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Joseph Salvatore

Joseph Salvatore

Monthly Archives: March 2014

Sentences in the News! For writers, readers, teachers, and curious students all over this daily planet.

30 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by Joseph Salvatore in Blog

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Often, once the semester gets along, my students start asking me questions about grammar and style, not for their grades, but for their own writing. A big one is, “Can you have a single sentence stand alone as a single paragraph?” When I am able, and when classroom technology permits, I’ll pull up on a projected screen a sentence from some article I read that day that might serve as an example. I had mentioned this classroom practice to a group of incredibly inspiring writing teachers at the NCTE/CCCC conference last week, and I got some validating responses. Here’s an example: In today’s NY Times, I saw a sentence in an article about new electoral restrictions on registering and voting that go beyond the voter identification requirements. The first three sentences of the piece are stand-alone grafs. I particularly like the second one, about which there is so much to say. We could discuss the sneaky way the writers packs the sentence’s complete subject to get in as much info as possible before the verb; we could discuss the choice to omit the serial comma — does it add or detract from clarity?; we could discuss the choice to use the right-branching parallel compound structure that concludes the graf. Sometimes, when I’m really on my game, I can bring the entire lesson plan into such impromptu discussions. Lucky to have such curious students. Here’s the news-making sentence:

“The bills, laws and administrative rules — some of them tried before — shake up fundamental components of state election systems, including the days and times polls are open and the locations where people vote.”

Find the article here.

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Surprise guest attends my panel at the NCTE/CCCC March 2014

27 Thursday Mar 2014

Posted by Joseph Salvatore in Blog, News & Appearances, Press

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CCCC 2014, grammar, Indianapolis, NCTE/CCCC, Peter Elbow, Punctuation, Usage, Writing Pedagogy

Not sure how to explain what happened last week at the NCTE/CCCC panel I chaired on “Progressive Approaches to Grammar, Punctuation, and Usage.” Not only was it a well-attended, lively session, but a superstar, nay, a ROCK star in the field of writing pedagogy attended and participated in my workshop. He was sitting in the back of the room. I had seen him come in and quietly take a seat (and fairly freaked out), but no one else knew he was there until I had them introduce themselves. And he said, “My name is Peter Elbow and I’ve been teaching writing for over 30 years, have written a few books on the subject; and I am quite interested in progressive approaches to grammar.” The entire room turned around, and I kid you not, audible gasps and whispers and even some exclamations erupted. An awesome Writing Center Administrator, a young professor named Tom, stood up and said, “No way!” But by the end of the workshop, Elbow had become just one of the group, albeit a very wise and experienced and generous member, but a member nonetheless. Some folks asked if they could take an “Oscar selfie” with him. He graciously agreed. One of those students sent me this photo. I can’t adequately describe what an experience it was to share my insights about language and writing with a group that included Peter Elbow. One of the true highlights of my teaching career.

http://center.uoregon.edu/NCTE/2014CCCC/program/speaker_info.php?speakerid=1748803Elbow

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