age. I am also taking a phonology class and we were talking about this a few days ago. You can always tell when someone is trying to emulate your dialect/accent who isn’t actually from the area of the world that you are from. It is because they aren’t raised with the grammar that you are raised in, and it is something that they will never be able to fully copy, as it isn’t their grammar system. For me, not spending enough time in any one place to fully learn the grammar of the dialect there, my language is a mix of many different dialects, all partially learned and grown into a unique language I can call my own.

Blog Post 4

1.     Dashes

As I read both chapters of Grammar Alive and the Christiansen article, I found myself both heartily agreeing—and disagreeing—with what was being said. (English 326:Blog Post number 2, September 2015)

In this example, the dash is being used as a parenthetical. Dashes used in place of parentheses or commas are really good at making sure to show that what is in the dashes are separate from the sentence but also integral. These are more of an aside, the writers feelings, as opposed to extra information that is typically supplied with the use of commas.

“…[S]he did not emphasize her feminine qualities. Though her features were strong, she was not unattractive and might have been quite stunning had she taken even a mild interest in clothing. This she did not. There was never lipstick to contrast with her strait black hair, while at the age of thirty-one her dresses showed all the imagination of English adolescents… Unfortunately… There was no denying she had a good brain.”

—James D. Watson. The Double Helix. 1968

(English 298: Final Research Paper. Fall 2014)

In this particular example, the dash is used to show an attribution. This is a quote I used in my final research paper a few semesters back and I used it to start my entire paper. Because of the size of the quote, and that fact that it needs to stand alone, apart from the rest of the paper, a simple parenthetical citation will not suffice. In cases like this you use dashes to show who gave the quote.

Honestly it can get annoying—but I digress. (English 326: Blog Post 2. September 2015)

Similar to the first example, dashes set apart the authors personal thoughts. It can also show a change in mood. If you are writing a piece that is generally serious, but want to add something to change the mood briefly, a dash is a good way to go. It can be used to add additional information that is either important to the sentence, or just a fun aside.

2.     Semicolons

In 1953, Franklin produced the photograph that changed the world’s view of DNA; the “B” form image of a section of DNA, proving its double helical structure. (English 298: Final Research Paper. Fall 2014)

This is an example of how not to use a semicolon. Originally I had used a colon here but Word thought it needed to be a semicolon. Listening to Word’s suggestions is not always the best choice. Semicolons are meant to join two full sentences, not sentence fragments. Because what follows the semicolon is not a complete sentence, it cannot be used here.

English is the world’s dominant language right now; it’s also one of the most versatile. English 326: Blog Post 2. September 2015)

This is a classic example of a semicolon connecting to clauses that can easily stand alone. The rhetoric behind the use of a semicolon vs. a period is to show that, while these two sentences are separate, they also are linked together. If you were to use a period here instead, then it wouldn’t flow the same.

But getting in was the easy part; once in the school you chose a career path, Architecture or Medical Studies. (Honors 280: Final Short Story. Spring 2015)

This is from a creative short story I wrote last semester for one of my Honors classes. Similar to the last example, the rhetoric behind this is that the two separate clauses are actually linked. It shows that what comes after the semicolon explains more what comes before. Because this was a creative piece, the clause before the semicolon is not a full clause, it builds off the sentence before it.

3.     Brainstorming

For my final portfolio I was thinking about doing something along the lines of a poster or a scrapbook, or a flip-book. As for my ultimate audience, I am thinking high school, though to be honest I am still not sure.

Blog Post 3

After reading the article, I found myself agreeing with Shaugnessy when he said, “[Basic writers] write the way they do, not because they are slow or non-verbal . . . but because they are beginners and must, like all beginners, learn by making mistakes. (Shaugnessy 32.)”  This is something I think all teachers and aspiring teachers should take to heart (not just English teachers) (used to show an aside) and realize that making mistakes is only a part of the natural learning process and shouldn’t be looked at with contempt. I myself (looking back on my own memories reflectively) remember making multiple mistakes when first beginning to learn the more complex subjects in grammar and any number of other subjects. My teachers would always put me down when I made a mistake, except for my math teacher. She would show me how and why I made a mistake and how I could fix it so that I wouldn’t make it again. It is this type of environment, I was able to learn so much more than in traditional teachings, where mistakes are punished and that is the end of the story.

As stated in the article, the biggest problem with todays grammar lessons is that they aren’t applicable to actual daily speech. Students learn cut-and-dry methods of applying grammar just long enough to pass the quiz, then lose the information immediately. “Essentially, DOL-type exercises ask students to apply knowledge of standard grammar rules in an arbitrary, context-free situation using safe, cherry-picked samples containing rule-specific mistakes” (Crovitz, pg. 33). This shows how students can’t really apply what they are being taught in schools to their lives, much less their writing.

As I read the different lessons in the DOL section of the article, one stood out to me because it seems to also encompass the SRTOL ideas that we have been talking about so far this semester. It’s: “Discuss contextual differences between similar statements with different registers. Students articulate situations that might appropriately call for either sentence. Sentence A: I am going to buy one of those boats. Sentence B: I'ma get me one them boats.” I really liked this idea of a lesson. It is one thing to know that there are other forms of English out there; it’s another to come face-to-face with them.

One way that this could be turned into an actual lesson is, if you have students from different parts of the country you could ask them all to say the same sentence in different ways, like above. Or you could look in different forms of literature to find sentences that are basically the same just said differently. Students could identify what makes the sentences different and how the rhetoric changes slightly with the different ways of saying it.

Blog Post 2

As I read both chapters of Grammar Alive and the Christiansen article, I found myself both heartily agreeing—and disagreeing—with what was being said[a side comment]. A contradiction, I know, but it is the truth. The main gist of these two pieces of work is that students all have a right to their own form of language. We all have different circumstances of life that changes our identity, our surroundings affect us in numerous ways; one of which is our use of language[the combining of two similar full sentences]. Take me for example: I was born in Northwest Florida, but my mom and the vast majority of my family is from Louisiana, we then moved to Arizona, then to Germany, then to Florida, then to Hawaii, and now I find myself here in Washington. All of this has resulted in a language that is a hodgepodge of many different cultures. I spell many of my words in the British-English style, I use words and pronunciations that are distinctly southern, and because I am used to talking to people that don’t speak English, I take care to fully enunciate most of my words.

One may ask how this affects me in grammar. For the most part, what seems to get me in the most trouble with my American teachers, is my use of British spelling. As I said in my last Blog, I have had teachers in the past accuse me of plagiarism because I use spelling of words not used here in America. For the most part, however, my own brand of “language” is found in speech, which adds cause for many people to give me odd looks, or tease me, when I say words that are simply pronounced different, or are never used, here in the northwest. Honestly it can get annoying—but I digress.

Because I can fully relate with Christiansen, I do believe that we should all have a right to our own language, especially in speech, and should realize that we all already know grammar and it can’t be retaught to us. That being said, I am a firm believer that kids in school need to be taught a “proper” version of English. Almost every language in existence has its dialects, and then a proper dialect that people use when talking to others from outside their region. We don’t have this in America. When someone from Georgia and someone from New Jersey meet, there is a language barrier, and we have no way to overcome that. THAT is the purpose of proper grammar and proper language, to encourage communications across the continent and the world. English is the world’s dominant language right now; it’s also one of the most versatile. We need a form of English taught in all English speaking countries so that we can bring the world just a little bit closer together.

Blog Assignment Number 1

To be completely honest... grammar has never been my strong suite.  I can never remember when is the proper time for a semicolon or a comma. Should I use a period here? Or maybe this sentence is better served by some obscure piece of punctuation I am sure I learned about in 6^th grade, but now can’t remember to save my life. As a creative writer, I am used to using whatever kind of punctuation bests shows the points I am trying to make without much regard for what is considered “Conventional Grammar.” This method is, of course, rather useful in the stories I write, but always comes back to haunt me in schoolwork. While I am writing, I often get the “Fragment, consider reversing” message when I right click that lovely green squiggly line that seems to love lighting up my essays. I also seem to never put semicolons where semicolons go, but thank God for Word... it likes to tell me.

For example, in a thesis I wrote two semesters ago: “In 1953, Franklin produced the photograph that changed the world’s view of DNA; the “B” form image of a section of DNA, proving its double helical structure.” I had originally used a colon in place of the semicolon, but I saw the green squiggle as soon as I finished the sentence, and my computer corrected it to a semicolon. While the reason behind that still eludes me, I hope to understand it better in the coming weeks. I would love to experiment more with all the different punctuations and grammar patterns that can help bring to life my stories; to really help convey the messages I am trying to put to paper.

The one thing I don’t want to do is give up my own sense of language in my quest for proper grammar. I am from Louisiana originally, and was born in to a Military family. I have lived in: Louisiana, Florida (twice), Arizona, Germany, Hawai’i and Washington. Because of this, my language has become a strange, and unique, blend of all of those places. I frequently spell words in the European style. For example, I have always spelled favourite with the “u” in it, but here it is supposed to be spelled “Favorite”. But for any schoolwork I try and sensor that. Because I tend to spell some words differently than they are spelled here in America, I have had teachers accuse me of plagiarizing because they didn’t realize that my 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th grade years were spent in Germany.

I also frequently hear the words, “You pronounced that wrong.” I sometimes stress different syllables than people here do. At first I found it funny, but now it makes me somewhat angry, and I do get tired of hearing it. Luckily for me, living all over the place has helped to remove most of my accent, so I no longer have that issue. I agree with the SRTOL idea of teaching “proper” grammar, that we should teach grammar, but keep in mind each students idea language.