The Error
Analysis concept discussed in the “Sudden Possibilities” article immediately
describes that Error Analysis was once a way for teachers and society to label
someone with a learning deficiency. Although
this is ridiculous, teachers today are still judging students. [rhetorical fragment beginning
with a coordinating conjunction; used to emphasize my exhaustion] I think it is
a great point to address that teachers are often judging student’s writing
based upon surface level errors that serve as an annoyance to the teacher. This
annoyance can lead to students only focusing on being grammatically correct
when writing. I find it very frustrating that teachers can be more concerned
with the correctness of how a student is writing, instead of the content at
which the student is writing about. I agree 100% with the article stating that
error anlaysis must extend much further than having the inability to memorize a
rule and then incorporate what they memorized into their writing. Error
Analysis should see deeper into the writing and place more corrections upon the
content. Having the ability to
understand the mistakes the student is making, but then helping them comprehend
their mistake is much more valuable. [compound sentence joined with a
comma+FANBOYS/Coordinating Conjunction].
I do not recall experimenting with DOL in my schooling,
but I am certainly glad I did not have to do exercises of this sort. [compound sentence joined with
a comma+FANBOYS/Coordinating Conjunction]. Examining sentences could be beneficial
at some points in schooling, although I do not think correcting sentences
consistently is the best way for students to comprehend and understand mistakes
made within writing. Beginning a class with the same kind of exercise every day
is not beneficial to teaching students about mistakes in writing. Having the
same exercise every single day seems to be very excessive in my opinion. It is
understandable that teachers would go to these lengths in order to compensate
for standardized testing. The pressure of knowing students will have to know
how to correct sentences in order to score well on the test is enough stress to
make a teacher force these same exercises upon their students daily. Instead of
teaching DOL exercises incessantly, I think it would be more beneficial for
students to be able to participate in an interactive exercise to help them
further understand the subject matter.
A way in which this can be done and
incorporated into a classroom is by using the alternatives to typical daily
language exercises. The exercise I have chosen to discuss is exercise 8.
Exercise 8 is explained as using slogans from advertisements in the classroom
as an example of incorrect spelling and grammar that is used in an interesting
way based upon advertisements. I think this would be an extremely beneficial
alternative to use in the classroom to help students understand grammar usage
better and in a more interactive way. I would choose to use this alternative in
my class because it proves to have relevance to student’s lives. Especially if
this is being used in a high school classroom, students will find it easier to
relate to and understand. By using this activity in my class, I would hope this
would enable students to be more aware of advertisements in society. Overall, I
would hope to accomplish the goal of students acknowledging the difference in
grammar when it is used in marketing and advertising scenarios.
I chose to experiment with the “fanboys”
pattern of the week, because I do use fanboys in my writing but its never
intentional, its natural, and I wanted to try using it intentionally. Because
of the fact that I tried to use fanboys purposely, I feel as if I did not use
it correctly. I attempted to try the pattern out twice and I still am not sure
if I properly incorporated the pattern into my sentence. I also wanted to
incorporate using a rhetorical fragment at the beginning of a sentence. I often
do this in my writing and caught myself starting my sentence with “Although”
without trying to, so I formed my sentence around “Although” in order to incorporate
the use of the pattern of the week. I enjoyed these weeks patterns because I
already use these patterns in my everyday writing, so it made it fun to be able
to use a pattern that I have some prior knowledge about.
It is ridiculous that teachers still use error analysis to judge students rather than using a different method to help students improve their writing and prose. I agree that it is more important to focus on the content of a student’s writing than to focus on whether or not they are using grammar correctly. The emphasis of teaching should definitely be on helping students gain skills rather than telling them that they are wrong without offering any constructive methods for improvement. Doing the same exercises every day is excessive, and the fact that teachers do it every single day should be evidence enough that it is not effective.
ReplyDeleteUsing things that we see every day in media is a great way to interest students in the material and show them the different ways in which language and grammar can be used! It’s important for students to not only understand grammar, but to understand how it applies to different types of writing.
Your use of “although” is great. It comes off as very natural and fits perfectly into your sentence. It also does a great job of emphasizing your exasperation with the fact that teachers judge students.
In your sentence “Having the ability to understand the mistakes the student is making, but then helping them comprehend their mistake is much more valuable” uses the FANBOYS pattern well. To make it flow better, I might word it a little differently: “It is much more valuable to have the ability to understand the mistakes the student is making, but to help them comprehend their mistake.” I’m not sure if that’s actually better, but there you go anyway.
“I do not recall experimenting with DOL in my schooling, but I am certainly glad I did not have to do exercises of this sort.” This is another great use of the FANBOYS pattern. I don’t see any way in which I would do it differently.
I understand what you’re saying about trying to use a grammar pattern on purpose—I use them all the time without thinking about it, but once I try to insert it into a passage that I’m writing, I can’t seem to use it well or come up with a good sentence to include it in. It’s definitely useful for us, though, to have to consciously use these patterns so that we become more familiar and aware of them!
It is ridiculous that teachers still use error analysis to judge students rather than using a different method to help students improve their writing and prose. I agree that it is more important to focus on the content of a student’s writing than to focus on whether or not they are using grammar correctly. The emphasis of teaching should definitely be on helping students gain skills rather than telling them that they are wrong without offering any constructive methods for improvement. Doing the same exercises every day is excessive, and the fact that teachers do it every single day should be evidence enough that it is not effective.
ReplyDeleteUsing things that we see every day in media is a great way to interest students in the material and show them the different ways in which language and grammar can be used! It’s important for students to not only understand grammar, but to understand how it applies to different types of writing.
Your use of “although” is great. It comes off as very natural and fits perfectly into your sentence. It also does a great job of emphasizing your exasperation with the fact that teachers judge students.
In your sentence “Having the ability to understand the mistakes the student is making, but then helping them comprehend their mistake is much more valuable” uses the FANBOYS pattern well. To make it flow better, I might word it a little differently: “It is much more valuable to have the ability to understand the mistakes the student is making, but to help them comprehend their mistake.” I’m not sure if that’s actually better, but there you go anyway.
“I do not recall experimenting with DOL in my schooling, but I am certainly glad I did not have to do exercises of this sort.” This is another great use of the FANBOYS pattern. I don’t see any way in which I would do it differently.
I understand what you’re saying about trying to use a grammar pattern on purpose—I use them all the time without thinking about it, but once I try to insert it into a passage that I’m writing, I can’t seem to use it well or come up with a good sentence to include it in. It’s definitely useful for us, though, to have to consciously use these patterns so that we become more familiar and aware of them!
Haley,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brittany that you use of "Although" is nice--but do notice that you created a fully-formed complex sentence, not a rhetorical fragment. That is, a fragment can't have a subject and verb in the independent clause. Since your sentence does, you have a complex sentence, not a fragment. Perhaps keep practicing with fragments. :) (But if you choose only to write in complete sentences, that is fine, too.)
Beth