3257 Three reasons I love language
Phonics. Diagramming. Latin. And I learned in that order from age 6 to 16. I really enjoyed the review of Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog by Kitty Burns Florey in today's WSJ. I think I want this for Christmas (someone who reads this blog has been asking for ideas).
I don't know how children are taught to read and write these days in public school. Someone is doing a good job because I've found some amazingly good writers on the internet, and they can't all have been home-schooled or have attended private schools. Perhaps it is self selective--if you hate to write, know you're a poor speller and can't make a sentence sound right--you take up another hobby. Or you type with your thumbs and can only text message.
Were you taught to diagram sentences when you were in school? Were your classes called "language arts," or "communication," or "English?" Were you taught "whole language" or phonics? Did you have instruction in penmanship (cursive) after the early grades?
Posts
12 comments:
There's a huge difference between the way I was taught, and the way I taught as a teacher. When I was learning, there was an extremely strong emphasis on cursive handwriting. Jefferson County in Alabama even had a handwriting teacher who went from school to school making sure everyone formed their letters perfectly.
I went to a GRAMMAR School! If there was one thing that was emphasized, it was writing and all things language related. This was in the 50's, before Sputnik. Math and Science were barely in the picture, by comparison. By the time I graduated from 8th grade, we were expected to be able to write an essay on an assigned topic, containing exactly 100 words. That required a considerable knowledge of sentence structure and vocabulary, to make everything come out just right. It was quite an exercise in writing, which I never enjoyed at the time, but I can see the skills it gave me all through my life.
I was taught to diagram sentences until I thought I would turn into one, but I'm not sure what grades those were taught in. As for reading, I learned by Dick and Jane, See and Say. I didn't really have Phonics until I was in college preparing to teach Elementary School.
Most of my own teaching career was with Whole Language, which I enjoyed thoroughly, with 4th and 5th graders. We used the Shirley Method of teaching parts of speech, which, of course, comes before diagramming. I think I'm spelling that right .... it's been a few years now, but the children loved it, and they learned it!
Well, you asked! I hope I didn't get too long winded for you.
Since you asked:
"Were you taught to diagram sentences when you were in school?"
Early on. I sort of remember them from elementary school, but not later than that.
"Were your classes called "language arts," or "communication," or "English?""
Always English. Except for the Journalism class in junior high. Although I had no confidence in my grammar abilities, my Journalism teacher made me tutor others. I don't know if I helped them, but the preparation helped me.
"Were you taught "whole language" or phonics?"
Phonics! I was a fast and advanced reader throughout my K-12 years.
"Did you have instruction in penmanship (cursive) after the early grades?"
No. It still shows. That's why I prefer keyboarding for everything except birthday cards.
My school years ran from the early 1970s through the mid 1980s. I went to public schools in Los Angeles.
Thanks for the sentence diagram. I wish I'd had Latin in school since it is the root of many other languages.
Thanks for asking.
Diagraming sentences? Ahh, the memories of Mom glancing over my shoulder at my English homework — lines scratched everywhere through a sentence — as she paced back and forth, forth and back, before finally saying, "No. Try again." I still have nightmares.
I never learned Penmanship, but that doesn't mean I didn't have teachers who tried to teach me. My Effs (each quarter for years except for just once when I got a Dee) weren't for lack of trying. I just never got the hang of the curly-ques and loops. Genetics or environment? Mom wrote everything (including her grocery list) in Pittman and Dad, because of his job, printed everything. Of all the subjects taught in school, Penmanship was the only one I could bring home a failing grade on my report card in, and not get murdered. I was SO happy when I started the fourth grade and discovered it wasn't included any longer.
Phonics, definitely, as taught through the adventures (??) of Sally, Dick and Jane. I wonder, though, how many here even know what I'm referring to.
I can only assume you asked how I was taught to find out how NOT to teach English and writing! LOL
I also went to GRAMMER school. I was in Grammer School when they changed the upper grades to Junior High school. We thought that was really cool at the time and felt we were very mature to be in Junior High - way above Grammer School kids. Later it became Middle School.
I distinctly remember one of my English teachers in Junior High hammering us about the English language. She was a very tough teacher. She would tell us that as Southerners people assumed we were ignorant and poorly educated. She said that schools up North were considered better than our schools and therefore we had to work twice as hard to prove we were not the sterotype the rest of the world saw us as.
She made us diagram sentences and diagram sentences and diagram sentences. She didn't tolerate anything but the best from us. I hated her - but I still remember her :)I can also still diagram a sentence! lol
Were you taught to diagram sentences when you were in school?
yes - see above.
Were your classes called "language arts," or "communication," or "English?"
English.
Were you taught "whole language" or phonics?
I must have been taught 'whole language' because I never heard of phonics until my children were in school.
Did you have instruction in penmanship (cursive) after the early grades?
I don't remember penmanship or cursive classes after grammer school?? I do remember being marked down on essays if my penmanship was poor.
I learned to diagram sentences in English Composition class in high school.
In middle school we had "language arts."
Of course I was taught cursive, but I doubt that'd fall under old school "penmanship." There was a big to-do over my holding my pencil wrong, but I never changed. Occasionally we wrong-holders will spot each other in a crowd and wink.
Great questions.....I most definitely was taught to diagram sentences. It was called "English" at my elementary school...and actually high school too. In college, it was Eng. Comp or Literature.
I also most definitely took "penmenship"....a bonafide course that we got graded on. It was the Palmer method.
All these years later, I admit I'm not always correct in my grammar. A lot of that is due to not taking time to "recall" the proper rules. Handwriting is still fairly good....at least it's legible, which is more than I can say for most people. And I seldom, if ever, PRINT. Which I see a lot of.
Great blog you have here, Norma. I'll be back soon.
I think that a lot of people my age were taught to diagram sentences, but I wasn't. Reading was pretty well the "look and say" method in my days. It worked well enough for me, and I find it somewhat strange that many look back fondly on the good, old days of phonics (and the bad new days of whole language) because I was never taught that way
I think we continued to take penmanship through grade seven, but I may have stopped earlier. I don't remember. Now that I am at the keyboard and more or less an adequate four-finger typist, I can seem to write worth a lick. Writing an exam would be quite an ordeal for me now.
I did get taught a lot of grammar throughout my years but learned very little of it. When I taught English in the eighties, the idea was to instruct in grammar as needed and as required. IMO it worked just as well or better than grammar just for the sake of it.
I rather think that those who possess the innate ability to read and write will learn regardless of the method and those who don't will struggle regardless. However, phonics might give the strugglers better tools with which to overcome their diffculties.
Hmmm ... I wonder how many typos and spelling errors there are in this comment.
I was never taught to diagram sentences. I don't remember learning to read, so I don't know if it was phonics or whole language. I suspect I have a whole language kind of mind since I have trouble helping my 2nd grader sound out words. I'm learning rules like if there is an e on the end of the word it makes the vowel long... I struggled to write clearly and well in college and graduate school, and I went to good schools! I took AP English in High School, but didn't get systematic instruction. I always wrote what "sounded right," until I hit dissertation time in graduate school. I had the most wonderful, patient, advisor that taught me more about writing than all my English teachers put together. I think the biggest issue is having something to say. I can't write well unless I have something to say, and the process of writing helps me clarify my thoughts. Now, I feel I should run this through the spell checker and grammer checker, but, I won't. Oh, and I can't spell to save my life. I've always had a spelling dictionary by my side, but you have to KNOW it is wrong to know to look it up. I am just plain language challenged. Give me numbers and musical notes.
Even the comments are interesting here. :-) Definitely fascinating to see how folks were taught over the years and if they even can remember.
Were you taught to diagram sentences when you were in school?
Ugh, yes. We had to put circles around one part of speech, boxes around another, etc. It annoyed the heck out of me. I used to like to read before that. Interestingly enough, Grammar is my favorite subject to teach now. Of course, we don't have circles and squares to memorize on top of the parts of speech.
Were your classes called "language arts," or "communication," or "English?"
English.
Were you taught "whole language" or phonics?
Haven't a clue. I knew how to read before I started Kindy and I was only four when I started. But I do know they used whole language in school to teach the other children. Sure glad I already knew how to read.
Did you have instruction in penmanship (cursive) after the early grades?
Barely had it in the early grades and it was never emphasized. My handwriting is atrocious, hence my blogging.
I was taught diagramming. I was the only person in my grade (small school - about 40 kids in my grade) who LOVED it. I was also one of the few who 'got' it. Unfortunately, I've forgotten a bunch of it, especially for complex stuff. Have been looking at it again, since I'm doing some language creation of my own, and need some better grammatical structure to back my work with.
I was not taught "whole language" - it was phonics all the way. Oh how I detest phonics, but it seemed to work for me.
We had 'language arts' from the 4th - 6th grades, though we also had a special 'reading' class. So I suppose language arts was really all about the writing and grammar side. In junior high and high school, it was English. Especially high school. I don't really recall what it was called in junior high.
We did not have penmanship after the early grades, though we were required to handwrite everything in cursive throughout the 6th. I cannot write in cursive anymore, except to sign a VERY sloppy signature. I use a half-italic scribble. My penmanship is horrid, and I've been considering picking up a good book on Italic penmanship to better it. Spencerian writing is also beautiful to me - my grandmothers both use it, and it was always so much prettier than the standard cursive taught today. I still find standard cursive ugly.
I have not, however, found much hope for today's English students. While there are indeed some excellent writers on the internet, in /college/ I've discovered that... er... there are a great many people who do not know the difference between a noun and a verb (this is not an exaggeration!) and who cannot understand that 'Ran to the store.' is not actually a complete sentence. Commas? We don't need no stinkin' commas! Oii. It's terrible.
Thanks for visiting my TT last week! Sorry I'm so late!
In high school we had "English Humanities"...3 day of English, 1 of music and 1 of art. Everyone in the school had to take it and learn about English and Art. That was the good part. The bad part was that I already knew about music and I learned nothing about English. I remember hearing the teacher talk about diagramming sentences and still have not clue as to what he was talking about. Well, I do now, but I didn't then.
If I any one is able to comprehend my writing, it is because I read a lot and because my parents spoke properly. Also, my dad, an author, proofread his work out loud in the basement of our home!
I was taught how to diagram sentences at my Catholic elementary school in the 1980's. I don't remember what the classes were called, but Language Arts sounds familiar, and I know we were definitely taught phonics. I credit my Catholic schooling with my above-average writing and grammar abilities. I'm not saying I'm any great writer in the creative sense, but I know the rules and I follow them!
Post a Comment