On Monday when this assignment was given, the question followed me through out the day and filled the empty spaces of my time. The persistent question floating to my for-thought, "What are the expectations of an English Teacher?". The response to this question haunted me. I reflected back to my earliest memories of my former grade school teachers and the answer to this question filled my soul with dread. I could only remember the unbending rigidity of grammar. All of the countless books I had enjoyed, and creative writing had somehow been overshadowed by the forced imposed structure of grammar. Was this authoritarian approach to language what is expected....?
Even though grammar certainly has a place within the English language, I have to admit that I believe that Noam Chomsky is correct in his assertions that grammar is something which arises organically from the very nature of language, rather than something which is forced and prescribed. This drastic shift reshapes the concepts of grammar and likewise changes the responsibilities and expectations of a modern English teacher. Instead of fostering fear and dread to unyielding structure of grammar, I believe English teachers should be cultivating a desire and love of language due to its ability to communicate ideas. Whether these ideas be the unfolding of a story within a written book or simply the student being able to convey their own personal thoughts and ideas.
Technology has shifted how modern culture currently interacts with language. From text messages to emails. Websites and e-books. The way we interact with language has changed. The prominence of newspapers and books has shifted. This semester I have had the opportunity to use an e-book in place of a traditional textbook. This rapid shift is happening and is upon us. The teachers of tomorrow must address this change and embrace it. This is where our responsibility lies. As we straddle this change, the expectations of teachers falls firmly on two sides of the same coin. We must fulfill the expectations of parents to educate their children. Yet, we must fulfill our responsibility to the student and give them the tools to succeed in an ever changing world. In order to do this, we must change our pedagogical approach and reassess the ways we expose the student to the unsubtle nature of language.
I agree that English can be frightening and sometimes the good parts of an English education are overshadowed by all those sentence diagrams. Still though, I believe that grammar is important. I think it gives students a baseline to fall back on when writing. I think it could be interesting to not just look at one aspect of grammar (or, maybe more accurately, one definition of grammar) but look at ways that grammar is used in different areas and how grammar is changing.
ReplyDeleteExcellent points also on technology. I used e-readers for a few classes last year and was frustrated because there's a lack of information out there on how to cite them (there are no page numbers!) I think this technology will be great though as schools don't have to depend on a physical library to get students books. I think e-readers and web books allow schools to find books that match a students' interests better so that they can get the reading and writing skills they need while learning about a topic that will engage them.
I appreciate your point on changing technology. As a lover of books I personally am reluctant to join the ebook world-I like the feeling of pages in my hand. However, I recognize the shift and language and realize that we must embrace this change in order for our language and literature to survive. Printed newspapers are becoming obsolete, and it only makes sense that such a fate awaits other forms of printed literature as well. As future teachers, it will be our duty to usher in a new age of literature and make sure our students are ready to embrace the new as well as the old.
ReplyDeleteI remember grammar being this vicious nightmare but I also remember a few of the books I read but grammar definetely haunted me more than those books. I would hope in my classroom, grammar being the enemy isn't the only thing my students get when they leave. In fact, I hope that's not what they get at all. I'm wondering when you mentioned instead of us fostering a fear of grammar but instead to cultivate a love of language, if you think that is one of the dramatic shifts of modern English education?
ReplyDeleteThe comment that you made about the rigidity of grammar overshadowing the creativity of the English language is a concept that I have also been thinking of quite frequently since this class began. Where do we draw the line? If a student can clearly and understandably convey his or her ideas, do the errors in spelling and sentence structure really matter that much? I feel that much of this argument is subjective. Since we have been trained for years to write with as much professionalism as possible, our eyes spot those errors without fail. Some people may allow such errors to disuade them from considering the paper to be of decent quality, while others may dismiss the errors and focus on the overall quality of the ideas. I believe that each of us has the responsibilty to decide how to approach the method of grading and analyzing written works. Our techniques may differ, but each of us should be consistent and fair to the students by holding them all to the same standards and making sure to clearly explain these standards at the beginning of the course.
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