Teaching+Grammar+in+Context-AG

I remember the constant drilling of grammar concepts in school. I remember the exercises from language books, diagramming sentences and memorizing the parts of speech. I do not remember what I was supposed to learn from these activities let alone how to apply them. Grammar can see boring and unimportant to any student. The exercises given to students seem dull and repetitive. Year after year students study the same concepts but they never seem to stick. There has to be a better way of teaching grammar!

__**Peterson’s “Teaching Writing and Grammar in Context”**__
I really enjoyed Peterson’s article about teaching grammar. His ideas gave purpose to the countless hours spent on grammar. He points out that grammar should not be taught in isolation if we want our students to retain this information. Teaching grammar in isolation does not give it meaning and therefore it slips right out of our student’s minds. Isolated grammar activities strip them of their importance and take away all the practical value. Peterson calls for a movement away from the typical language textbooks and encourages teachers to write their own grammar lessons that are immersed in writing. Grammar is used in writing; why should we separate the topics in our lesson plans? Allowing students to learn grammar through writing gives it a purpose and is more likely to be retained. In order for this technique to be successful students need to connect with their writing on a personal level. That means that all writing assignments need to be purposeful and meaningful to the students. This is where the teacher comes in! A teacher needs to make sure the writing assignments are adjusted to the students not just drawn from a text. Be Creative! I really liked the example of the titanic writing activity. From one exciting writing activity students learned history, note taking skills, reading strategies, research, organization, sentence structuring and letter formatting. They did this all without one boring language textbook exercise! I think that teaching grammar in the context of writing is an excellent way of having students learn, retain and apply!

__**Weaver’s “Teaching Grammar in the Context of Writing”**__
This article is very similar to Peterson’s because they both believe that grammar cannot be taught in isolation and the best way to teach grammar is through student writing. Weaver discusses the difficulties of removing standardized grammar from the curriculum. She believes that schools that continue to teach the study of grammar in isolation are doing a disservice to their students. She takes the less is more method when it comes to grammar. The article shows examples of how students can improve their writing by simply practicing it. With teacher guidance for understanding and application; student’s writings will improve grammatically. The teacher should base the lessons off of students writing; what as a class do they need to work on the most? Teacher should give students a wide range of examples contrasted with non-examples to help solidify certain grammatical concepts. Seeing grammar applied to real sentence structure allows the students to see more purpose in learning grammar rules. It is important for teachers to understand that this learning technique is a process and to give their students time to show what they learned. __**What is meant by "in-context" in both Peterson's and Weaver's articles**__ I believe that what these authors mean when they say "in-context" is that the topic is put to practical use. The topic is not isolated, it is shown in a real world setting where it can be applied daily. This type of teaching is more meaningful and more memorable.