This Side of Third

…and second

Writing is Fundamental

November5

This Side of Third is sitting at a table with her peers, waiting to begin a training titled “Fundamentals in the Sentence Writing Strategy-Part 1 Sentence Composing” Zzzzzzzz. I can’t imagine how this is going to go. My degree is a B.S. in English-Writing. I think I may be a bit bored. Do I want to say bored when I know countless hours went into this training? I think I do. At least I’m with friends. Everything is good when you’re with friends who can appreciate your sarcastic humor. 🙂 I’ll let you know how this goes….. OK, here’s how it goes: I’ve already missed the first five minutes of the introduction because I tuned out.

Aaaaaannnnnd we’re back. Wow. What a training. I was both bored and interested. How does that happen? I appreciate the message the training team was sending, and I can tell they really like what was being presented. It’s just that I felt like I was back in grade school learning the basics of writing. I realize that not everyone is the same and we haven’t all had similar education; however, I do believe it was a bit (wait for it) fundamental.

A light bulb just glowed over my head. I think (duhn, duhn, duhn) I’m a writing snob. I’m not saying I’m a genius, or even Nobel prize worthy, but I am able to throw together the written word pretty successfully. What kept me so engaged was the opportunity to point out (politely and under my breath) the errors in the presentation. In case you don’t know me, or haven’t noticed, I can be a bit…snarky.

I know the training was not geared toward older students/adults, and that it was a FUNDAMENTAL thing, but the Grammar Nazi (Grammar Bitch?) in me reared its ugly head so many times. Passive voice, infinitives, misinformation about sentence structure… I have a friend who is a GN as well. I picked up my phone to text her at least 6 or 7 times to tell her what was going on. I refrained. She’ll find out for herself when she has her training. Why give up the spoilers?

I don’t know this annoyed me so much. Maybe because writing is something I care about. I love to write–I have since I was young. I don’t share myself, or my thoughts and feelings well. I’m not a talker. I’m not one to open up. Give me a pen though and I can write it down and get it all out. Even turn it into a book.

No matter what happened at the training today, I have something new to use with my kids. Hopefully it’s a tool that will make them better writers, or think about what they write instead of just getting words on the page. Time to bust out my Writer’s Workshop binder and add today’s training into the mix.

No matter what your next training, may it be fruitful and give you the tools you need for your kids. 🙂

 

 

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