Blog #2

IIn reading both the article from Grammar Alive and the article Christensen's article, I found these two sources very beneficial in teaching grammar. Of course they are two different sources but they share a common goal, teaching grammar. Teaching grammar can be a tricky thing to teach so more than one source confirming different routes of teaching really helps.

In reading Grammar Alive I found three goals of teaching grammar right off the bat in chapter one. The goals state; Goal A: "Every student, from every background, will complete school with the ability to communicate comfortably and effectively in both spoken and written Standard English, with awareness of when use of Standard English is appropriate.(1)" Goal B: "Every student will complete school with the ability to analyze the grammatical structure o sentences within English texts, using grammatical terminology correctly and demonstrating knowledge of how sentence-level grammatical structure contributes to the coherence of paragraphs and texts.(1)" And finally Goal C: "Every student will complete school with an understanding of, and application for, the natural variation that occurs in language across time, social situation, and social group. While recognizing the need for mastering Standard English, students will also demonstrate an understanding of the equality in the expressive capacity and linguistic structure among a range of language varieties both vernacular and standard, as well as an understanding of language-based prejudice.(1)" I do feel that these three goals make up teaching grammar for the reasons of teaching Standard English along with turning that around into social English, along with every student completing school. When I become a teacher I hope to follow these goals.

In reading Christensen's article, right in the beginning I found some differences that separate them apart. In the article, there are many first hand situations which would put this source as a primary source instead of a secondary source, Grammar Alive. Also in reading this article I felt that Christensen was exercising his social English more than his Standard English. He definitely when on to talk about Standard English but in a social manner. What I did gather from this article as well is that the Goals (ABC) are used in this article but are used in real life teaching situations which I found helpful due to the fact that we see the actions in real life situations. Personally that helped me, it’s one thing to read the goals in a book but it’s another to see them work for what they are in situations.

I do have to say there wasn't a whole lot of similarity in the readings, rather they flowed in each other. Using the three goals, Christensen showed us how to proper ally use them in a situations of teaching. As for Grammar Alive, this reading showed us the actual goals in which we use in proper teaching. So just to state the fact again, they flow into each other. In the questions of these two being common or challenging each other, I would have to side with common and flowing into each other. 

Work Cited

1.Haussamen, B., & Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar. (2003). Grammar alive! : A guide for teachers. Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English.