Welcome to “Stop! Grammar Time.” This might not be the only grammar blog around, but this is the one and only blog for Mr. Camporese’s Warren Township High School Grammar & Linguistics course! Also, this blog just might be the greatest Internet sensation since Google, and I’m not just saying that biasedly because I am the webmaster. (Okay, maybe I am.)
Here you have the opportunity to blog about…whatever you want to blog about. This is your blog. The only catch? You must do so using prim, proper, and perfect grammar.
Why are we doing this? Because the best way to become a better writer and grammarian is to actually write and edit your own writing while also reading and editing the work of others. Once you begin to physically see your mistakes and the mistakes of your peers, the hope is that you can triumph over the forces of grammatical evil. I hope – believe, really – this will make the grammar process more enjoyable and beneficial to you.
Every Monday we will meet in a computer lab where you will begin writing/typing a draft of your next blog post. You will then bring that draft to class every day for the rest of the week for editing purposes. As the week progresses and you learn new grammar skills, you will be asked to analyze, edit, modify, and enhance your own writing as well as your peers’ writing; furthermore, it would be wise for you to make modifications (or update your drafts) throughout the week – remember, no good writer only writes one draft before publishing. Before you come to class the following Monday, your blog must be posted on the “Stop! Grammar Time.” website* (directions to follow), AND you will also be turning in a hard copy of your blog post to me in class.
*YES, YOU ARE PUBLISHING YOUR WRITING ON THE INTERNET WHERE IT CAN BE READ FOR THE REST OF DIGITAL ETERNITY!
So what does that mean for what you are going to be able to write about? I want you to write about topics or things you want to explore, get off your chest, and/or care about – these are the bases for good writing! Nonetheless, you obviously have to keep your blog posts school appropriate, seeing as how this is a school website/assignment. If you think your ideas/posts/words are approaching or crossing the line, they probably are. Use your head. Be smart. It’s okay to be edgy and mature, but definitely stay away from “the line.” Unfortunately, if you do cross the line, there will be blog, grade, and administrative punishments; please don’t ruin it for everyone because you couldn’t help yourself, you habitual line stepper you.
Other than the appropriateness factor, I honestly don’t care what you write about. Maybe you want to write a mini-autobiography week to week, explaining the different chapters of your life. Maybe you want to be a sports columnist tackling all the problems within the professional sports world. Maybe you want to be a fiction novelist who writes creative short stories. Maybe you want to be a movie critic who analyzes and discusses the week’s newest theatrical releases. Maybe you want to write about random topics every single time. It doesn’t matter as long as you are writing and writing to the best of your ability, stretching yourself and trying to get better at constructing sentences, using better diction (word choice), organizing paragraphs, painting pictures for your readers, and, of course, utilizing proper punctuation. Make your posts funny and light-hearted or serious and somber. Make them enjoyable for you and your readers (the rest of the class). Oh yeah, don’t forget you will have readers…so you might want to steer clear of anything you don’t want others to read.
Allowing others to read your writing is one of the most vulnerable things you will ever do. Putting yourself and your beliefs down on a sheet of paper isn’t easy in the first place; allowing others, including strangers, to see and critique what you have to say is nail-biting at best and absolutely gut-wrenching at worst. But it is also exhilarating, inspirational, and – if you allow it to be – fun. So don’t forget that publishing your hard earned, grammatically perfect blog post will be a great accomplishment every single week.
Just so we’re clear, here’s a weekly rundown of this blog-posting-thingy:
- Monday –> library computer lab**; hard copy of weekly blog post turned in to Mr. Camporese
- Tuesday – Thursday –> regular grammar lessons in classroom, now utilizing your own writing
- Friday –> vocabulary, as always
**I expect your blog to be posted on the website BEFORE class on Monday. This class period is meant for you to brainstorm and write your UPCOMING post and to read the posts of your peers, not to mess around with the website or play catch-up. The posting aspect will be considered homework, and again, must be done prior to Monday’s class period. Plus, having everyone log into the blog at the same time would prove disastrous and frustrating. Just get the posting portion done ahead of time. Furthermore, your computer lab time is meant to help you in regards to the ongoing project at hand…NOT for you to check your email, grades, or espn.com and NOT to chit-chat with friends, wander the lab, or do other homework. Abuse of your computer privilege will result in no computer time on Mondays.
Blog requirements:
- 400 word minimum per blog post (the equivalent of 1 double-spaced typed page)
- You can always write more if you want; the more you write, the more you learn. I think most of the time you will write more simply because you probably won’t be able to fit all your ideas into just 400 words. Just to give you an idea: This whole post is approximately 1100 words. The paragraph concluding with a warning to the habitual line steppers makes for about 450 words.
- Utilize given grammatical skills pertinent to the week’s classes
- I will provide instructions on a weekly basis on this matter. For example, I might make a requirement the use of a certain amount of root words in your own writing, or I might have you use a certain verb tense, or I might have you use pieces of foreign punctuation like a semi-colon or a colon.
- Write using the best grammar you can…
- Your weekly grade will be based on A) your dutiful posting and preparedness, B) your ability to incorporate the necessary weekly requirements effectively, and C) perfect grammar. You don’t want to publish something that isn’t well edited!
- Under no circumstances are you allowed to mess with the blog’s appearance, themes, set-up, etc. Because we are all sharing the same account (more on this later), you need to be conscientious of your peers. Be respectful in our online community, please.
Lastly, I want to address the inspiration for the name of our grammar blog…the man, the myth, the legend: MC Hammer. In 1990, while I was at the ripe age of five-years-old, MC Hammer released ‘U Can’t Touch This,’ a revolutionary song that mainstreamed rap and hip-hop. Please Hammer Don’t Hurt’em, the album containing the biggest rap smash of all time up to that point (and still number two behind Outkast’s ‘Hey Ya’), became the first CD I ever purchased. MC Hammer faded into obscurity shortly thereafter, but his song will live in infamy forever because of his catchphrase “Stop! Hammer Time.” Check out the original music video below:
grammartimewths 