ERIC ED481697: Grammar Alive! A Guide for Teachers.

138 Pages·2003·2.4 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
CS 512 510
ED 481 697
Haussamen, Brock
AUTHOR
Grammar Alive! A Guide for Teachers.
TITLE
National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL.
INSTITUTION
ISBN-0-8141-1872-0
ISBN
2003-00-00
PUB DATE
137p.7 Written with Amy Benjamin, Martha Koiln, and Rebecca
NOTE
S. Wheeler.
National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road,
AVAILABLE FROM
Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock no. 18720: $17.95 members;
$23.95 nonffiembers). Tel: [phone] (Toll Free); Web site:
http://www.ncte.org.
Teacher (052)
Classroom
Books (010) -- Guides
PUB TYPE
EDRS Price MF01/PC06 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
*Classroom Techniques; Elementary Secondary Education;
DESCRIPTORS
*Grammar; Grammatical Acceptability; *Language Usage;
Linguistics; *North American English; *Sentence Diagramming;
Sentence Structure
Nonnative Speakers; Vignettes
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
who
Designed to be a resource for the myriad K-12 teachers
apply it, how to
wonder what to do about grammar--how to teach it, how to
offers an informal,
learn what they themselves were never taught---this book
teachers
hands-on approach to grammar in the classroom. The book presents
testing, confident
with ways to negotiate the often conflicting goals of
teaching of Standard
writing, the culturally inclusive classroom, and the
includes numerous
English while also honoring other varieties of English. It
real classroom
examples and practical vignettes describing real teachers'
second
experiences with specific grammar lessons--including English as a
basics, from how to
language issues--as well as chapters that review grammar
A grammar glossary
diagram a sentence to the elements of linguistic grammar.
the book. The
and annotated list of sources for further reading round out
about Language: A Middle
book begins with these sections: Vignette: Language
Grammar in the
School Grammar Class; and Introduction. Next, under I.
(1) Three Goals for Teaching Grammar;
(2)
Classroom--are these chapters:
(4) Flexing the
(3) Teaching the Language of Grammar;
Discovering Grammar;
in the English
Students' Sentence Sense; and (5) Non-Native Speakers
(6) Grammar
Classroom. Then under II. On Grammar--are these chapters:
(8) An
(7) Diagramming Sentences;
Superstitions: The Never-Never Rules;
(NKA)
Overview of Linguistic Grammar; and Conclusion.
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
f
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Grammar Alive!
NCTE Editorial Board: Gwen Alexander, Elizabeth Close, Cora Lee Five, Joe
Janangelo, Ray Levi, Shuaib Meacham, Jaime Armin Mejia, Carolyn Phipps,
Kyoko Sato, Zarina Hock, Chair, ex officio, Kent Williamson, ex officio
We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the following members of
the NCTE Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar:
Paul E. Doniger
Helene Krauthamer
Johanna E. Rubba
Wanda Van Goor
Edith Wollin
ATEG
The NCTE Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar aims to improve
the teaching of grammar at all levels, from elementary school through college;
researchers,
to promote communication and cooperation among teachers,
administrators, and others interested in the teaching of grammar; to provide
theories, representing the
an open forum in which advocates of all grammar
broad spectrum of views of grammar and its teaching, can interact. Through
its listserv, its conference, and its journal, Syntax in the Schools, ATEG offers
educators information about grammar and suggestions for better ways to teach
it. (For more information, visit ATEG's Web site at www.ateg.org.)
Grammar Alive!
A Guide for Teachers
Brock Haussamen
with Amy Benjamin, Martha Kolln, Rebecca S. Wheeler,
and members of NCTE's Assembly for the Teaching
of English Grammar
National Council of Teachers of English
1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096
Chapter 5, "Non-Native Speakers in the English Classroom," was adapted from
the book Differentiated Instruction: A Guide for Middle and High School by Amy
Benjamin. This material is used with the permission of Eye on Education,
Larchmont, New York, www.eyeoneducation.com.
Staff Editor: Bonny Graham
Interior Design: Doug Burnett
Cover Design: Barbara Yale-Read
NCTE Stock Number: 18720-3050
©2003 by the National Council of Teachers of English.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans-
mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including pho-
tocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission
from the copyright holder. Printed in the United States of America.
It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a fo-
and the teaching
rum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content
of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of
view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of
Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy,
where such endorsement is clearly specified.
Although every attempt is made to ensure accuracy at the time of publication,
NCTE cannot guarantee that all published addresses for electronic mail or Web
sites are current.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Haussamen, Brock.
Amy
a guide for teachers / Brock Haussamen, with
Grammar alive!
:
Benjamin, Martha Kolln, and Rebecca Wheeler and members of NCTE's
Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8141-1872-0
1. English languageGrammar--Study and teaching. 2. English language
I. Assembly for the Teaching of
Study and teaching. 3. Language arts.
English Grammar. II. Title.
LB1576.H3235 2003
372.61dc22
2003015117
Contents
vii
Preface
Vignette: Language about Language: A Middle School Grammar Class
ix
Introduction
xi
I. Grammar in the Classroom
1. Three Goals for Teaching Grammar
3
2. Discovering Grammar
10
Vignette: Flossie and the Fox: Code-Switching between
the Languages of Home and School
14
Vignette: Helping High School Juniors Get Comfortable
with Shakespeare's English
20
3. Teaching the Language of Grammar
23
Vignette: Teaching the Passive Voice
29
Vignette: Teaching Pronouns with LEGOs
31
Vignette: Teaching the Absolute Phrase
33
Vignette: Subject-Verb Agreement: Slicing the Apple
34
4. Flexing the Students' Sentence Sense
37
Vignette: Grammatical Choices, Sentence Boundaries,
and Rhetorical Effects
38
Vignette: Sentence Imitation
42
Vignette: Teaching English Language Learners the
Known-New Pattern
47
5. Non-Native Speakers in the English Classroom
50
Vignette: Teaching English Language Learners in
Elementary Grades
61
Vignette: Helping a Ninth-Grade Student Use the
64
Contents
vi
II. On Grammar
6. Grammar Superstitions: The Never-Never Rules
71
7. Diagramming Sentences
75
8. An Overview of Linguistic Grammar
80
95
Conclusion
97
A Grammar Glossary
109
Sources and Resources
113
Index
Author and Contributors
119
vii
Preface
The Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar (ATEG) was
born in the late 1980s with Edward Vavra's newsletter Syntax in
the Schools, a forum for educators interested in the teaching of
grammar and concerned about its neglect. The readers came together
for the first ATEG conference at Dr. Vavra's institution, Shenandoah
College in Winchester, Virginia, in 1989. Martha Kollin, from Pennsyl-
vania State University, was elected president. In the years following,
ATEG formally became an Assembly of the National Council of Teach-
ers of English. Its members hold an annual conference in July at differ-
ent institutions around the country. ATEG's goal has remained to en-
courage the effective teaching of grammar and to provide a forum for
discussions about grammar teaching. The Assembly now publishes Syn-
tax in the Schools as a refereed journal and has a Web site at www.ateg.org
as well as an active listserv.
This guide is the product of many years of ATEG members' ex-
citement about the possibilities for teaching grammar and their dismay
that the subject has remained so bogged down in outdated ideas and
approaches. In 1998, a committee began work on a report that evolved
into this book.
The several authors of the book have both written portions of it
and helped revise one another's work, so the collaboration has been a
rich one. The introduction was written by Brock Haussamen, with re-
visions by Amy Benjamin. The three goals for the teaching of grammar,
laid out in Chapter 1, were first formulated by Johanna Rubba; the dis-
cussions of the goals were written by Brock Haussamen. Most of the
suggestions for methods and lessons in Chapters 2, 3, and 4 were first
written by Amy Benjamin and Johanna Rubba. The methodology por-
tion of Chapter 2, "Discovering Grammar through Language Variety,"
was written by Rebecca Wheeler. Chapter 5, "Non-Native Speakers in
the English Classroom," was adapted from the book Differentiated In-
struction: A Guide for Middle and High School by Amy Benjamin; it is used
with the permission of the publisher, Eye on Education. I'm grateful to
Miriam Moore and Christine Herron of Raritan Valley Community
College for suggesting additions to this material. "Grammar Supersti-
tions: The Never-Never Rules," Chapter 6, was written by Amy Ben-
jamin. Chapter 7, "Diagramming Sentences," and the grammar glos-
sary were prepared by Brock Haussamen with help from Martha Kolln,
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
viii
Preface
based on material from Understanding English Grammar by Martha Kolln
and Robert Funk. Chapter 8, "An Overview of Linguistic Grammar,"
was written by Martha Kolln, who also contributed to the final edit of
the whole manuscript. Chapters 3, 4, and the conclusion and portions
of other sections were written by Brock Haussamen, who also organized
and edited the entire book. The vignettes are signed by the authors.
Additional ATEG members who commented on early drafts are Pam
Dykstra, Loretta Gray, Edith Wollin, and Robert Yates. Finally, NCTE
Senior Editor Zarina Hock and several anonymous readers made many
helpful suggestions about additions to the original manuscript as well
as improvements throughout the text.
Brock Haussamen
President, Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
Raritan Valley Community College