Teach grammar, expect perfection?

A hot button issue in the English department at my school is the teaching of grammar.

Let me be clear - the issue is on the expectation of prescriptively and directly teaching grammar to students via lecture and worksheets.

To be up front about this - I do not agree with it on any level. There are many reasons why, which would make for another blog post all in itself, a lengthy one at that. But, to sum it up, hopefully, it's because not all students need all grammar and learning it through direct instruction makes no clear connection or transfer to their work.

But, I think there is another huge issue with this. It seems from my perspective, based on the conversations that the department has had surrounding ideas like accountability and expectations, that we are expecting our students to stop making mistakes.

It comes down to the idea that if I've taught my students something, then they are accountable for that knowledge or skill and they are expected to demonstrate or perform it perfectly from now on.

This may or may not be their true and actual expectation, but it has to say something if that's what is coming across to me, at least.

I don't know about the rest of the world, but I make mistakes all of the time. I even make mistakes when I'm doing something that is ridiculously simple and something that I have done over and over already. But, I'm also human.

At the same time though, if I make a mistake, or if any of my students make a mistake, the accountability that they should feel and the expectation that they should have should be that they should look over their work, find their mistakes, and correct them. We need to learn from mistakes and fix mistakes, not be punished for them.

Bottom line - it is my belief that grammar should be taught as needed, when a clear pattern has arisen in a class or in an individual student's writing that necessitates the lesson. It should also be learned on a case by case basis through the student editing and revising their own writing. It should ALSO be learned through the student reading the works of other writers and absorbing through those experiences all that writing has to offer.

If you want students to write and write well then they need to do two things - read and WRITE.

Paradoxically Teaching Drama

My drama class is a paradox!  Teaching through experience has been proven to be an effective method of teaching (more information here).  However, I am teaching 6th grade drama, which means that my students need a baseline of knowledge before I can throw them in.  However, I have only a limited time to get a show off the ground, if I want to produce one, which I do.  It is hard for me to engage myself in teaching a drama class, at any level, without some sort of proof that the students really worked for something.

Baseline knowledge.  Experience can play a role in building that knowledge, but it has to be done meticulously.  Currently, I am trying out a new system where I will introduce a new concept, we discuss it, and then we incorporate it into our rehearsals.  I AM LOVING IT!!!  It makes it so I don't have to plan separated activities beyond the rehearsals, but they still practice the skill.

Being a drama teacher is tough.  We have to produce, but we still have to learn (even me).  So, I am taking it one lesson at a time, and making sure that my shows are entertaining to the crowds, and educational to the students.  Yes, I can have my cake and eat it too!

By the way, we are doing the Seussification of Romeo and Juliet by Peter Bloedel.