chapter 1 and 2

Colleen is reading...

The introduction is engaging and well-written. Colleen takes this as a good sign. If the author of the introduction is worthwhile, the author of the book often is as well. Good introductions are very happy things.

The idea of "pseudo concepts" catches Colleen's attention, reminding her of her first experience with MLA. With MLA, in-text citations are put after the quotation and before the period that concludes the sentence. Example: She continues "How we perceive, what we know, what we experience, and how we act are the result of the symbols we encounter in the world"(Foss 3).

Colleen’s previous understanding of grammatical rules conflicted with this new MLA formatting. She had learned that the period always goes inside the quotation marks. So, despite the professor’s careful demonstration, Colleen messed up the MLA formatting on her papers. She would look at the handbook and decide that it just couldn’t be correct. Colleen remembers the professor’s frustration and attitude which said, “How many times do I have to show you this?” He was unaware that there were reasons beyond laziness at work. Pseudo concepts are hard to detect, but the answer to the, “How-many-times-do-we-have-to-teach-this?” question should be: As many as it takes. As future teachers we have to make sure that it’s the students who are shirking from the work of learning and not us.

Correct-alls don’t work? Colleen thinks, remembering that she learned a lot from correct-alls and direct teaching of grammar and its rules. She thinks some more. It was frustrating to correct 20 mistakes and but be docked for the additional 3 mistakes that were hiding in the piece. Did she learn grammar from the rules or from constant reading? She probably either learned entirely from reading or she learned enough from reading that she was ready to encounter grammar rules and see how they worked.

The author’s points seem to be solid. Colleen is interested to see exactly where the book goes from here.