Writing and Grammar

I will start off by saying that I was actually surprised at the depth of knowledge and skills that are included in the standards for writing and grammar. From a former student's perspective, I did not recognize the amount of information I was learning in high school. I vividly remember being opposed to graphic organizers and outlines for essays in high school. I thought they were pointless and instead of filling them out, I would write the paper with only the thoughts in my head. My English teachers told me that if my papers were meeting the right criteria, then I could do without the paper outlines and I did just that. It wasn't until I got to college and started writing more challenging papers that I realized the importance of outlines and started creating my own before writing my papers. From a teacher's perspective, I think outlining a paper is an essential part to writing, especially when students are learning so many forms of writing and other information. Outlines help to organize their thoughts and guide them in the right direction for a five paragraph essay. Also, it is a clear way for teachers to know if their students are on the right track with their writing or if they could use extra help with thesis statements and main ideas.

Another point I found interesting when reading through the standards and NES text was that students need to have exposure to writing in different time intervals. Students need to be taught how to write down their thoughts in a single sitting and how to write over the span of a couple days to a week. The different writing intervals require specific mindsets and skills to accomplish the task at hand. There are also a lot of grammatical lessons that need to be taught in high school. Lessons such as when and how to use commas, semi-colons, and quotation marks. It makes me wonder, is it better to teach grammatical lessons in combination with other ELA lessons or should certain days be devoted to learning the technical language rules? I remember making a lot of note cards of root words and grammar rules for selected-response quizzes in high school. Are selected-response assessments the best form of assessment for vocabulary and grammar rules?

Lastly, I found myself wanting more concrete examples when it came to writing standards. In my placement, I have started working with high school students on their writing and reading some of their papers. My mind automatically wants to correct the simple grammatical issues in their papers like an editor but I know that they need more feedback than just marks on their paper. They need to know if their thesis statements were clear and concise, if their introduction contained a good hook, and if they gave sufficient commentary for their claims and evidence. I find it difficult to know where exactly they should be in these areas. How clear and concise does their thesis statement need to be in 9th grade? I think as time goes on and I learn more I will find out the answers to these questions, but for now they are still unclear and a grey area for me.

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