What if?

Sometimes I just wonder about our teaching practices, especially the ones I spend a great deal of time being on both sides of with very little peace about.

Reactions to "canonical" (used loosely here) knowledge are one of my biggest issues.  To me, canonical knowledge is defined as:

1. The "traditional" take on the "traditional" works
2. The ability to perform seemingly lower order levels of Bloom's taxonomy in such a way that we feel our own principles have been violated.

Cases in point--examples of part 1:

• The Problem:  The necessity of teaching Shakespeare repeatedly in high school.  
  
  The Choice:  Sure, there's a ton of other great stuff out there. Yes, there is in fact literature from other ethnic groups that maybe should be represented in our classes and may have a little more bearing on our students lives than some of the more (ahem) antiquated English works.  I mean, yes, I still think we need Shakespeare.  In fact, I love Shakespeare.  But in a multicultural world, perhaps I would have benefited from another perspective. 
  
  The Rub:  I know I'm supposed to be preparing my students for further academic study and most further academic study requires understanding of Shakespeare, not Toni Morrison.
• The Problem:  Teaching Newton and physics
  
  The Choice:  I could show quite a bit of evidence of other thinkers from China, India, and the Middle East.
  
  The Rub:  That material is not readily available to me, would require a lot of digging on my part and I might still not get it right, and, if the kids were ever tested, the Newton answer would be the one that was considered correct.

Cases in point--examples of part 2:

• The Problem:  Teaching reading comprehension, particularly ESL, with a controversial text
  
  The Choice:  Usually reading comprehension books choose articles which take sides for a few reasons.  First, it's easier to gain interest from the student.  Second, it's easier to summarize.  Third, it clearly shows how to build an argument--even if the argument may not be unbiased.
  
  The Rub:  For students to show that they have understood, they have to repeat arguments with which they may vehemently disagree.  There is often no outlet to voice such disagreement.
• The Problem:  Preparing students for reading comprehension on the SAT/PSAT
  
  The Choice:  I could encourage them to use what they already know as well as decompress the text for an in-depth reading, but both can backfire.
  
  The Rub:  Often these excerpts are chosen because they touch upon a common academic thread but may take an uncommon view on it.  Once again, students are asked what the author believes.  There is no outlet to say what they believe, no matter how problematic the information that they have just parroted is to them.

Ideas

What if we asked for real reactions first?  What if we used Marshall Rosenberg's NVC outline of using specific observations, hooking them with feelings, looking for the needs that underlie the feelings, and then having a step to go (an academic step) before we tried to teach the "approved" view?

I still think that the approved view is important.  The canon is one of the elephants in the room.  I don't think that we can eliminate it, even if we only use it to help provide understanding of what must be overcome to move forward.  But perhaps showing a preference for the students' gut reactions and slowly funneling them into academic arguments would not only help in clearing the air so that they can understand the orthodox view.  It may also make them feel heard so that they do not feel hindered in repeating the orthodox view when asked.  And, most importantly, marshaling their feelings and views into an academic format may give them a chance to have those alternate views heard, effectively expressed, and hopefully incorporated into our future.

SAT Writing Question Strategies

Okay.  This post is about a work in progress.  As many of you know, I have tutored on and off for years.  In recent years, my students have included high school kids taking the SATs.  I am now blessed enough to have a high level high school sophomore who is struggling with the writing section (especially the grammar portion of the writing section) of the SATs.  His dad is very concerned, and I have no desire to minimize that.  I was teaching him the best way I knew how, but Dad was still concerned, so I started to really research other test-taking strategy books.

My problem, which I present to you for your advice, is that I am not finding any good strategies for this section of the SATs!  I am so disappointed!

Thus far, the strategies that I have found for the grammar section of the writing part fall into two categories:

1.  Students should just memorize grammar rules, which are then usually just listed in the book; and
2.  Students should eliminate as many answers as they can and then select an answer based on the statistical probability of getting it right from the number of answers that remain.

In my mind, these are rather flawed strategies for an entire section of a test.  First, most students already know the grammar rules.  The problem is prioritizing them because grammar is, on some level, subjective (and you can argue with me about that, but I would simply point to the plethora of style guides out there and regional and national variations of language use--many of which include differing spellings, use of prepositions, and forms of past participles--and again state that, on some level, grammar is subjective).  Secondly, guessing should never be a fundamental strategy for a test.  A back up strategy, yes, but to pose guesswork as the main component of test-taking strategy is to equate the subject matter being tested with mystery, and while I may say that grammar is subjective, it is neither mysterious nor arbitrary.

So, now I'm going to put forth what I have been doing and really asking for your advice on how you might go about teaching this material because, as I said, Dad is worried, and, honestly, I would be hypocritical if I didn't seek out alternative strategies (even if I may ultimately discard them), which I feel is simply good practice and the basic responsibility of any educator.

Okay.  So thus far, I have prioritized a list of grammar questions that I use in a flow chart-y way.  By flow chart-y, I mean that you begin by checking the sentence for the first offense and move on if the sentence does not have that problem; if the sentence does present that problem, then, regardless of any other problems the sentence may have, you need to find the answer that fixes that first problem.  For example, say you have a sentence that is a run-on (offending issue number 1) and is passive voice (offending issue number 5).  If you find an answer that fixes the passive voice (#5) but not the run-on (#1), then it is no good.  But if you find an answer that fixes the run-on (#1) and not the passive voice (#5) AND THERE ARE NO OTHER ANSWERS THAT ADDRESS BOTH PROBLEMS (or you can't fix both because it would require changing more than the underlined section), then you MUST pick the answer that addresses the run-on (#1) and not the passive voice (#5).

Make sense?

So my prioritized list of issues is:

1.  Is it a sentence?
    a.  Specifically, check that every clause (dependent and independent) has a subject and a predicate.
    b.  Make certain that compound sentences are joined appropriately with coordinating conjunctions (think "FAN BOYS"--for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so--thanks to Chuck Thomas for the mnemonic) or semicolons, not commas or other punctuation.

2.  Do things agree?
    a. Specifically, if you have a plural subject, do you have a plural verb?
    b. Do the number and case of all of your pronouns match their antecedents as they (both the antecedents in terms of number and the pronouns in terms of case) appear in the sentence?
    c. What is the tense of the sentence?  Do all of the tenses line up?
    d. If you have a single modifier modifying two things (usually nouns, but sometimes something else), does it carry through correctly for both?  Be especially careful of "than" and "as ____ as" constructions.

3.  How are your modifiers?
    a. Are your modifiers in the correct places?  If they are modifying nouns, are they next to them?
    b, Do they fit--number, tense, person/thing (i.e., have you given a personal verb to an inanimate object--okay in the reading section but not here? If you have "who" is it modifying a person or if "that" is it modifying a thing?, etc.)?

4.  Are the words used correctly?
    a.  Are all of the words used appropriately?  See 3 b.  This is similar, but on a more global scale. In this case, you are looking for things like "less" vs. "fewer," etc.
    b. On a finer note, is the tone correct for all of the words?  Does one jump out as inappropriate?

5.  Is the sentence, or any of its clauses, in the passive voice?
     a.  FYI - This change may often cause a change in the subject of the sentence.
     b.  Make certain that the sentence is still a sentence after this change is made (this often appears as a trick!).

6.  Is the sentence's meaning clear?
    a.  Do all of the pronouns have clear antecedents (e.g., if there is a "she" can it only be one person, or are there two females in the sentence?, etc.)
    b.  Would a comma clarify something?  Sometimes things are running together and could be clarified a couple of different ways.  A comma is often used to separate, and you may see this in the answers.
    c.  Would reordering help?  Under the couple of ways to clarify, reordering ranks high.  Keep an eye out for this in the answers.

7.  A note of caution:  Differing styles use commas very differently, and in looking over these sample tests, I see VERY few questions in which commas are the crux of the issue with these exceptions:
     a.  Without the help of a coordinating conjunction following it, a comma cannot join two independent clauses; only a semicolon can do that.
     b.  Introductory gerund phrases and dependent clauses require commas after them.
     c.  Most styles now state that dependent clauses beginning with "which" require a comma (restrictive/unrestrictive set aside for the purposes of the test).  ETS seems to be following this rule.

Any thoughts on this method/issue or the materials discussing strategies for this section would be greatly appreciated!  Thanks in advance!

Comments from the switched over blog:
 amand_r wrote:

Jan. 5th, 2012 04:09 pm (UTC)

I used to teach SAT prep at Sylvan, and I have to say that your approach is probably the best one. I'll have to sit down and have a think about how they used to break it down, but I remember that parallelism, and subject-verb agreement were biggies. and fragments and run-ons.

What I will tell you, and take some small comfort in this as a teacher on your part, that a lot of the damage is done by the time they get to this stage, because the best way to learn grammar rules is to read (that's how you absorb syntax without having to memorise), and by the time they are taking the SATs, they can't possibly start reading enough to help, and so you HAVE to teach them the rules, which to a lot of kids is like trying to teach them speed French or something (which is essentially what they are doing.).

I suggest haptic exercises, where you do a few with him, and then have him do some by himself and then explain to you why he chose what he did. Buy talking it out loud, he might have a better response/retention.

Dammit, there's a whole strategy to guessing on the SATs that I forget. I wish I could remember, because it was sound advice.

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ummteacher wrote:

Jan. 5th, 2012 04:16 pm (UTC)

Merci! Yeah, we do the haptic thing. And he fights me on the reading aloud, but I insist (especially because reading too quickly is the key cause of his mistakes in the reading comprehension section). You're totally right about the reading. I am lucky because his parents had him start early and I have been feeding him lists of books that will help him. Mainly for reading comprehension but with some applications for grammar too, I've also been making him rewrite archaic sentences taken from Darwin, Jefferson, Machiavelli, Austen, Dickens, and the like according to our current preferred style of grammar. It has helped him understand gerunds, which he totally wasn't getting before, and THAT has absolutely helped on this section. I forgot to mention the parallelism thing, though. I guess that would be a #3 offense...

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amand_r wrote:

Jan. 5th, 2012 04:20 pm (UTC)

I remember when they redesigned the SATs back...5 years ago? I was so happy they took out the analogies, but the grammar section they added was a bit irritating. But it was broken into about five different types of grammar issues, most of which you identified.

Also important is comparisons.

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ummteacher wrote:

Jan. 5th, 2012 04:29 pm (UTC)

Yeah. Yay to the end of analogies (although I could get a handle on that, but how do you just up people's vocabulary. Impossible to do in any long lasting way)!

Yeah, comparisons are under 2.d, but maybe I should make that more explicit.

I'm just trying to give him some kind of strategy rather than point blank list. Here, it's just 7 things to remember with subpoints, which psychologists say we can do. But I think it really incorporates about 50 actual rules of usage...

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amand_r wrote:

Jan. 5th, 2012 04:30 pm (UTC)

I think your approach is reasonable. You know, given what you have to work with. Even I had trouble with some of those grammar questions. It was ridic.

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( 5 comments — Leave a comment )

Revised Checklist:

Prioritized List of Major Issues in Correcting/Improving Sentences

1. Is it a sentence?
1. Specifically, check that every clause (dependent and independent) has a subject and a predicate.
2. Make certain that compound sentences are joined appropriately with coordinating conjunctions (think "FAN BOYS"--for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so--thanks to Chuck Thomas for the mnemonic) or semicolons, not commas or other punctuation.
2. Do things agree?
1. Specifically, if you have a plural subject, do you have a plural verb?
2. Do the number and case of all of your pronouns match their antecedents as they (both the antecedents in terms of number and the pronouns in terms of case) appear in the sentence?
3. What is the tense of the sentence?  Do all of the tenses line up?
4. Are things parallel?
5. If you have a single modifier modifying two things (usually nouns, but sometimes something else), does it carry through correctly for both?  Be especially careful of comparisons ("than," “like,” "as ____ as" constructions, etc.).
3. How are your modifiers?
1. Are your modifiers in the correct places?  If they are modifying nouns, are they next to them?
2. Do they fit--number, tense, person/thing (i.e., have you given a personal verb to an inanimate object--okay in the reading section but not here? If you have "who" is it modifying a person or if "that" is it modifying a thing?, etc.)?
4. Are the words used correctly?
1. Are all of the words used appropriately?  See 3 b.  This is similar, but on a more global scale. In this case, you are looking for things like "less" vs. "fewer," etc.
2. On a finer note, is the tone correct for all of the words?  Does one jump out as inappropriate?
5. Is the sentence, or any of its clauses, in the passive voice?
1. FYI - This change may often cause a change in the subject of the sentence.
2. Make certain that the sentence is still a sentence after this change is made (this often appears as a trick!).
6. Is the sentence's meaning clear?
1. Do all of the pronouns have clear antecedents (e.g., if there is a "she" can it only be one person, or are there two females in the sentence?, etc.)?
2. Would a comma clarify something?  Sometimes things are running together and could be clarified a couple of different ways.  A comma is often used to separate, and you may see this in the answers.
3. Would reordering help?  Under the couple of ways to clarify, reordering ranks high.  Keep an eye out for this in the answers.
4. Is it excessively wordy or are the clauses split up?   
7. A note of caution:  Differing styles use commas very differently, and in looking over these sample tests, I see VERY few questions in which commas are the crux of the issue with these exceptions:
1. Without the help of a coordinating conjunction following it, a comma cannot join two independent clauses; only a semicolon can do that.
2. Introductory gerund phrases and dependent clauses require commas after them.
3. Most styles now state that dependent clauses beginning with "which" require a comma (restrictive/unrestrictive set aside for the purposes of the test).  ETS seems to be following this rule.

Just Do It

A number of experiences lately have brought me back to one of my fundamental principles of understanding (not just teaching or learning):  do it yourself.

There is simply no better way that I know of learning, of understanding, of developing empathy, or of evaluating.

I often find holes in my homework or materials when I attempt to do it.  I find other realms of inquiry, new areas of vocabulary, grammar that might be necessary, and examples that might be helpful by trying it myself.  I discover issues in timing--homework that is too long or assignments that fail to provoke a long enough contemplation of the point to be useful.  And perhaps most important, I find problems of unfairness.  I find bias.  I find areas in which I ask questions that my students lack the skill to answer or cannot answer due to social constraints that I hadn't thought about before I did it myself.

And maybe the most effective (not most important) consequence of doing it myself is providing modeling and earning the respect of my students.  If I learn another language in the same way I teach English to my students, that carries weight with them.  If they see me write the same essay that they do and then pick apart my own work in editing (and I do this because I largely doubt the effectiveness of peer review at the lower levels until the students have really been trained BOTH EXPLICITLY AND BY EXAMPLE how to edit), then I have convinced them that I am not wasting their time on busy work.  Furthermore, for young students, it is the beginning of teaching them to be colleagues, and for adult students, it is an innate acknowledgment that I know that they are intelligent even if they can't communicate what they know in my language.

And I have found that this level of respect flings open the doors to learning faster than anything else that I have seen with the exception of bodily care.  People want to be seen and heard.  We can better do that when we take a few moments, stand in their place, and do what they do.