Course Syllabus for

English 346: Modern English Grammar

Laurence Musgrove

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND PORTOFOLIO REQUIREMENTS

This section of English 346 is designed to help prospective English teachers understand effective ways to teach grammar, usage, and sentence style at the secondary level. Thus the course will focus on several questions.

  1. What do teachers and their students need to know about grammar?
  2. To what degree can we teach students to write correctly?
  3. Why do students continually struggle with comma placement?
  4. How can we teach stylistic maturity?
  5. What are the best ways to respond to error in student writing?

In order to help students develop answers to these questions, students will read and write about current research on teaching grammar, interview a secondary language arts teacher, compose a stylistic analysis of two short stories, write a midterm essay, take two grammar tests, and compose a final research paper.

RESOURCES

In English 346, students will be required to purchase the following texts:

Lessons to Share on Teaching Grammar in Context, Constance Weaver

Image Grammar: Using Grammatical Structures to Teach Writing, Harry Noden

The Deluxe Transitive Vampire, Karen Elizabeth Gordon

The New Well-Tempered Sentence, Karen Elizabeth Gordon

These texts are available in the school bookstore and on the Web at various e-commerce sites, such as amazon.com, borders.com, and bn.com.

ADDITIONAL SUPPLIES

You will also require a three-ring binder and labeled dividers for organizing your work for the class, especially your portfolio and work-in-progress, such as your class notes, learning journals, and essay drafts. You should also purchase several manila file folders for submitting your essays. You should also make sure that you have adequate computer supplies, such as disks, printing supplies, and paper.

I’d recommend that you organize your binder with the following sections.

  1. Syllabus, Schedule
  2. Class notes, in-class exercises, and handouts
  3. Resume and Learning goals
  4. Learning journals
  5. Grammar tests
  6. Stylistic Analysis essay
  7. Interview
  8. Midterm Reflection
  9. Final Research Essay

COURSE GRADE

At the end of the term, you will submit your portfolio binder with the following ingredients only. Thus you will be responsible for saving all of your graded work during the term in order to turn in this completed final portfolio.

GRADE CALCULATIONS

Portfolio

Ingredient

Points

Possible

Points Received

Multiply by

Total Points

Resume

100

 

10

 

Learning Goals

100

 

10

 

Learning Journals (submit 20)

2000

 

10

 

Two Grammar Tests

200

 

50

 

Stylistic Analysis Essay

100

 

100

 

Interview

100

 

100

 

Midterm Reflection

100

 

100

 

Final Research Paper

100

 

200

 

TOTAL POINTS POSSIBLE

 

 

 

 

DIVIDE TOTAL POINTS BY 16240

 

 

 

 

 

GRADE CONVERSION CHART

Letter Grade

Numerical Equivalent

Grade Ranges

A

100

93-100

B

88

84-92

C

78

74-83

D

68

64-73

F

58

0-63