Grammar Workshops Galore

I think every time I pick up this book, I am left feeling refreshed with the ideas and suggestions that Anderson presents, and possessing a new sense of confidence in my future teaching career. What I appreciate most about reading all of Anderson’s suggestions is how passionate he is about teaching them. He is so in tune with the writing needs of all those middle school students, and unlike so many teachers these days (and like the ones we’ve mentioned during our previous fish bowl discussion) that just review overheads and engage students in monotonous tasks, his desire is for the information to impact the students for the rest of their lives. I hope to someday be that kind of teacher.

The first thing he introduced in the third chapter was how to incorporate grammar and mechanics into students’ writing, in a creative and inventive way. One way that he found to be useful was by having students participate in freewriting exercises in their very own “writer’s notebook.” He had each of the students purchase composition books that would act as their “writing canvas” throughout the course of the school year. Anderson mentions when covering the freewriting aspect of the notebooks, something that Peter Elbow wrote in his book Writing with Power: “Frequent freewriting exercises help you learn to simply get on with it and now be held back by worries about whether these words are good words or right words.” I think I identify with and appreciate this “freewriting” aspect the most because for so much of my writing career, I quenched my creative abilities by concerning myself with perfection and structured strict outlines. I think it’s so crucial in the early developmental stages of a writer, that they become comfortable with rough-drafts and grammatical errors—just as long as they are letting their thoughts flow freely. I also liked when Anderson reminded his class that “with freewrites you start with the idea [of hair] and write the whole time, and you can’t get it wrong as long as you keep writing.” I think as long as students are aware that there’s not necessarily any right or wrong way to write, they will not only come to love their ability to express themselves through words, but also desire to learn and adopt all of the grammatical and syntax intricacies of it. The point is—the first step in developing a great writer is allowing his or her creative abilities to flow.

Another idea that Anderson introduced was the “Author’s word and phrase palette.” His goal for this exercise was to have the students record words and phrases that strike them while reading. Eventually an entire collection of words and combinations of words will be formed into a palette, which they can refer to when writing in the future. Creating a word and phrase palette also will help students develop an appreciation for the power of words, Anderson mentions. Among the mechanics that students are encouraged to collect are: active verbs, cool words, phrases or combinations that work, and contrasts/comparisons (similes, metaphors, sensory images, etc.). Reading about this word and phrase palette concept, reminds me of my English classes in middle school, and how undirected I felt in the writing exercises we did. I think something like this would have been incredibly useful to me and the rest of the students (I’m sure) as a resource of words and phrases I could have dipped into when writing.

Well, I could probably write a great deal more about all of the effective teaching techniques that I’ve learned from these two chapters, but I think I’ve covered the things that I felt were most important in the development of my future students’ writing skills. I think I will probably refer to this book a lot in my teaching career because he has so many insights into what it means to be a teacher that leaves a lasting impression.