May 23, 2007
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Something just occurred to me. I think it has in the past, but I forgot to write it down.
Having students ask “why” when it comes to grammar.
… Why do you need a comma here or there?
… Why is an introduction necessary and why should it be interesting?
… Why shouldn’t we place semi-colons where ever we please?
… Why is punctuation important? Why is spelling?Many can answer why a car needs oil or
why one shouldn’t mix two drugs together in their system,
but what about the reasoning behind the mechanics/grammar/etc. in writing?And I thought of another activity…
Assign them to bring in a few magazines (I’ll bring in some too) and
we could use those to look at genres but also why something stands out to us/them.
For example, I just received my NDSU Magazine and only read a couple of the essays.
Why?
Because those were the ones that intrigued me right away from their introductions.
One was on David Eggers and one was on a “cool” teacher who allowed his students to teach themselves
and grade themselves.
