Damn commas
I did not remember how hard it is to teach grammar and punctuation issues. I was grading a set of summary/responses from my writing class this morning and noticed that they had problems with correct usage of commas--all of them but one, that is. So I figured this was the perfect time to take a break from just discussing the assigned texts and do something different. We could work on commas. Woo.
So I wrote up a little worksheet with ten sentences in which all commas and other internal punctuation had been removed. The idea was that they were to read these sentences and insert commas (or other punctuation, if necessary) where they were needed. I had them go over this exercise three times in class today: once alone, once in small groups to compare notes, and once as an entire class.
At any rate, they went through the first two steps and we began going over the exercise as a class. Some of the sentences were easily discussed. I could explain the simple principle behind the rule and they could grasp it. There were a few, however, that were borderline cases. I included these because I thought it would be a challenge for them to discuss and because I wanted them to see that, in some cases, individual discretion comes into play. Sometimes to comma or not to comma comes down to aesthetic sensibilities; sometimes to comma or not to comma comes down to which meaning you intend.
This wound up being more difficult than I had anticipated because of those test cases and because I don't want to just stand up front and say, "Here are the rules. Follow them." I could list these rules with the proper terminology and all (that is, if I bothered to look up all the proper terminology--it's been a while), but that's never really worked in the past over the long-term--sometimes it doesn't even work over the short-term--and it's not terribly interesting or conducive to helping them to develop as thinking, aware writers.
I fear, however, that I may have confused them by including such test cases instead of just giving them broad and fairly stable guidelines to work from. I guess we'll see if this helps their writing in the near future.
As for me, by the time we'd finished going over the exercise together I was beat. It took all the energy I had worked up for class to try to explain why these rules make any kind of sense, how they can remember them, and how the principle behind sentence #1 was different from the principle behind sentence #4 (or whichever). Comma usage is something that I have learned to take for granted--I know how to use commas, really I do--and so it is sometimes difficult to un-internalize it and make it clear for others. In one case I honestly had to tell them, "Um. I forgot to look the principle behind that sentence up, so I'll have to get back to you." I told them this because I knew that there should be a comma there, but I could not for the life of me recall a logical, teachable reason. It just was. And that's not good enough.
I don't mind admitting fallibility, but I really should have planned the lesson just a little bit better so that one thing couldn't sneak up on me. Ah well. Lesson learned. I hope I can remember that lesson for the next time I try to do something like this.
So I wrote up a little worksheet with ten sentences in which all commas and other internal punctuation had been removed. The idea was that they were to read these sentences and insert commas (or other punctuation, if necessary) where they were needed. I had them go over this exercise three times in class today: once alone, once in small groups to compare notes, and once as an entire class.
At any rate, they went through the first two steps and we began going over the exercise as a class. Some of the sentences were easily discussed. I could explain the simple principle behind the rule and they could grasp it. There were a few, however, that were borderline cases. I included these because I thought it would be a challenge for them to discuss and because I wanted them to see that, in some cases, individual discretion comes into play. Sometimes to comma or not to comma comes down to aesthetic sensibilities; sometimes to comma or not to comma comes down to which meaning you intend.
This wound up being more difficult than I had anticipated because of those test cases and because I don't want to just stand up front and say, "Here are the rules. Follow them." I could list these rules with the proper terminology and all (that is, if I bothered to look up all the proper terminology--it's been a while), but that's never really worked in the past over the long-term--sometimes it doesn't even work over the short-term--and it's not terribly interesting or conducive to helping them to develop as thinking, aware writers.
I fear, however, that I may have confused them by including such test cases instead of just giving them broad and fairly stable guidelines to work from. I guess we'll see if this helps their writing in the near future.
As for me, by the time we'd finished going over the exercise together I was beat. It took all the energy I had worked up for class to try to explain why these rules make any kind of sense, how they can remember them, and how the principle behind sentence #1 was different from the principle behind sentence #4 (or whichever). Comma usage is something that I have learned to take for granted--I know how to use commas, really I do--and so it is sometimes difficult to un-internalize it and make it clear for others. In one case I honestly had to tell them, "Um. I forgot to look the principle behind that sentence up, so I'll have to get back to you." I told them this because I knew that there should be a comma there, but I could not for the life of me recall a logical, teachable reason. It just was. And that's not good enough.
I don't mind admitting fallibility, but I really should have planned the lesson just a little bit better so that one thing couldn't sneak up on me. Ah well. Lesson learned. I hope I can remember that lesson for the next time I try to do something like this.