Want a NOOK? Explore Now
Some teachers love grammar and some hate it, but nearly all struggle to find ways of making the mechanics of English meaningful to kids. As a middle school teacher, Jeff Anderson also discovered that his students were not grasping the basics, and that it was preventing them from reaching their potential as writers. Jeff readily admits, “I am not a grammarian, nor am I punctilious about anything,” so he began researching and testing the ideas of scores of grammar experts in his classroom, gradually finding successful ways of integrating grammar instruction into writer's workshop.
Mechanically Inclined is the culmination of years of experimentation that merges the best of writer's workshop elements with relevant theory about how and why skills should be taught. It connects theory about using grammar in context with practical instructional strategies, explains why kids often don't understand or apply grammar and mechanics correctly, focuses on attending to the “high payoff,” or most common errors in student writing, and shows how to carefully construct a workshop environment that can best support grammar and mechanics concepts. Jeff emphasizes four key elements in his teaching:
Comprising an overview of the research-based context for grammar instruction, a series of over thirty detailed lessons, and an appendix of helpful forms and instructional tools, Mechanically Inclined is a boon to teachers regardless of their level of grammar-phobia. It shifts the negative, rule-plagued emphasis of much grammar instruction into one which celebrates the power and beauty these tools have in shaping all forms of writing.
| Foreword | ||
| Pt. I | The blueprint : teaching grammar and mechanics in context | 1 |
| Ch. 1 | Introduction | 3 |
| Ch. 2 | Moving from correct-alls to mentor texts | 15 |
| Ch. 3 | Weaving grammar and mechanics into writer's workshop | 27 |
| Ch. 4 | Off-the-wall grammar and mechanics instruction | 51 |
| Pt. II | Constructing lessons : background, mentor text, and visual scaffolds | 61 |
| Sect. 1 | The sentence : a way of thinking | 63 |
| Sect. 2 | Pause and effect : crafting sentences with commas | 83 |
| Sect. 3 | Pronouns : the willing stand-ins | 103 |
| Sect. 4 | The verb : are we all in agreement? | 117 |
| Sect. 5 | Adjectives and adverbs : the modifier within | 131 |
| Sect. 6 | The power of punctuation : the period is mightier than the semicolon | 143 |
Anonymous
Posted July 5, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted August 7, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
LendMe™
Overview
Some teachers love grammar and some hate it, but nearly all struggle to find ways of making the mechanics of English meaningful to kids. As a middle school teacher, Jeff Anderson also discovered that his students were not grasping the basics, and that it was preventing them from reaching their potential as writers. Jeff readily admits, “I am not a grammarian, nor am I punctilious about anything,” so he began researching and testing the ideas of scores of grammar experts in his classroom, gradually finding successful ways of integrating grammar instruction into writer's workshop.
Mechanically Inclined is the culmination of years of experimentation that ...