101 Sessions!

Wow, today has been a pretty great day! My session went really well this morning, and I’ve just revised my first draft of the reflection! Even more exciting is the fact that I was able to tell my 101 student, Brandon, why a semicolon was unnecessary in the place he tried to use it!
When we talked about grammar, for what seems like forever ago, I remember thinking, “Oh gosh, am I going to be able to explain to someone why this type of punctuation is needed, or why this is grammatically incorrect?!”  Today I learned that I can at least talk about semicolons.  I don’t remember the exact wording of the sentence, but I know it started off with “Even though” and then he tried to use a semicolon where a comma would be needed.  At first, I didn’t know how to address the problem in a way that would make sense and also get the point across. So, I began by asking if the first phrase could stand alone.  I asked, “Can this first part before the semicolon stand alone as a sentence, or are you promising something that you don’t explain before the semicolon?”  Brandon’s initial response was that it could stand as a sentence.  A little disheartened, I repeated the question of whether or not he was explaining the “even though” part of the sentence. Brandon soon understood that the phrase could not stand alone.  The next battle was how to ask Brandon what punctuation was needed.  Before I began to speak again he asked, “Can you just put a comma there?”  Bingo!!

I remember being so excited that he understood the difference between a semicolon and a comma just a little bit better.  What seemed like a difficult grammar tip to teach was actually relatively easy.  In the future, I think I would use another sentence as an example, and really try to help the writer understand what punctuation is necessary.  For now, I will just be happy that Brandon learned at least one new thing about writing today, and I hope it will help him for future assignments.

I know that more difficult issues will arise in future sessions, and I think it will take time to develop strategies for overcoming those obstacles.  As we’ve discussed, not everyone learns the same way, and several examples might be needed before a student understands the tidbit about grammar.  I know I’ll be learning along the way as well!