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: 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 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.
