Contemplating Grammar

Classes, Classroom Help, Informative, Preparing for College

Published with Permission
Written by Andrew Pudewa
www.TOSMagazine.com

 

It seems that the pattern of the Trinity permeates creation: body, mind, soul; harmony, melody, rhythm; truth, goodness, beauty; ethos, pathos, logos. The illustrations could continue. Therefore it should not surprise us that the thing called “grammar” can also be understood in three parts—integrated and organically connected but in three aspects, which when understood individually, strengthen our understanding of the whole.

I first began thinking about the question of grammar more than ten years ago, when I met a professional author—a man who had for decades earned his daily bread by writing. We were working together on a project, and he mentioned to me, somewhat casually, “I don’t know any grammar.” Though he was being candid, I was surprised and even confused. How was it that a professional writer didn’t know much grammar? And the obvious extrapolation was this: if it’s not necessary to know grammar to write well, why do we pile year after year of grammar workbooks on our children? Are we missing something here? (more…)

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Art Education: More Important Than One May Think

Classroom Help

Published with Permission
Written by Dr. Heather W. Allen
www.TOSMagazine.com

 

According to the Oxford Dictionaries’ website, art is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”1 Taken one step further, the arts are “the various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance.”2 According to The American Heritage Dictionary, art is “the conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.”3

As I researched this topic, looking for data pertaining to artists and art history, specifically as it pertained to education, I focused on the study of the arts and its importance in general. I think this focus will provide a more comprehensive foundation for why the study of the arts is important in the education of our children.

There were studies that indicated that participation in the arts positively affects brain development. (more…)

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