Sudden Possibilities

Reading Darren Crovitz’s article “Sudden Possibilities,” really opened my eyes as a student and a teacher. First of all, like I state in every blog, I have never experienced any kind of formal grammar teaching, this including DOL and DGP. I can recall some learning that could be seen as DOL, and regardless, I did not like it[compound sentence joined with a comma+FANBOYS/Coordinating Conjunction] . I did not get anything from it, and when I did do it, I either didn’t get it or I was bored. From Crovitz’s article, it seems like I could have concluded the same thing, just from the student’s perspective. Just like Crovitz explains, DOL/DGP is a waste of time and exercise.  Students do not understand the point of grammar exercises, and they continue on with typical error patterns that they started out with[compound sentence joined with a comma+FANBOYS/Coordinating Conjunction]. Teachers do not exercise their teaching abilities and almost waste time because the point of the exercises fails. I appreciated the way Crovitz explained both sides of student and teacher views on how DOL/DGP does not benefit anyone.

I really liked the practice sentence-combining alternative. It gives students the opportunity to mess around and experiment with different sentence structure. Even with shorter sentences students will be able to see how sentence structure works while combining them into longer sentences. This could be such an improvement instead of simple and over-repeated exercises that students lose interest in. I would use a large paragraph with some rule breakers (long run-on sentences) and still try and see if students could separate them into short yet correct sentences. Then I would use the opposite activity. I would take short sentences and have students create paragraphs. They would create new and long sentences that still make sense. There may be room for error where student may not create sentences or they may create run-on sentences but I could teach what those look like so that they do not break the exercise and create errors.

 

I would use this example and it could create a new form of exercise and it would benefit students learning outcomes by making room for improvement with less risk of having errors. It seems like with normal DOL/DGP is redundant and boring with fill in the blank work. The work that teachers put on the board is just a time filler and I would walk around and see how students are writing and what exactly they need help with so when we get back to a whole class effort, I can explain what struggles were seen and how my students could correct their errors. My examples could accomplish acknowledgement of how sentence structure words. It would take place of a basic and base concept for students to see sentence structure and grammar assets.  I could create separation between students who know how to separate sentences and can create paragraphs and those who do not. I do hope it creates a bridge so that students who have struggles can find a gap that they can understand and establish bases for sentence structures for grammar.

 

I experimented with compound sentences joined with commas +FANBOYS/Coordinating Conjunctions. I did not do it with every sentence, just so I can see where I normally do it and where it actually belongs. I hope I did it correctly. I will see what other students think so I can learn more about FANBOYS. Like I always say, “I never had a strong education on grammar and grammar structure. Its still difficult to see my work and I like to see how other’s see my work, which helps me learn.