Interview with English Professor on Grammar

Group4

Sasha Levage

Writing 330-V Burton

Interview

For my interview, I talked with one of my past High school English teachers, Ms. K at Bend Senior High School, since I am expecting to teach high school English in the future. When I was speaking with her, she emphasized the importance of creativity through student writing. When I asked her how important the correctness of grammar was for students, I was surprised when she said, “Because I am the English teacher, I have to have high standards for correctness, yet not to the point that I want to only stress grammar. I’ve found the more I stress technicalities, the less creative papers I receive. Students at ninth and tenth grade levels fear they do not have the capability of writing something both creative and correct grammatically.” She continually voiced her opinion that grammar was important, but not as directly effective as having a creative side. She stated, “When students are given more thought provoking assignments, they tend to create more complex sentences without even realizing it.” She also mentioned that vocabulary and style were always helpful to a student’s writing.

When I asked her what she found most impressive about student writing, she smiled and answered after a moment of thought, “I have only been teaching English for five years now. My first classes teaching sophomore English were so surprising, I had expected everything to be a mess. I would say I am most surprised at how much time students are willing to put into an essay or assignment, regardless of how much of his or her grade it is worth.” Throughout the interview, I realized that Ms. K was adamant about good writing, so long as there was a voice behind it. Grammar and technicalities, as stated by Ms. K “can always be corrected,” but writing creatively and interestingly are aspects which must be encouraged. “It’s the ideas that count,” she stated before the interview ended, “everything else takes second place in my classroom.”