Blog post 3

In the article "Sudden Possibilities," Crovitz explains some reasonings behind typical misunderstandings of idioms and sayings. I agreed with their point regarding "error analysis"--we shouldn't just assume that someone is incorrect because they replace words in a saying with phonetically similar words. I feel this way because (as the article explains), there's usually a logical sequence of thoughts behind the phrase and the substituted words. Regardless of whether the original meaning is retained, there is still thought behind the new saying. On top of that, the student is applying the saying to a situation where they have discerned that it is appropriate. Thus, the point of sayings and idioms is still being accomplished; an often-used phrase is being applied to a fitting situation. As for DOL, it is very obviously harmful to effective and healthy english education if we make students sit and identify solely what is "wrong" with text--especially in a situation where another student could write or speak that way. They are essentially being told by their teacher and classmates that they are wrong and that everyone but them seems to get the "right way." This will further alienate any students who follow different grammar rules based on language varieties at home, and any students whose thought processes lead them to different outcomes than the traditional grammar rules of Standard American English (as emphasized by the "eggcorn" examples).

My DOL alternative had the objective of combining sentences to promote more sophisticated sentence structures. The stem sentences given were:

a. The lawyer was in the courtroom.

b. The lawyer turned.

c. The turning movement was sudden.

d. The lawyer pointed at the defendant,

e. The lawyer shouted while pointing.

f. The lawyer shouted that "this man is a murderer!"

Our lesson plan is to provide some examples of compound sentences and ask students what they notice about the sentences (similarities, characteristics, function, etc.) and guide them to discussing that they are independent clauses joined together. After that, we will briefly share ideas of why you might combine sentences (rhetorical or narrative purposes, etc.)

Following the class discussion, we will provide the sentence stems and let students work for 5 minutes or more (depending on time allowance for the lesson) combining the stems into compound sentences. We will ask students to share some they wrote down.

As a class, we will then collect examples of the stem sentences being combined with various punctuation options (em dashes, semicolons, parenthetical asides, etc.)

We will discuss the effect of the various punctuation options.

As a bonus challenge at the end, we will ask students to somehow combine all of the stem sentences into one monster story of a sentence, and share them with the class.

Pattern of the week: Combine all of the stem sentences into one monster story of a sentence, and share them with the class [two independent clauses which caused me to FANBOY aka I joined them with the coordinating conjunction ",and" to form a compound sentence. Almost like I was writing a lesson on joining sentences. Ha, ha.]

Pattern of the week 2: . . .form a compound sentence. Almost like I was writing a lesson on joining sentences [rhetorical sentence fragment, boldly written and with sass heavily implied. However, it didn't begin with a coordinating conjunction, so I'm not sure it entirely counts as a pattern of the week. If not, refer back to Pattern 1. Thank you.]