Ok, maybe this isn’t the case. But, I am becoming increasingly
interested in how we use punctuation and, more importantly, what makes us use
those funny little marks that some use with glee abandon and others use like
they are some form of anthrax. We have all sat before a piece of work that is
drowning in commas, but is a desert for full stops. What makes a student write
pages and pages of writing and not use one single full stop? Ask that same
student: ‘What do you need to do to improve your writing?’ They simply say: ‘Add
full stops.’ Yes, add. But maybe the problem really is they should ‘think’ in
full stops.
During
Often the case with students’ writing is that they are so
concerned with getting ideas on the page that the casualty of speed is
punctuation. Students often know how to use punctuation. We get it in our heads
as teachers that they know diddlysquat about using it. They do; they just haven’t
applied the rules or they have forgotten them. I am in essence talking about
full stops, commas, exclamation marks and question marks. I have endlessly
circled errors and the students have always been able to say ‘oh, yeah I missed
a full stop’. When writing, they are in the eye of the storm. Everything looks
fine to them.
The race to capture a set of decent ideas means that
communication of these ideas is neglected. The simple manta is often used: As
long as I have it on the page, I am fine. Teachers know the value of crafting
writing. We plan the appropriate time for students to write effectively. We
make them plan. We make them proofread. We do everything we can to help them
craft, but still I am left with one student finishing thirty minutes before the
allocated time and one student always needs an extra day to get the best piece
of work. Possibly, we need to get them
to use punctuation in more of a functional way. I alluded to being explicit
with the purpose of punctuation in my last blog, but what if we were explicit with
the function of a piece of punctuation.
The cat sat on the mat.
The cat sat on the mat, but it was cold.
The cat sat on the mat; it was dead.
The cat (a flea ridden orange thing) sat on the mat.
The cat sat on the mat, waiting for its food: a plate of
fish.
The cat sat on the mat – like it usually does.
Yep, I have ditched the question mark and the exclamation
mark as those pieces of punctuation are set in stone. I mean: you commit to a
sentence being an exclamation or question from the start. You might change to a
question or exclamation afterwards, but usually you think of them at the time
of writing the sentence.
Over the years, I have taught students explicit sentence
structures to help them learn automatically where the punctuation should go. It
works, but to develop more sophisticated writing my students need to know how
to develop and extend an idea. After all, that’s the purpose of punctuation. It
isn’t to make the English teacher happy. It is about how we take one idea and
shape and form it. In the past, I have discussed our reliance on discourse
markers to shape ideas. The sad drawback of this is that students don’t really
develop an idea; they just play table tennis with an idea. Additionally… this.
Furthermore… this. However…this. In contrast…this. Writing is about communicating
an idea effectively. That means developing and exploring it. Not endless
listing of things.
I have an idea - It is
about a cat!
The cat sat on the mat.
I want to explain more about the idea
Comma + another
sentence
The cat sat on the mat, but it was cold.
I want to carry on discussing the topic but I want to add an
idea that only partly related to the original one
Semicolon +
another sentence
The cat sat on the mat; it was dead.
I want to give more information about one particular thing in
the sentence
Thing, bracket,
phrase, bracket, sentence
The cat (a flea ridden orange thing) sat on the mat.
I want to introduce something new to the idea.
Colon + phrase
The cat sat on the
mat, waiting for its food: a plate of fish.
I want to interrupt the original train of thought by adding
an idea. I could use the word ‘therefore’ instead of a dash in this situation.
Dash + phrase
The cat sat on the mat – like it usually does.
At every stage, the punctuation helps add detail to the
original subject/idea. The sentences are pants, but they give you an idea of
how the sentence (original idea) can be developed. Students tend to list ideas
rather than develop them. Looking at exam board specs, it is all about the
depth of ideas and not the quantity of ideas. Maybe, just maybe, we need to
look at punctuation as a way to develop those ideas. All too often we get
students to write more in the vain hope they will develop their ideas.
We often focus on accuracy with punctuation. Or, we focus on
there not being a variety of punctuation in a piece of work. What if we concentrated
on how students use punctuation to develop and extend ideas?
Look at the writing of Charles Dickens and you see what ‘the
cat on the mat’ does. He plays with ideas like a cat plays with a ball of wool.
He pushes it one way really far. He pushes it another just as far. He will also
focus on a strand for ages. Or, he will go for the whole ball and pounce.
Thanks for reading,
Xris
