· Web viewEducational theorist, Paulo Freire, would be appalled at such a model, probably citing...
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Empowering Grammar: To learn, read. To know, write. To master, teach. – Hindu Proverb
Margaret SeelieTeaching Community, FA2014
Los Medanos College
Table of Contents
Explanation of Project …3–5Purpose & FocusQuestion & Explanation
Method of Investigation …6–16ExplanationAssessmentAmendment (when necessary)
Results …16–20Student WorkRevisit Question
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Explanation of Project
I often wonder weather we, as instructors, are teaching for ourselves
or for the students. We spend a lot of time, energy, and money to access
sophisticated language, nuanced grammar rules, and complicated theories;
thus perhaps it is only natural to feel compelled to wield this highfalutin
language and ideas. But why? Who is this language benefitting, the
students, or the instructors? For instance, is it more beneficial to the
students to rattle off a grammatical term, like verbal, followed by a
definition? Instructing them to memorize it, find it in some generic
sentence, and regurgitate it on the exam. Educational theorist, Paulo Freire,
would be appalled at such a model, probably citing his banking education
theory that criticizes this antiquated way of teaching.
Instead, move beyond depositing and regurgitation information, and
empower the students to imbibe grammar in their own unique way. Give
them tools and space to make each rule their own. This may seem
impossible, but in my Engl-083: Sentence Skills for College Writing course, I
taught verbals.
I admit that I deposited some knowledge around the topic, but then I
simply asked, “Who can give me an example of this in your everyday life?”
The class fell silent for two minutes, then one student mumbled, “The
Hulk.”
I asked him to speak up and he said, “The Red Hulk, you know, the
bad version of the Hulk. He acts like the Hulk, kinda looks like the Hulk, but
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he isn’t the Hulk. Like how verbals look and act like verbs, but they’re
different.”
I believe this is what empowered grammar looks like in a composition
classroom. In my project for the teaching community this semester, I intend
to reflect on similar moments, and try to analyze more of these empowered
moments.
My question is how can instructors empower grammar through
language, lesson design, and a student-generated curriculum?
Purpose & Focus
Teaching grammar can feel overwhelming for both the students and
the instructor. Imagine finding a scaffolding process that could be applied
to all grammar lessons, from technical grammar to usage. This consistency
would relieve some of that pressure by setting clear and consistent
expectations for each lesson. The ultimate hope is that once this scaffolding
is removed, each student has imbibed the grammar lessons, made them
their own, and can go out and empower others with their unique
understanding of writing and grammar.
Question & Explanation
I am proposing that steps I. through V. can be completed within each
unit in the semester, which means this process would be done
approximately sixteen times within one semester (every week). Starting
with the first week of instruction using Chapter 1 Parts of Speech in At a
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Glance: Sentences by Lee Brandon.
I suspect this process will be too time consuming to complete every
week, but upon investigation, it may work.
Can all grammar lessons be taught with the following scaffolding that
would ensure each student imbibes, owns, and retains each lesson?
Can steps I. through V. be taught every week within an eight week
accelerated grammar course (Engl-083)? Or is this too time consuming?
Does this cycle work for both technical grammar lessons and usage lessons?
How does Professor Kate Brubeck shift the instructional lens from the
teacher to the students?
How is empowerment created in the grammar classroom?
Grammar Scaffolding (to be completed each unit / week)
0. Increase Student Confidence by Writing What They Know
I. Lesson / Learning Stage
A. Lecture
B. Exercises
C. Pass / No Pass Assessment
D. All or Nothing Assignments
II. Life Experience Lesson
III. Contextualize & Synthesize with Surrounding Grammar Landscape:
One Lesson to Rule them all
IV. Traditional Assessment
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Method of Investigation
To access the Method of Investigation, it is imperative that I share my
background in grammar instruction. I have been studying grammar
pedagogy since 2012. In the fall semester of 2012, I had the educational
opportunity to assist grammarian, Kate Brubeck, in instructing her English
20: The Fundamentals of Grammar course at Mills College. The following
semester, spring 2013, I was the teaching assistant for Tarah Demant at
Mills College for the same course. I include my work with Professor Demant
as background, but our work will not be discussed in this report. One year
after completing my second TA opportunity, I was hired at Los Medanos
College to teach an accelerated hybrid grammar course called English 083 /
EMT.
Kate Brubeck is a Visiting Professor at Mills College who teaches The
Fundamentals of Grammar, Grammar and Style for Writers, and Teaching
English as a Second Language. She is an expert grammarian who has been
honing her knowledge of language as an ESL instructor and college
professor for over a decade. According to the Mills College website,
Kate Brubeck has taught and coordinated programs in language
diversity and acquisition at Mills and throughout the Bay Area. She is
interested in language—in the rules that bind and the ways we break
those bonds; in the junctions and schisms, in both academic and
creative writing, between voice and culture, between our private and
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public senses of self.
Her pedagogical approach is one of empowerment. She opens each
semester with her syllabus for the course and a “stupid questions coupons.”
Brubeck is a master at shifting the instructional lens from the teacher to the
students. This shift slowly empowers the students with a genuine sense of
authority on the subject of grammar. We will examine more closely how she
creates this empowered classroom in the Methods of Investigation sections
of this report.
As Brubeck’s teaching assistant, I attended her classes and met with
each student for thirty-minute sessions weekly. In those meetings and in
class I came to understand how her pedagogical approaches either
facilitated or stifled student learning. I also occasionally taught grammar
lessons where I aimed to create my own empowered classroom.
I, Margaret Seelie, taught English 083: Sentence Skills for College
Writers / EMT Course in the spring 2014 semester at Los Medanos College.
This unique grammar course was taught as part of the Career Advancement
Academy, which is a program designed to “target low income young adults,
18 to 30 years old, who face academic and personal barriers to employment
and training.” I was hired to teach sentence level writing to Emergency
Medical Technicians in training. Instead of they typical sixteen-week
semester, our grammar course was taught in eight weeks.
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In the following section I will dissect my proposed grammar
scaffolding mentioned above by explaining what each section means,
discussing ways in which Professor Brubeck and myself manifest these
approaches, and assess what worked and didn’t work within each section.
Samples of assignments and student work will appear where necessary.
Let us start by considering one instructor approach that did not work.
As instructors, we know that courses, lessons, and exams are designed with
an end goal in mind; for instance, when teaching prepositions we approach
the lesson planning from a place of hoping all students can identify what a
preposition is and how to find it in a piece of writing. It is important to
strike a balance between instructor goals and students’ goals when
designing these structures and assignments. My instructor set irrelevant
goals in her grammar classroom in grade school. All I remember about my
grade school English teacher was her turtleneck covered in turtles, and how
much I disliked the word participle. This instructor was only interested in
meeting the bare requirements or the course; thus she aimed to deposit the
grammar rules into her students so that they could regurgitate them when
tested. In my opinion, this is exactly how to not teach grammar.
Grammar is a tricky topic within writing because it is like the math of
language. Unlike learning how to write a well-developed paragraph or
organizing ones ideas, grammar can technically be taught as a series of
rules. But, these rules are useless if they cannot be wielded within a
sentence, paragraph, essay, or report.
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Grammar Scaffolding
0. Increase Student Confidence by Writing What They Know
This step in the scaffolding is listed as “0” because this is a part of the
learning process that is invisible to the students, but it is imperative to their
success in all courses, but especially in the grammar classroom.
Increase Student Confidence
When I entered Kate Brubeck’s grammar course as her teaching
assistant in 2012, it became immediately apparent that she was interested
in teaching to the whole student. The course goals are listed on her syllabus
as,
You will leave this class with clearer academic writing, increased
confidence, improved proofreading skills, greater awareness of your
common areas of strength and weakness in academic writing,
and a frame of reference within which to think about the role of
academic language in your life and its relevance to any other forms of
language you may use.
After working with students for over ten years, Kate doesn’t seem to
question weather confidence is the key to unlocking grammar for her
students, she knows it is. I have not read many syllabi that discuss “your
life” and “increased confidence,” but after working with her student for a
semester, these became the pivotal points that lead to their success. It was
strange, even the few students who came into her course with an error of
confidence seemed to benefit from this unintimidating zeitgeist that was
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built into the course.
Her confidence scaffolding begins on the first day when she asks her
students to write a simple on-page paper about their names. I worked with
students on these pieces of writing in our tutorials and found that they were
able to access the grammar elements much more easily when working with
such a familiar topic as their name.
Write What You Know
On the first day of my English 083: Sentence Skills for College
Writing, I asked each student to take out a sheet of paper and write one
sentence about themselves. I proceeded with the lesson on what a sentence
is (subject and verb), then we defined these two elements. At first, most of
the students rolled their eyes as they repeated the age-old definition of a
noun, verb, and subject. I imagine they thought, great here we go again
with some boring grammar class. But then, I asked them to take out their
sentences. I told them to find the nouns and verbs. Then I asked them to
determine whether they had written a complete sentence or not.
Some students blurted out, “I don’t even have a subject, do I,
Professor Seelie?”
At that moment I encouraged them to turn to the person next to them
to confirm whether they did in fact have a complete sentence or not.
Assessment
This was the moment when the grammar lesson moved from
depositing to imbibing. This was a particularly significant moment because
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it was the first time these seemingly isolated rules began to lean out of the
boundaries of the classroom and into their lives. I would not change this
structure, and I continued to use it throughout the semester.
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I. Lesson / Learning Stage: Deposit, but not too much
A. Lecture
Explanation
Educational theorist, Paulo Freire, is responsible for coming up with
the banking education theory. To paraphrase his theory, he describes the
students as reciprocals for information and the instructor as the one
responsible for filling these vessels with valuable knowledge. Freire sets up
the banking theory not as a model for teaching, but as an antiquated
method of instruction that does not yield lasting results. He found that
students who experienced the banking method of education forgot much of
what they were taught within weeks, months, or the years that followed. I
am proof that the banking theory does not work; I studied his work as part
of a graduate course called Theories and Strategies of Teaching Writing. I
was tasked with reading Freire’s theories and then teaching his work to the
class. I created a lesson plan and a one-page summary of his work.
Reflecting back upon that semester, I realize that I read many pedagogical
theorists in that class, but I only taught one theorist’s work, and as you can
see his work is what I recall today, three years later. Teaching is truly the
way to master a subject and make it your own.
The banking process is vital within a grammar classroom, but it must
be done with care and intention to retain confidence in the students and to
create empowerment. To maintain a confident ecosystem within each
student, I treat the depositing stage in the learning process as a time that is
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open to mistakes. Students are assessed based on completion rather than
content via a grading scale that is pass / no pass, rather than a numeric
assessment.
The depositing of knowledge begins with the lecture or lesson in the
classroom. I feel that it is important to tap into synapses that are already
formed when introducing new materials to the brain, which is why I begin
with a very short writing assignment to acquaint the students with the
forthcoming materials. Next, I move into the lecture for the day that is
based on the unit in At a Glance: Sentences by Lee Brandon. Within these
lectures I aim to give the students a reduced form of the lesson by giving
the notes on the board. I also seek out all opportunities to let the students
make the lesson personal by asking for examples or tricks to remember the
grammar rule at hand.
B. Exercises
Outside of the classroom, I rely on the text and exercises to continue
with the depositing of information. For instance, the students are
responsible to complete the exercises pertaining to the lecture on their own.
This is when the process shifts from depositing to empowerment in three
ways:
1) All students have access to the answer key. Why? Well, this gives
the student the power to decide; they can either copy the answers and learn
nothing, or struggle through the exercises the best they can. Then they
check their answers so they immediately know what aspects of the lesson
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needs further attention.
2) They take this self-assessment they have gleaned from checking
their answers to a tutor. This is an important part of the empowerment
process because not only can they use new grammar language to discuss
their needs with the tutor, they also experience how asking for help can
build confidence.
Assessment
At the beginning of the semester, most of my Engl-083 students
complained about the six tutorials they had to complete before the end of
the semester. They believed that tutors were for dumb students. They saw
the need for tutoring as a service for students with learning deficits. By the
end of the semester, many of these same students were going to see a tutor
twice a week and excelling at their ability to ask for help.
C. Pass / No Pass Assessment
3) Grading during the learning process as pass / no pass is vital to
student success. The infrastructure of this depositing into empowerment
stage would fail if the students were graded on a numeric scale (content).
For instance, if the student received credit for every answer they got right
in their exercises they most likely would copy from the answer key; thus
avoiding the self assessment and lowing the productivity of the tutorials.
Instead, the students receive a pass if they complete the exercise and show
evidence of struggling through the answer key, and a no pass if the exercise
are partially completed or there is no evidence of checking their answers.
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This communicates to the students, if you tried, you succeeded;
consequently, creating confidence and empowerment.
Amendment D. All or Nothing Assignments
One amendment needed to be made to the grading process. I found
that students were coming in with half of their exercises done, one exercise
from each section of the unit, or no evidence of checking their answers. To
remedy this, I created the “all or nothing” assignment model. This model
ensures that the students at least try because if they do not have an attempt
down for each question in the unit, they receive a “no pass” grade. This
system is not perfect because I noticed a few students frantically filling in
exercises just before class started, or checking the answer key as I went
around checking the exercises.
II. Life Experience Lesson
Explanation
Upon completing the learning process discussed above, confidence and
empowerment are reinforced by linking each grammar lesson to the
students’ life outside the grammar classroom. Professor Brubeck shifts the
instructional lens back onto the students by giving them small assignments
to accompany their grammar exercises. For instance, when the students are
completing Chapter 5: Correcting Sentence Fragments, Comma Splices,
and Run-Ons in At a Glance: Sentences, they are also instructed: “In your
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reading for other classes this week, find the lo-o-o-o-ngest sentence you can,
make 4 copies, and bring to class.”
Assessment: Brubeck Chapter 5 Life Experience Lesson
Some students brought in sentences from their biology texts that were
quite long. In small groups they discussed their sentences on a grammatical
level, but they also discussed the content of the writing, which allowed their
expertise as biology majors to shine. These conversations helped pull the
grammar rules out of the writing vacuum and into each student’s actual
academic life; thus making inextricable connections between grammar, life,
and future success. One student even told me in tutorials that these
grammar lessons were helping her understand the readings for other
classes better.
I taught an English course in China, where I saw a similar experience
of empowerment through the life experience lesson. While teaching at
Suzhou University in China, I struggled to access the students, especially
when teaching grammar rules. When faced with the task of teaching
prepositions, I created a life experience lesson where the students drew a
map of their hometown, labeled it with as many prepositions as they could,
and then wrote directions down in complete sentences.
Assessment: Seelie Prepositions Lesson
This lesson was successful because it diffused the instructor depositing
dynamic and put the students in a situation where we could learn from each
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other; I learned more about rural China and they learned how to give
directions in English. This lesson created a bridge from depositing
(preposition rules), to personal experience (hometown knowledge), and
ultimately to real life use (ability to give directions).
III. Contextualize & Synthesize with Surrounding Grammar
Landscape: One Lesson to Rule Them All
Explanation
The student has learned the material, linked it to their lives, and now
it is time to make the final connection to the rest of the grammar devices
they have learned thus far. Since these lessons build on previous lessons,
they cannot be introduced until about halfway through the semester. Giving
the students a few days to complete these synthesis assignments is advised
because they must refer back to all of the grammar tools they have acquired
throughout the semester, and you don’t want them to rush.
You may be wondering, how is this different from an exam?, since
typically exams work to test the over all knowledge of a student. Well, these
assignments are different in that they have days or weeks to complete them,
which allows them to spend time and review. Plus, often these assignments
are set up as a personal challenge or class competition. As mentioned
before, these assignments are given later in the semester, which implies
that the student has gained confidence and now wants to test their skills.
It’s like learning how to swim in a pool and then finally getting to take your
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first dip in the ocean with waves. It’s exciting, exhilarating, and the
students want to see if you can do it.
Assessment
I found the students comparing their answers before class or bragging
about how quickly they completed the assignment.
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IV. Traditional Assessment
Explanation
This is where Professor Brubeck and I went our separate ways in the
grammar classroom. I gave bi-weekly quizzes to ensure students were
retaining the technical grammar information. Conversely, Brubeck assigned
one-page writing assignments on a bi-weekly basis. Based on the schedule,
the entire classroom read each student’s writing and they received
feedback. Each student had her work read twice within the fifteen-week
semester.
Perhaps our differing pedagogical practices are a symptom of a
community college classroom versus a four-year college. Having worked
with students from both collegiate structures, I found that the community
college students were motivated by numbers, grades and points, rather than
the content of their assignments. The students at Mills College seemed to
find great value in instructor feedback, self-assessments, and their abilities
to use the grammar rather than identify the rules.
Assessment
Based on the demographics of the students Brubeck and I were
working with, I believe we both chose the proper form of assessment.
Amendment
Grammars, even the rules, are quite subjective. This fact made
crafting and grading technical grammar quizzes very difficult. As you will
see from the student work in the Results section, some students were given
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two grades at the bottom of their exams. Often I would grade half of the
exams only to realize that there were multiple correct answers for some
questions. Given the opportunity to rewrite these quizzes and exams, I
would attempt to rewrite many of the questions to eliminate the possibility
of multiple correct answers. Or create an answer key with multiple correct
answers, like I ended up doing I the Engl-083 course. Finally, I would send
the exam to Brubeck for feedback. Or discuss with her if it is even possible
to ask a technical grammar question with one correct answer.
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Results
Revisiting the original questions, I see that the overlooked aspect of
my original inquiries is timing. I realize now that all of these steps cannot
be completed on a weekly basis and in relationship to every grammar
lesson. Rather, they must be masterfully paced to give the students space
and time to imbibe lessons, explore their writing, and pursue improvement.
Consequently, in examining student work and revisiting the question I
will focus on the aspect of timeframe.
Revisiting Question: How can these steps be spread throughout a
semester to yield student success?
0. Increase Student Confidence by Writing What They Know
Increase Student Confidence
Student Work
Samples: Reading_Name Assignment from Kate Brubeck
Samples_Name Assignment from Kate Brubeck
Revisit Question
In revisiting the question, I find that student confidence is easiest to
build in the beginning, and the best way to do this is by giving a personal
writing assignment to begin with, as Professor Brubeck did (see student
work above). In discussions with students about Brubeck’s name
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assignment, the students opened up and I could see them already making
connections to the grammar lessons even with only one lecture.
With this foundation, confidence can continue to build with smaller
personal assignements throughout the semester; for instance, in Engl-083 I
opened most lectures by asking the students to write one type of sentence
(see “Write What You Know” 10). As mentioned before, this is a great way
to build on synapses that already exist within the students and it establishes
their voice and connection to the upcoming lesson.
In conclusion, confidence building is an abundant part of lesson
planning in the beginning of the semester, but it tapers off as the semester
continues.
Write What You Know
Student Work
“Stress of Being an E.M.T.” English 83 Report. May 19, 2014
To maintain the confidence levels of each student while pulling in
larger writing assignments, I worked with the EMT instructors at Los
Medanos College to come up with topics the students would feel proficient
writing in. For instance, their first topic was an essay about performing
CPR, which was a topic they were all familiar with. Their essays required
some extra reading, which was provided for them, so no research was
required. As you will see from the file, they outlined their ideas, work
shopped a draft with peers, and rewrote their drafts.
Revisit Question
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This cycle proved to be successful because their final drafts were
always better than their first drafts. Also, it empowered the feedback loop
because they were not relying completely on the instructor, rather they
needed their peers for feedback. I would not change this writing cycle I
developed and assessed in the Teaching Community last semester.
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I. Lesson / Learning Stage
Student Work
Chapter 10: At a Glance: Sentences, Chapter 10: Punctuation &
Capitalization Exercises 1-7
I chose this student’s work because it exemplifies the empowerment
of students. You will notice comments like, “great work,” “awesome,” and
“good job on this long paragraph” along with corrective marks through
various answers; all marks that one would expect an instructor to make on a
student’s work. In this case, the student’s classmate wrote these comments
and made these marks, which puts the student in the roll of instructor. This
is significant because creating that shift from depositing to imbibing,
turning the instructional lens onto the students, and empowering them to
take their education into their own hands.
The student whose work you are seeing here struggled in Engl-083.
The classmate that graded this assignment stepped up as a supporter and
confidence builder, which resulted in his ultimate success in this course.
The struggling student started getting more comfortable with feedback,
seeing its strengths and merits, and showing up to my office hours. The
student is one of the ones who started out despising tutorials, and ended up
going more than the required amount.
Revisit Question
I would not make any further amendments to the Learning Stage,
aside from the amendment mentioned in Method of Investigation.
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II. Life Experience Lesson
Revisit Question
In considering the timeframe necessary for the Life Experience
Lesson, Professor Brubeck’s assignment of brining in a sentence from
another class and my technical grammar lesson on prepositions could be
taught at any time during the semester. Perhaps waiting until the second or
third week is recommended though because pushing these lessons beyond
the boarders of the classroom can overwhelm some students.
III. Contextualize & Synthesize with Surrounding Grammar
Landscape: One Lesson to Rule them all
Revisit Question
An amendment to my original belief that this step could be taught at
all points in the semester is necessary. Without a grammar landscape the
students cannot be successful in completing these assignments. Plus, as
mentioned before, these assignments are designed to boost confidence,
create comradery among classmates, and offer a challenge; thus I would not
give an assignment like this until mid-semester.
IV. Traditional Assessment
Student Work
Grammar Exam. Engl-083 / EMT Course.
Revisit Question
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