Lesson Twenty-Nine: Pronoun Errors

This lesson is considered optional at the English 189 level, and I think we can have a discussion about the merits of including or excluding it. In my experience, the students need quite a bit of drill in recognizing and correcting these errors, and even then, the skill does not “stick” in the way I would like. My students seem intrigued by the “clean” tripartite categorization of pronoun errors, and they seem to find the parallel quizzes intellectually stimulating. One student described the quizzes as “word puzzles” that were fun for her. On the downside, I often find that the students’ success in completing the quizzes belies an alarming tendency to do irrational things (initially, at least) with pronouns in their writing. It seems like I don’t have time to see this skill set through to a satisfactory conclusion; nevertheless, more than a few students feel they benefit from the lesson and the training. If we do decide to include this lesson in the course content, I believe students will need intermittent drilling over several weeks, much in the way they are quizzed on the spelling words over much of semester.

As for the slideshow, I think it is fairly effective. I sequence the pronoun error types from easiest to most difficult, which helps establish a comfort and confidence zone for the students. The examples are limited in number but make their point. There are a few more gifs (illustrations) in this presentation than in many others, so you might want to consider how these visuals enhance or diminish the learning experience. Watch out for my favorite slide: “HEY, YOU! DON’T CHANGE THE POINT OF VIEW!”

Since I did not need to revise this slideshow for today’s lecture, I was reminded of the great luxury it is not to have to do any last minute preparation for a class; when a slideshow is fully evolved, the instructor can basically step into the classroom with little or no preparation and full confidence that the instructional materials are first-rate and the lesson will be delivered with optimum results. Since I knew that I would be using this slideshow to teach pronoun errors today, I have enjoyed an incredible peace of mind and confidence for the last two days; I “waltzed” onto campus this morning, knowing that there wouldn’t be any last minute rushing to assemble appropriate materials and examples for today’s lesson. What a comparative “breeze” it will be when all the slideshows are fully evolved, and most of them are very close to this point. Really, it’s a great liberation of mind and time constraints.

The homework quizzes cover one pronoun error type at a time and are quite manageable for the students, I believe. The “Mastery” quizzes are a BIG challenge, but intellectually stimulating. I’ll assign one of these mastery quizzes for homework just to elicit a response from the students. On Friday, when the class is in the lab, I’ll provide a review of the error types and the students can re-take the mastery quiz (or take another one).