Saturday, March 26, 2011

How I feel about writing.

For all intent and purpose, there are five stages to the writing process. They are:

creation
research
drafting
revising, and
editing

How are we as future teachers expected to teach these five steps to our students? According to the Purdue OWL there are two categories to pursue. The first road to travel down consists of higher order concerns. Higher order concerns are thesis, purpose, audience, organization and development. They make up the first two stages of the writing process. The second category is lower order concerns. Lower order concerns involve grammar, word choice and spelling, or the final three stages of writing. These techniques are very clear and helpful, but they do not take into account the emotional toll and the challenge of putting pen to paper and painstakingly creating a written masterpiece.

For some of us, writing is our art, but it comes at a price. It pulls, it draws, it sucks the energy out of you leaving your brain a tangled mess as you choose each word carefully, cross it out, and try and find another way to say the same thing. It is easy to be distracted from writing. You may need to be put it aside when the cat has to go out, or the refrigerator needs cleaning, or the silver needs polishing or you must check Facebook for the thousandth time that day and let's not forget to watch Dr. Oz.

Working under pressure or with bad conditions, however, sometimes produces the best work. I wonder how many other writers go through this same pressure. It's been 15 minutes of semi-torture to create this masterpiece and this is all I have to show for it. Imagine how your students might feel!!!!!

Grammar Corner

Try this exercise the Purdue OWL to improve your writing abilities.

Exercise : Eliminating Wordiness Exercise 1
Revise these sentences to state their meaning in fewer words. Avoid passive voice, needless repetition, and wordy phrases and clauses. The first sentence has been done as an example.
1. Many local farmers plan to attend next Friday's meeting.
2. Although Bradley Hall is regularly populated by students, close study of the building as a structure is seldom undertaken by them.
3. He dropped out of school on account of the fact that it was necessary for him to help support his family.
4. It is expected that the new schedule will be announced by the bus company within the next few days.
5. There are many ways in which a student who is interested in meeting foreign students may come to know one.
6. It is very unusual to find someone who has never told a deliberate lie on purpose.
7. Trouble is caused when people disobey rules that have been established for the safety of all.
8. A campus rally was attended by more than a thousand students. Five students were arrested by campus police for disorderly conduct, while several others are charged by campus administrators with organizing a public meeting without being issued a permit to do so.
9. The subjects that are considered most important by students are those that have been shown to be useful to them after graduation.
10. In the not too distant future, college freshmen must all become aware of the fact that there is a need for them to make contact with an academic adviser concerning the matter of a major.
11. In our company there are wide-open opportunities for professional growth with a company that enjoys an enviable record for stability in the dynamic atmosphere of aerospace technology.
12. Some people believe in capital punishment, while other people are against it; there are many opinions on this subject.

Grammar Gaffs

An update on National Grammar Day contest winners:

"The Origin of Third Person in Paleolithic Epic Poetry" by Gerald Warfield was the winner of the 2011 National Grammar Day short story contest. (Watch Gerald read the story himself in this YouTube Video.)

Read the other top entries:

First Runner Up “When Mr. Brown Met Miss Fox: A Love Story” by Rich Russell
Honorable Mention “When Ellipses Meet” by Michael Kroth
Honorable Mention “March Forth” by Sandy Listorti

Is it a grammar revolution? (from Why Palin doesn't need National Grammar Day by Robert Day Greene)

Friday is National Grammar Day, a commemoration of sorts begun in 2008 by the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. The cheerful grammarphiles there have written a song promoting their cause, but while having fun, they're also doing good.

Their website, for example, knocks down two old myths: that you can't end a sentence in a preposition and that you mustn't split an infinitive. Fine English writers have been doing both for centuries.

At the same time, the good folks at the society have made a playlist of songs with titles that offend their sense of grammar, such as Bob Dylan's "Lay, Lady, Lay," "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" from the Rolling Stones and "Who Do You Love" by Bo Diddley. It's all in fun -- would anything be more ridiculous than Diddley singing "Whom Do You Love"?

But the group has put its finger on a common concern: Is our language going to heck in a handbasket, and are our celebrities and leaders, people whom Americans look up to, misusing it more and more? The answer, to many, is a clear yes.

Take former President George W. Bush. The leader of the free world, the most powerful man on Earth, spent eight years in the White House mangling language so memorably that one writer, Jacob Weisberg of Slate, made a one-man industry of "Bushisms," available in book and calendar form.

Everyone has a favorite. Mine is probably this: "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." A close second was the president's public concern about out-of-control medical malpractice lawsuits: "We got issue in America. Too many good docs are getting out of business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their, their love with women across this country."

Bush knew that language skill was important: As he put it, "You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test." At the first National Grammar Day, in 2008, he sent a congratulatory letter to the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. The group (ironically?) posts it prominently at nationalgrammarday.org. At least Bush has a sense of humor. He once admitted,"In my sentences I go where no man has gone before." It's true: The man has talent.

Some people see the second coming of Bush in another Republican, Sarah Palin. The former Alaska governor made Twitter twitter when she called on peaceful Muslims to "refudiate" the mosque near ground zero.

Grammar Corner

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Wanring, Mispelt Signs Ahead

I couldn't make these up if I tried. There is no shortage of these signs. They are everywhere. Why are so many signs misspelled? Are we lazy, stupid, or is it good marketing? The truth is many of these misspellings are inadvertent and we remember them. Personally, I think it's to keep us amused. I know they helped pass the time on those long, never ending, family road trips to visit the grandparents in Florida. I would make a big deal out of the misspellings and have my children laughing the entire time. Guess what? They're both terrific spellers today. Next time you're driving somewhere try and spot the many road signs with mistakes. They're everywhere. What can I say? It's almost a hobby.

Grammar Corner

All of the words listed below were misspelled on actual signs. Try making up some signs or slogans in this Grammar Corner of your own.

Fore - Eggs fore sale!
Leasure
Moran
Bmup
Dont't
Costumers
Draem
Juge
Plize

Good Luck!!!!!!!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Another piece of the No Child Left Behind debacle!!!!!!!!

If Reading is Fundamental, why cut it?

By Valerie Strauss

Let’s applaud First Lady Michelle Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and the Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2 for raising awareness about reading. They will kick off Tuesday’s 13th annualRead Across America Day at the Library of Congress.

Encouraging reading is never a bad thing.

But--why is there always a but?--the Obama administration has reorganized education programs in its proposed 2011 budget in a way that cuts funding to Reading Is Fundamental,” a longtime program that last year provided 4.4 million children with 15 million free, new books and literacy resources.

Obama’s proposal is to consolidate 38 programs within the federal education law into 11 new programs as a part of the reauthorization proposal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly known as No Child Left Behind. The consolidation may make sense, but as a result, Reading is Fundamental (as well as the National Writing Project and other programs) will now have to compete for funds.

I am not arguing against the value of competition. But lots of programs in the federal budget receive funds on a non-competitive basis. I don’t see why a highly successful book program--one that the administration itself describes as a program of “Inexpensive Book Distribution”--should have to spend money submitting grant proposals and disrupting the great work it has done for years.

Some 400,000 volunteers across the country work to get free books to kids at more than 17,000 schools, community centers, hospitals, military bases and other locations. RIF has helped improve the literacy of millions of kids over the years, involving families and communities in its efforts.

Founded in 1966, Reading is Fundamental is the oldest and largest children’s and family nonprofit literacy organization in the country. Its top mission is to serve underprivileged kids up to age 8.

The organization receives $25 million a year--80 percent of its funding--from the federal government. (RIF has received government funding uninterrupted since 1975.) It is asking for public support to persuade government officials to restore the funding.

You can go to the Web site, here, to learn more.

Meanwhile, at Tuesday’s kickoff event, the First Lady and Duncan will read to nearly 300 students from Hoffman-Boston Elementary School and Arlington Science Focus Elementary School in Northern Virginia, and Brent Elementary School in the District.

Duncan’s two children attend Arlington Science Focus.

Legislators and other guests will be joining in at the Library of Congress, while, across the country, people from all walks of life will be holding reading events. The day, sponsored by the National Education Association, has become a big deal. It engages teachers, librarians, actors, musicians, parents, athletes, politicians and others to promote reading on the birthday of Theodore Seuss Geisel, otherwise known as Dr. Seuss. Seuss books are read at the events, and lots of people dress up as the Cat in the Hat and other characters from his books.

It’s fun and hopefully, some kids who might not otherwise will be inspired to pick up a book. One of the values of the program is that it actually lasts more than a day; materials are available to help motivate kids to read year-round.

What I would hope could happen from Read Across America Day is not only that kids see the fun and value in reading, but that the adults in the room also get a better appreciation of the importance of giving kids time to read, and of supporting literacy programs that work.

It's all well and good for legislators to don a striped hat for the day and read “Fried Eggs and Ham” to a class, but many of these same people approved president Bush’s signature No Child Left Behind, the federal law that included Reading First.

Reading First was a massive program that spent billions of dollars for states to purchase literacy programs that were approved by the Bush administration and that were shown to be utterly ineffective; even the U.S. government conducted a major study that showed that kids in Reading First did no better, and sometimes worse, than kids who were not in the program.

It makes me wonder why a program that actually works getting books into the hands of kids who otherwise might not have them should have to go begging for funds.

Vocabulary Quiz

Click the answer button to see the answer.

He looked at his watch quickly.
a. searched
b. reached
c. glanced
d. sobbed
e. raced
The robbers looked through the whole house for money.
a. searched
b. glanced
c. hunted
d. sobbed
e. tossed
When she got her test back, she was so disappointed that she threw it away.
a. searched
b. poured
c. roared
d. tossed
e. raced
The waiter put Kuala Beer into my glass.
a. filled
b. poured
c. reached
d. threw
e. tossed
When her dog died, she cried very hard for half an hour.
a. yelled
b. screamed
c. sobbed
d. raced
e. drowned
It was foggy and I watched my friend move out of sight into the distance as he walked away.
a. toss
b. throw
c. disappear
d. pour
e. race
Would you like some more to eat. No thank you. I've had more than enough already.
a. amount
b. race
c. pour
d. plenty
e. much
This road turns a lot.
a. races
b. roars
c. admits
d. widens
e. bends
Please do this now!
a. immediately
b. later
c. sooner
d. whenever
e. before long
Someone who is not strong is ___ .
a. muscular
b. weak
c. pale
d. raced
e. excited
When your face does not have much colour, it is ___ .
a. pale
b. excited
c. calm
d. seek
e. painted
Another word for quiet is ___ .
a. excited
b. adventure
c. pale
d. calm
e. search
A story from the past is called a ___ .
a. account
b. article
c. exciting
d. myth
e. ancient
On a clear night, the moon ___ so brightly that you can see your shadow.
a. pours
b. shines
c. excites
d. looks
e. seems
A box for keeping valuable things is called a ___ .
a. valuable
b. mommy
c. plenty
d. safe
e. sale

Copyright 1998 by Jennifer Cassels-Scupham (jcassels@rosey.ch)
This quiz is part of the HTML-Only Self-Study Quizzes which is part of Activities for ESL Students, a project by The Internet TESL Journal.

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