Grammar Police

I am taking this course because, to state simply, I am not as proficient as I should be with grammar and grammar usage. I have never been my entire life and I hope that this class helps me change things around. Going into the field of teaching - English at that - I am aware of the importance of being proficient with the topic. Grammar to me has always been a scary thing. Up until about grade three I was always deemed an English out cast. By this I mean I was assigned into the “special” reading groups and made to read “special” books. Everyone thought that I was dumb and that I would never be able to read, until one day my mom took me to the eye doctors. Turned out I was basically blind, that is without the assistance of glasses. Long story short, I got my new pair of spectacles and haven’t stopped reading to this day. From a young age I never had the chance to learn that basic “what’s a verb” or “proper usage of a comma.” I never developed a grammatical foundation so to speak. I have of course gotten much better in understanding things like a verb and commas but I feel that I can improve even more. Today Susan asked us to think about what we wanted to get out of the course. Well, for me I want to put myself through the perhaps deemed boring, monotonous at times, activities which will allow me to build a solid foundation in using and teaching grammar properly.  This is especially important to me because I will be teaching soon and teaching grammar will come up in my classroom. I will probably never be part of the grammar police force that so many of my piers deem themselves a part of but I do understand the importance of proper grammar usage in my own life. On the same note, I will always look at my students’ ideas over improper grammar usage on assignments and in general conversation, but I want to have the tools to be able to show my students how using grammar properly can improve their writing.