they always manage to come back to the traditional basic education at some point!
“Grammar Making a Comeback in Texas”
by Donna Garner
1.15.11
I am literally sitting here almost in tears after reading the article in the Dallas Morning News this morning entitled “Richardson Schools Retool Grammar Instruction To Meet New Texas Education Mandates.” Finally after so many lost years, educators are listening.
Do you know what it is like to have spent most of your adult life trying to get people to listen to you and having your words fall on deaf ears? I taught English in fourteen different schools during my 33+ years of teaching, having retired several years ago. Each time that I would change schools I would have to try to convince those around me of the importance of my teaching students grammar directly and systematically.
I had learned early-on in my teaching career that students cannot correct their writing and speaking if they don’t know grammar:
How can they correct an error in subject/verb agreement if they cannot find the subject and the verb, cannot figure out whether a verb is singular or plural, and do not know how to match them together correctly?
How can a student punctuate a compound-complex sentence correctly if he cannot figure out where one clause stops and another one begins?
How can he punctuate a possessive noun correctly if he cannot tell when a noun is possessive or is simply plural?
Because the ELA books were so poor, I began to develop and write my own grammar packets around 1976. These took many years to finalize; and when I finally had them perfected and I was able to motivate my students to learn them, the grammar packets took on a life of their own:
Not long ago I ran into one of my students who is a successful office manager, and she said she still keeps her grammar packets in a drawer in her desk and refers to them constantly.
One year for Christmas my students laughingly gave me a T-shirt that said, “Packet Woman.”
I frequently have ex-students who tell me they never would have made it through college without knowing my grammar packets.
One student said recently that what he learned in my ninth-grade English class is what has enabled him to become a successful district attorney.
When distance learning became popular, I worked with a wonderful fellow to create an interactive website to teach students English proficiency skills. However, we were ahead of our time; and the education establishment was not interested in using our site ($35 per year/per student) because they were deep into whole-language and holistic writing.
In the mid-1980’s, somebody had came up with the bright idea to vilify the teaching of vital, basic English skills with the term “drill and kill.” Teachers were told that they must not require their students to memorize but must let them “discover” learning. Guess what! They didn’t, and they aren’t!
Proof positive: Look at how poorly most students now write, speak, and read. We are losing our English language; and our abilities to communicate effectively, clearly, and intelligently are falling into disarray.
Into this climate came the elected Texas State Board of Education -- 15 members whose decisions impact textbooks not just for the 4.7 million public school students in Texas but also for millions of students in other states whose textbooks are influenced by those adopted in Texas.
Seven of these SBOE members took seriously their charge to produce new English / Language Arts / Reading (ELAR) standards that would emphasize once again the importance of correct English grammar, usage, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, and handwriting.
These seven SBOE members also knew that the writing section on the TAKS tests emphasized the personal narrative which was being scored on how well students emoted their opinions rather than on their having a grasp of persuasive/analytical writing and research skills.
For over two years, the Board went through the ELAR adoption process; and after many public hearings and contacts from thousands of concerned parents, businessmen, and educators, the new ELAR/TEKS standards (K-12) emerged in May 2008.
[Meanwhile, for twenty-five years I had been doing everything in my power to convince people that a return to the basics of the English language was imperative; and I worked behind the scenes for no remuneration to come alongside policymakers to help them move our public schools into English proficiency.]
This school year is the second year of implementation of the new ELAR’s, but students have not yet been tested on the new standards because it has taken a period of time to replace the TAKS tests with the new tests -- STAAR.
The STAAR tests are being piloted this school year and will be given for real in the next school year. As has been the case for a long time, “Teachers will invariably teach to the test.” However, this time, it is a good thing because the STAAR tests will require teachers to teach their students grammar along with other foundational elements such as spelling, handwriting, persuasive/analytical writing, research skills, and the various genres of literature along with their characteristics.
[The new ELAR’s also have a strong emphasis in the emergent reading grades (K-3) on phonemic awareness and phonics, and the standards will require teachers to quit using those discredited whole language programs (e.g., guided reading, word walls, predicting text, etc.]
The STAAR tests will include an entire section of specific multiple-choice grammar questions that did not exist on the TAKS tests. The new emphasis on explicit English skills will also help our Texas students to become much better prepared to take the SAT and ACT, both of which contain specific grammar questions.
The SAT contains 49 multiple-choice grammar questions in the Writing section, and the score on those 49 questions counts 70% of the score on that section. Since the SAT only has three sections (Math, Critical Reading, and Writing), the best way for a student to raise his entire SAT score is to do well on the 49 multiple-choice grammar questions. The ACT Writing Test also contains numerous grammar/usage questions; and the better a student does on those questions, the higher his composite score will be.
Of course, the ultimate goal is not just for students to do well on tests. The ultimate goal is for them to be able to express themselves clearly and correctly both in their writing and in their speaking. All of us have heard the college professors gripe and complain about how poorly their incoming students use the English language, and businessmen across this country bemoan the poor quality of their employees’ English proficiency.
Please read today’s article (posted below) about the Richardson ISD schools and what they are doing to get their students up to par in their grammar skills, and then read Don McLeroy’s article from 12.31.10 in which he explains what the SBOE has achieved in the last three years.
Unfortunately, because too many voters were not aware of the outstanding work done by the seven SBOE members and instead listened to well-funded candidates (one of whom is a wealthy lobbyist), some of our most courageous SBOE members were replaced in the last election cycle.
Now what we Texans must do is to make sure that the new TEKS standards adopted in the last three years (ELAR, Science, and Social Studies) are left in place and are implemented with fidelity into teachers’ classrooms.
Thanks to the SBOE, our Texas public school students can and should become much better English writers, readers, and speakers in the years to come; and these skills will translate into greater academic achievement in all of their other courses, too.
Donna Garner
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