Front cover image for Mechanically inclined : building grammar, usage, and style into writer's workshop

Mechanically inclined : building grammar, usage, and style into writer's workshop

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.
Print Book, English, 2005
Stenhouse, Portland, Me., 2005
xvi, 200 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm
9781571104120, 1571104127
1001723315
pt. I: The blueprint: teaching grammar and mechanics in context. 1. Introduction
2. Moving from correct-alls to mentor texts
3. Weaving grammar and mechanics into writer's workshop
4. Off-the-wall grammar and mechanics instruction
pt. II: Constructing lessons: background, mentor text, and visual scaffolds. 1. The sentence: a way of thinking
2. Pause and effect: crafting sentences with commas
3. Pronouns: the willing stand-ins
4. The verb: are we in agreement?
5. Adjectives and adverbs: the modifier within
6. The power of punctuation: the period is mightier than the semicolon