ch 3&4

There were a lot of things in this chapter that could bring out. At first, I had trouble finding points. Now, however, I've had coffee and I magically have a lot to say. First I have two asides to get out of my system.

1. Colleen's Story
Last week I had to review two journal articles for another class. The first one I picked was about helping kids edit their work. I was fascinated with how marvelously it correlated to principles in Mechanically Inclined. After typing up my review, I started on the citations and finally noticed....same author. Kudos to my so very observant self.

2. It frustrated me how much rambling and extra content there was in these chapters. What do bullying and "when I was little" stories have to do with teaching mechanics? It felt like he was taking us through his whole day to show the 6 things that he did to teach grammar. Maybe this is providing context, but I found myself lost in all the context and distracted from the point. Interesting ramblings are still ramblings-I say as I ramble on.

Okay. Now come the main points.

I love that Anderson validates students by telling them to write about what they know, and showing them how that's done with the I/eye and "when I was little" exercises. I think it's easy to assume that students are being lazy or stubborn and in turn not treat their fears and problems as legitimate. As the first chapters showed, students have legitimate reasons for what they think, their pseudo-concepts. Effective teaching is going to acknowledge and validate their processes as learners. I appreciate being given tools to do that.

Anderson's layouts for journals is exceptional. I corrected student journals during a practicum this summer and let-me-tell-you: page numbers are a good idea. The students were supposed to title and date their entries; "supposed to" being the key phrase. It was so hard to tell where one entry ended and another began. Also, leaving one page blank is great for editing and commenting. How useful is it to be able to put editing lessons right in the middle of everything instead of giving grammar its own special section where it can be handily avoided? Yay for practical ideas! Happy. Happy. Happy.

My final point is that I am skeptical and confused about the writer's pallet. How would it be used exactly? I don't feel like Anderson spelled it out for us. While good writers do appreciate that make-your-eyes-mouth-and-mind pop phrase, I'm not sure that having kids collect lists of them is a good idea. As Anderson says, 50% of what we say is take from somewhere else (18). Humans are natural plagiarists. Written lists of "good writing" seem like setting young kids up for trouble to me. And how and when does he prompt his students to collect these phrases? I'm confused about the whole idea. Perhaps we can discuss it in class.

All for now.