It is intriguing to me how much we use grammar and how little we think about it; I made it through 17 years of schooling without anyone ever explaining it to me.  [ Two sentences that at closely related]. I never knew that there was a difference between the grammar that we grow up with, full of slang and conjunctions, and the proper grammar that we are taught in school. The same way Mrs. Delaney taught in the Christensen article, I was taught that any deviation from proper grammar was a flaw in both my grammar and that in some sense I was a lesser person for speaking and writing the way that I was raised.

Goal C in the “Grammar Alive” textbook says this “Every student will complete school with an understanding of, and appreciation for, the natural variation that occurs across time, social situation, and social situation” (Haussamen, 4). I grew up with a decent understanding of goal A and B but I had no idea that goal C was even something that existed. The Christensen article said this, “However, the biggest problem with Fred’s writing was that he didn’t make mistakes. This piece demonstrates his discomfort with writing. He wasn’t taking any risks…When more attention is paid to the way something is written or said that to what is said, students’ words and thoughts become devalued. Students learn to be silent, to give as few words as possible for criticism” (Christensen, 101). I think that this is something all students from around the globe can relate to on some level. From a young age “bad grammar” is metaphorically beat out of us through bad grades and criticism of our use of language. When you criticize someone for the way that they talk then nine time out of ten the will clam up and stop talking. As teachers and future teachers this should not be our goal, in fact it should be something we strive to avoid. The Christensen article put it like this, “Students must be taught to hold their own voices sacred, to ignore the teachers who have made them feel that what they’ve said is wrong or bad or stupid. Students must be taught how to listen to the knowledge they’ve stored up, but which they are seldom asked to relate (Christensen, 101). The article goes on to talk about how when we are forced to focus on the hard rules of proper English grammar we often don’t make the point that we were trying to get across. In other words, effective communication is a mixture between what we are raised with and the proper grammar that everyone is taught.

Though similar in topic, “Grammar Alive” and the other article were very different in approach. “Grammar alive focused on the goals that as teachers we should set for students while the Christensen article focused on why those articles are important. Both were informative and I would definitely recommend either to any current or prospective teachers.