Links Entry - Writing in the Digital World

My blog is prepping me for the year to come where we will be receiving some Chromebooks in each classroom. I want to use this not only in math but also with writing. A resource to help me do this would be Crafting Digital Writing: Composing Texts Across Media and Genres. I found this from a blog I follow, Digital Writing, Digital Teaching, by Troy Hicks. He has been publishing several books that focus on digital writing and is a facilitator of professional development on writing. In his blog entry about his new book, he discusses what is contained in it. It seems that it has quite a few resources, such as guidance for composing web texts and other media, reviews and projects that other teachers and students are working on, as well as other technology resources to help continue digital writing. I might pick up a copy of this for next year as I start my venture into digital writing.

In order for one to be a good writer, (s)he must understand the rules of grammar. As I was looking through my blog feeder, I noticed an post by fellow classmate, Jenni Borg, titled "Why do we teacher grammar in English?" This is a question that I have often wondered myself, since it is always important to have an answer for when students ask why they must learn this. I agree with many of the reasons that Jenni posted. Understanding how language works is important for communication. The basics of this involve sentence structure and parts of speech, but as students grow in grammar, there is always so much more to learn.

I understood sentence structure early on and could do many of the exercises throughout elementary and high school with ease, but when I took a grammar course in college, I learned so much more. The way that you communicate affects how you are perceived. Look at examples of memorable speeches such as JFK's inauguration speech:  "(A)sk not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country" or Julius Ceasar's, "I came, I saw, I conquered." These are examples of parallelism, which is something that is a bit more advanced than subject and verb agreement, but it follows similar rules. 

The written and spoken word is powerful. Alicen Hoy commented about her students complaining about being graded on grammar in history class. The people who have great impact have control of their words. In order for them to be effective, they must communicate. You can know so much about history, math, science, etc. but if you cannot communicate your findings, they are worthless to everyone around you. Communication is a key skill in all areas of life, and hopefully that through grammar instruction, we can prepare our students to be successful in our world.


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