It is crazy for me to think that
we are already going into the fourth week of school…time flies when you’re
having fun, right? Looking at what we have been learning about so far in our
grammar class I feel like everything is more a review for me, which is a good
thing because that means all my past teachers were obviously doing their job. But
having all this review is nice because it is not only refreshing my knowledge
on punctuation, but it is also expanding my knowledge on it because I am now
gaining other perspectives of how punctuation can be used and still be correct.
For instance, I never actually
knew if a comma was supposed to come after an ‘and’ when listing things, but
now I realize that it honestly does not make a difference. So now, I feel like I
need to just decide whether I want to use a comma or not in those cases so then
my writing is consistent.
I also have enjoyed working with
classmates on assignments and being able to hear their perspectives on where
they think certain punctuation should go, or whatever. THEIRS may be different
than mine, but in the end both our ways of punctuating could work.
IN MIDDLE SCHOOL, I remember
writing a lot of poetry so I had to learn how to punctuate that; IN HIGH SCHOOL,
we stuck to essays and I soon figured out that poetry and essays are punctuated
in different ways. But in both middle and high school I remember working a lot
with my teacher whenever I did not understand something, or even just trying to
figure it out myself…I just hated doing stuff wrong, including punctuation in
my school papers.
WHOSE job is it anyway to make
sure kids are learning grammar properly? Well, teachers obviously. But I also
believe it is the child’s responsibility. After reading the Dora story I believe
that the way a teacher teaches their students highly affects the outcome of
whether or not a student is going to enjoy learning, or not, and thus whether a
student will actually gain knowledge on something, or not. ITS outcome is all
based on the teacher. Teachers have such a huge influence in their students’
lives and whether they grow up enjoying school or not. That is the reason why I
want to become a teacher. I had a few teachers all throughout my schooling
career that really made me love school. But there was one teacher in high
school that really changed my life and made me want to become a teacher just so
I can make a difference in other kids lives’, like she did in mine. I am going
to make sure I use the fun and accurate ways of teaching, whatever that may
mean for me.
When it comes to teaching styles,
it’s YOURS that I enjoy Barbara. J
Hi Alyssa,
ReplyDeleteI, too, can think of a teacher who affected me greatly in school. It was the teacher who taught me how to read. It made a big difference in my life because it opened up an entire world that was to become my reality in many ways.
I was wondering how you learned to punctuate poetry since it is such an arbitrary thing? Some poets don't use it at all. I have always found it something to really think about since I believe poetry should be read out loud, and the pauses are important. I guess some poets just use the ends of their lines to indicate a pause, though some people just wrap the words around two lines.
Anyway, I enjoyed reading your blog. It brought up many good memories for me.
I'm really impressed with what you did with the pattern of the week, Alyssa. Or rather that sentence just following ("But in both middle and high school..."). Lovely extension of thought, mirroring the previous structures.
ReplyDeleteAs for putting in a comma before AND: yeah, you should. It's the American way (as opposed to British) and it's the non-journalism way (as opposed to journalism--where that comma is generally dropped).
And thanks for sharing your memories. Unfortunately, mine only go back as far as Ms. Honey in 7th grade.