I never learned about AAAWWUBBIS while I was in school, which is too bad. I really wish I had, because now I’m having trouble understanding them in this class. I think I have the basics down, but I am having trouble identifying AAAWWUBBIS clauses when I’m reading something. With this blog, I am honestly just writing it and hoping that there is an AAAWWUBBIS clause or two in here, so that I can try to find it. Before this week I had never even heard of AAAWWUBBIS. Before just a couple weeks ago, I had never even heard of FANBOYS. After learning a bit about FANBOYS and AAAWWUBIS, I’m wondering what my teachers actually taught me while I was in school. Although I don’t have a full understanding of AAAWWUBIS and FANBOYS yet, I can’t wait to learn more about them so that one day I can teach them to my classes.
Question: I’m still having trouble with subordinating clauses. Would someone be able to explain them to me a little bit? Did I do the AAAWWUBBIS clauses right?
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Patience is the Key
I feel as if I got a very important lesson in teaching this last week. That lesson is called patience. I’ve always kind of considered myself to be a generally patient person, but I still feel like I got a good lesson in patience this week with the Dora reading.
If I look back at my teachers that I had all throughout elementary school, middle school, high school, and even college, I can only think of one or two that possessed the kind of patience that the teacher in the Dora reading possessed. I also think that it takes a special teacher to possess that kind of patience. More teachers should definitely try to utilize their patience more often too.
What I’m really saying here is that through the teacher in the Dora reading I feel like I learned a little something about patience. I learned that your students are not going to master something in five minutes, or one day, or within a couple days. You may want your students to understand something and master it immediately, but the simple fact is that they won’t. Learning takes time. I feel that I’ve always known that learning takes time, but what I learned this week is that teaching takes time too. You can’t just teach something and then move on from it, expecting that your students mastered it right away. You have to teach it over time and help them to learn it over time.
Learning takes patience, but so does teaching. I guess I only saw that one way before the Dora reading, but now I see it both ways.
Question:
So my question this week is a little different. This question was posed to me just a couple days ago, and I didn’t have an answer for it. I said I would get back to him with the answer. So maybe someone in this class can give me the insight.
We were talking about drinking and driving and this is what he asked me:
What is the difference between someone saying ‘drunk driving is bad’ and someone saying ‘drunken driving is bad?’ Basically, he wants to know the difference between drunk and drunken.
Maybe I’m reading too much into his question by thinking that there even might be an answer to that question. I don’t know if there even is a difference between saying drunk driving or drunken driving. Is there?
If I look back at my teachers that I had all throughout elementary school, middle school, high school, and even college, I can only think of one or two that possessed the kind of patience that the teacher in the Dora reading possessed. I also think that it takes a special teacher to possess that kind of patience. More teachers should definitely try to utilize their patience more often too.
What I’m really saying here is that through the teacher in the Dora reading I feel like I learned a little something about patience. I learned that your students are not going to master something in five minutes, or one day, or within a couple days. You may want your students to understand something and master it immediately, but the simple fact is that they won’t. Learning takes time. I feel that I’ve always known that learning takes time, but what I learned this week is that teaching takes time too. You can’t just teach something and then move on from it, expecting that your students mastered it right away. You have to teach it over time and help them to learn it over time.
Learning takes patience, but so does teaching. I guess I only saw that one way before the Dora reading, but now I see it both ways.
Question:
So my question this week is a little different. This question was posed to me just a couple days ago, and I didn’t have an answer for it. I said I would get back to him with the answer. So maybe someone in this class can give me the insight.
We were talking about drinking and driving and this is what he asked me:
What is the difference between someone saying ‘drunk driving is bad’ and someone saying ‘drunken driving is bad?’ Basically, he wants to know the difference between drunk and drunken.
Maybe I’m reading too much into his question by thinking that there even might be an answer to that question. I don’t know if there even is a difference between saying drunk driving or drunken driving. Is there?
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Another Week of Learning
This week was filled with learning experiences for me. First, I am learning that I did not learn this stuff in middle school or high school, and that’s why, as a college student, I am having a tough time grasping some of it. I did not think that this class would be this difficult! I really hope that when I am a teacher I get these concepts across to my students, so that they don’t sit there down the road and say “well, my teacher screwed me over.” That’s definitely what I’m beginning to think, although I did have some great teachers.
One thing I have learned this week is prepositional phrases. I had heard of prepositional phrases before, however if you had asked me to explain what a prepositional phrase was or to identify one I would not have been able to do it. But, in the five or ten minute period that Barbara explained them to us, I was suddenly able to identify them all over the place and even understood what they were. Also, before Barbara’s lesson I wouldn’t have even been able to tell you what a preposition was, although I had definitely heard the term before. Anyways, to prove that I did actually learn what a preposition and prepositional phrases are, a preposition is a connecting word and a prepositional phrase is the preposition plus the words that follow. Here’s an example: Sally sold seashells by the shore. By is the preposition and by the shore is the prepositional phrase. I can now look at a sentence and actually identify the preposition and prepositional phrase just by looking.
Something that is really nice about everything that we are learning is now I can make connections with things. For example, as I said before I knew such a thing as a preposition and a prepositional phrase existed, but I couldn’t explain what it was. Now, I am actually getting these definitions and explanations and I am able to apply what I am learning to my writing and even to what I am reading. Although, it is kind of annoying to attempt to read a book and an article while constantly being distracted thinking “that’s a prepositional phrase!” or “that’s a transitive verb!” or “that’s an adverb!”
It is ironic because we have been using these in our everyday language and writing without even realizing it and knowing what these things are called. I feel as if I knew all of this stuff before, but I just could not make a connection with what anything actually was. It is nice to learn these terms and actually have a meaning to apply to them. Part of me feels stupid because I feel as if we should have learned all this stuff in middle school and high school and I shouldn’t be so excited that I now can identify a preposition, but at the same time I also feel like my teachers from middle school and high school failed me by not going deeper than to tell us the comma goes here and the apostrophe goes there.
Question: I honestly can't think of a question right now, so I'll just go ahead and post an activity. Identify the preposition(s) in the sentences.
The dog walked towards the boy.
She parked her car by the fire hydrant.
Harry buried Dobby by the sea.
The Colts and Saints are playing in the SuperBowl. (GO COLTS!!)
He hid beneath the blankets.
One thing I have learned this week is prepositional phrases. I had heard of prepositional phrases before, however if you had asked me to explain what a prepositional phrase was or to identify one I would not have been able to do it. But, in the five or ten minute period that Barbara explained them to us, I was suddenly able to identify them all over the place and even understood what they were. Also, before Barbara’s lesson I wouldn’t have even been able to tell you what a preposition was, although I had definitely heard the term before. Anyways, to prove that I did actually learn what a preposition and prepositional phrases are, a preposition is a connecting word and a prepositional phrase is the preposition plus the words that follow. Here’s an example: Sally sold seashells by the shore. By is the preposition and by the shore is the prepositional phrase. I can now look at a sentence and actually identify the preposition and prepositional phrase just by looking.
Something that is really nice about everything that we are learning is now I can make connections with things. For example, as I said before I knew such a thing as a preposition and a prepositional phrase existed, but I couldn’t explain what it was. Now, I am actually getting these definitions and explanations and I am able to apply what I am learning to my writing and even to what I am reading. Although, it is kind of annoying to attempt to read a book and an article while constantly being distracted thinking “that’s a prepositional phrase!” or “that’s a transitive verb!” or “that’s an adverb!”
It is ironic because we have been using these in our everyday language and writing without even realizing it and knowing what these things are called. I feel as if I knew all of this stuff before, but I just could not make a connection with what anything actually was. It is nice to learn these terms and actually have a meaning to apply to them. Part of me feels stupid because I feel as if we should have learned all this stuff in middle school and high school and I shouldn’t be so excited that I now can identify a preposition, but at the same time I also feel like my teachers from middle school and high school failed me by not going deeper than to tell us the comma goes here and the apostrophe goes there.
Question: I honestly can't think of a question right now, so I'll just go ahead and post an activity. Identify the preposition(s) in the sentences.
The dog walked towards the boy.
She parked her car by the fire hydrant.
Harry buried Dobby by the sea.
The Colts and Saints are playing in the SuperBowl. (GO COLTS!!)
He hid beneath the blankets.
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