I thought I'd share my sentence from the afternoon discussion from Elbow's Inviting the Mother Tongue:
page 341 Every teacher is familiar with the destructive effects of students stretching for an unnecessary "propriety" in writing.
My response: Trying to write "properly" stifles creativity and thought. I thought it was interesting today during the discussion that grammar instruction was in texts after 1850. If anything stifles creativity and thought, it's grammar instruction. I have students who are so worried about being "correct" that they fail to produce meaningful ideas. They will write sentences that are "safe" (grammatically correct) but terribly mediocre in content.
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The Raccoon Slayer
She wants to be an honorary wild thing
1 comment:
Susan, your thoughts on today's reading hit home with me. I too am frustrated by mediocre content ideas because the student is so fractured over dialect or grammar issues and I'll add,(thanks, Don) mechanics and/or usage issues.
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