Backing Things Up

In my zeal to read something that gives practical advice about teaching grammar (a tendency that plagued me in grad school, too--in all the reading we did, I always wanted to know HOW I was going to use this information in the classroom), I skipped over a valuable chapter in Grammar Alive! Chapter One looks at three goals for teaching grammar. Again, these are goals that are for secondary teachers that guide the teaching of high school students, but they're relevant to us college folk, too. They are, in my own words, as follows:

1. All students will be able to use Standard English correctly, in both written and spoken form, and recognize when Standard English needs to be used.
The authors hasten to remind the dear readers that Standard English has some grey areas, but it's generally recognized as the type of language one might see in a periodical.

2. All students will be able to recognize, analyze, and use grammar structure and terminology and understand how that structure helps ideas within texts stick together.
It's important for students to understand the basic terminology because it helps students make conscious choices based on a rhetorical strategy. This goal also asks that students apply their knowledge, not just on the day in English class a grammar concept is being discussed, but in other texts and classes.

3. All students will also understand that there are natural variances in language usage and that these variances contribute to the richness of our language but can also be a source of prejudice.
I like this one because it validates students' experiences with language, making grammar a topic that's less about "right" and "wrong" and more about thinking about context and audience. It helps empower students, not drag them down, which hearkens to the ol' "catching more flies with honey than with vinegar" adage. Plus, it allows for what I discussed in my last posting, which is to work with real texts when discussing grammatical concepts rather than using generic examples from textbooks.