Mechanically Inclined : Building Grammar, Usage, and Style into Writer's Workshop

by Anderson, Jeff

• ISBN13: 9781571104120
• ISBN10: 1571104127
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-11-01
• Publisher: Stenhouse Pub

Summary

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 Inclinedis 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: short daily instruction in grammar and mechanics within writer's workshop; using high-quality mentor texts to teach grammar and mechanics in context; visual scaffolds, including wall charts, and visual cues that can be pasted into writer's notebooks; regular, short routines, like "express-lane edits," that help students spot and correct errors automatically.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 Inclinedis 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.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xi
Vicki Spandel
Acknowledgments	xv
Part I The Blueprint: Teaching Grammar and Mechanics in Context	1	(60)
Introduction	3	(12)
Moving from Correct-Alls to Mentor Texts	15	(12)
Weaving Grammar and Mechanics into Writer's Workshop	27	(24)
Off-the-Wall Grammar and Mechanics Instruction	51	(10)
Part II Constructing Lessons: Background, Mentor Text, and Visual Seaffolds	61	(2)
Section 1 The Sentence: A Way of Thinking	63	(20)
Fragments	65	(3)
Two-Word Sentence Smack Down
Two-Word Sentence Search---Powerful Words, Powerful Verbs
Run-On Sentences	68	(3)
Dependent Vs. Independent---Adding On Without Running On
Dangling Modifiers	71	(3)
Only You Can Prevent Dangling Modifiers---Playing with Sentence Parts
Wrong or Missing Preposition	74	(3)
I've Got a Preposition For You
Double Negative	77	(2)
Register Swap: The Formal and Informal Registers
The Absolute	79	(4)
The Absolute Zoom Lens---A Think- and Look-Aloud
Section 2 Pause and Effect: Crafting Sentences with Commas	83	(20)
No Comma in a Compound Sentence	84	(3)
Flipping for the Compound Sentence Pattern
Comma Splice	87	(3)
From Splice to Nice---FANBOYS to the Rescue
No Comma After an Introductory Element	90	(3)
If There Were an Olympic Contest for Sentence Imitating AAAWWUBBIS---The Subordinating Conjunction Bionic Mnemonic
No Comma in a Nonrestrictive Element	93	(3)
Basket Case---The Essential Nonessential Comma Rule
An Appositive Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery . . . But Plagiarism Isn't
No Comma Setting Off Additions at the End of a Sentence	96	(3)
Life Detectives---Paying Attention to Detail and the Cumulative Sentence
Lack of Commas in a Series	99	(4)
Think-Aloud---Commas, Are You Serial?
Section 3 Pronouns: The Willing Stand-Ins	103	(14)
Vague Pronoun Reference	104	(3)
Marking Text---In Reference to Pronouns
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement Error	107	(3)
Where Have All the Pronouns Gone? A Kira-Kira Cloze
Pronoun Case Error	110	(3)
The Case of the Pesky Pronoun
Possessive Apostrophe Error	113	(4)
Apostrophe-thon
Section 4 The Verb: Are We All in Agreement?	117	(14)
Subject-Verb Agreement	118	(3)
From Past to Present---It's About Time . . . and Effect
Dropped Inflectional Endings	121	(3)
The Verbs---They Are A-Changin'
Do and Have Agreement Errors	124	(3)
You Can't Have It All---If He/She/It Has Anything to Say About It
Easy Does It---He/She/It Again
Unnecessary Shift in Tense	127	(4)
Who Took the Verbs Out?
Verbs Still Making Students Tense?
Section 5 Adjectives and Adverbs: The Modifier Within	131	(12)
Adjective Strings	132	(3)
The Human Sentence---Adjectives Out of Order
Adjective Clauses	135	(3)
Which One? An Adjective Clause Tells All
Adverb Clauses	138	(2)
We're in the Titles
Adverbs and Conjunctive Adverbs	140	(3)
Adverbs, Adverbs Everywhere---Strictly Speaking
Section 6 The Power of Punctuation: The Period Is Mightier Than the Semicolon	143	(18)
Misuse of Quotation Marks	144	(3)
Revealing Character---Tagging Dialogue with Action
Overuse of the Exclamation Point	147	(3)
Exclamation Degradation---Reflecting on a Point's Overuse
The Semicolon	150	(2)
The Semicolon---The Lone Separator
The Colon	152	(2)
The Colon---The Drum Roll of Punctuation
The Dash	154	(3)
Dashing---Simply Dashing!
The Hyphen	157	(4)
Hyphen Nation---Some Words Just Belong Together
Appendix	161
The Sentence: A Way of Thinking
Sentence Smack Down!
List of Common Prepositions
Pause and Effect: Crafting Sentences with Commas
Compound and Serial Comma Sentence Pattern Scaffolds
AAAWWUBBIS and More!
Comma Magnets as Sentence Openers
Three Basic Complex Sentence Pattern Visual Scaffolds