How do Christensen and GA! challenge (or confirm) your understanding of what it means to teach grammar?

I would have to say that, in regard to the readings we did, they neither confirmed nor challenged my understanding of what it means to teach grammar; I previously had little opinion -- or knowledge -- on the matter. I did thoroughly agree with what was said in the readings though. I believe that language diversity and understanding context are very important in teaching grammar.

If I did have any presuppositions about teaching grammar, I thought it would be the way that I learned; mindless worksheets that only served to frustrate the majority of my classmates and me. In this way, these readings really opened my eyes about the advancements that have been made in recent years in regard to learning, and understanding that the context of language heavily dictates what has been deemed "acceptable" grammar.

As the readings say though, we all develop grammar as a child, in order to speak. In fact, it is the spoken language where we spend most of our time using language, and what is deemed acceptable speech is governed not by a dictionary, but by your geographic and cultural location. Having lived in Hawaii for around a year in total -- and especially since I went to school with a bunch of locals -- I have experience with the pigeon language that is spoken on the island. A typical sentence in pigeon might be, "Ho, brah, you like go beach, ya?". To tourists and those unfamiliar with the culture/language, this might seem hard to understand, perhaps even unintelligible to some degree. All the sentence means however is "dude, do you want to go to the beach?", a phrase that would be recognizable across the continental United States. Sadly, I know tourists will hear the language and assume and impose stereotypical thinking upon the speaker. To them, the language doesn't sound "educated", or like what they are culturally accustomed to; even some of the locals refuse to speak in pigeon because they think it sounds too uneducated.

This is the way that the misunderstanding of grammar can infect, and affect people's lives. We don't often view grammar as a source of agency in our lives; the truth of the matter is that the opposite is true. Differences in language have fueled prejudice and destruction in many circumstances. One such circumstance would be when the American Colonies formed, and the difference in language between the Native Americans and the colonists was used to dehumanize an entire population, whose numbers were extremely devastated as a result of this discrimination and prejudice. Language matters. Language brings us together, but it can also drive us apart. This is why, as an instructor of grammar, it is paramount to remember the importance of understanding and appreciating language diversity. Edited American English has its place in the professional world, but grammar is very much alive in every culture; regardless of the languages' manifestations Context is the most vital key to understanding how to teach grammar.

"What Grammar and Puncuation Issues do You, as a Writer, Need to Focus on this Semester?"

I would say that one of the biggest issues I have as a writer -- in regard to grammar -- is that I usually only use dashes or commas. I think that taking this class will help me to be able to use many different types of grammatical tools with confidence instead of being unsure if I am using one correctly. One of the main types of punctuation I am never sure if I am using correctly is the colon. I understand that whatever is written after a colon has to relate back to what was previously said in the sentence, but I am still unsure when it is necessary or useful to use that type of punctuation. I can't remember much formal grammar education that I have received; any education I have received was simply worksheets as well.

Basically I feel like I have an idea how to use different punctuation and grammar correctly, but my formal education never provided me with the confidence I needed to be able to use these tools to their fullest abilities. That is why I like the approach that Grammar Alive! takes, in that it recognizes the inefficiency of worksheets, and the need to relate grammar to real life situations.