Mechanically Inclined

This is my first year teaching language arts to middle school students. I could tell that they were already bored with grammar, but during the last few weeks, I too was about to go crazy! What is an appositive? What is a participle? I really felt like that teacher from Charlie Brown! I knew something had to change. I did a little research and I actually found another book first; it was $30, so somehow I stumbled upon this gem (and only $11 straight to my iPad; it was an emergency after all).For weeks, I was thinking to myself,"You can't just memorize grammar terms and expect them to learn. And the textbook examples do not help for squat" I actually said to myself, "This is never going to make them a better writer. And isn't that the whole point??? " Well, I was correct. Look at the statistics; do the research yourself if you like.Can I tell you that in TWO class periods my students have smiles on their faces? They are writing, they are editing, and they are having fun sharing their ideas. Traditional grammar, as the book calls it, is gone forever as far as I am concerned (I don't really like textbooks anyway). With these new techniques, I am already seeing major improvement. The whole environment has changed. The kids are excited, and better than that they are actually USING the concepts NOT memorizing!!!

Great book for teaching grammar within writing! Love it

I booked messaged so many pages for future reference. Great book!

Jeff Anderson's book is the perfect guide for any Language Arts teacher. Anderson provides student centered lessons and presents teachers with effective visual scaffolds and ideas for every type of learner. My 6th grade students are engaged and applying their learning in a positive new way.My only problem with the copy I received is that the pages are not tightly bound. The first lesson I used fell right out of the book after only about a week from receiving it in the mail. However, this may have been a one time problem and I am still happy with the product overall.Great book. Pairs well with Nancie Atwell writing curriculum.

There is not much I can say here that has not already been said. This book is chocked full of research fact, proven strategies for integrating the instruction of grammar and mechanics into your class. It was very well written, and the appendices or a resource I will hang onto for years to come.

MUST HAVE! I've been teaching English for 22 years and have found this book to be one of the most helpful I own. I base all my grammar/mechanics anchor charts and mini lesson off of this book. A must have - I recommend it to all new teachers and loan it out frequently to other ELA teachers in my department. I teach English 10, 11, and 12.

Great book and insights into teaching grammar.

A great text for ideas to improve student writing. I will be using this in my 8th grade classroom this year. I do wish that he would have included copies of the texts he used in each lesson, but if you don't mind doing a little extra (easy) work/research into young adult literature, this will be a great tool for you.

arrived quickly and in excellent condition.

This book is American and contains tips and ideas too good not to bring over to our side of the Atlantic. It's by far the best book I've found on teaching grammar and writing. So much of the time we teach grammar rules in isolation, missing opportunities to develop our students' writing. I've used ideas from this book with year four and year six classes, but secondary English teachers could also gain so much from it. It's so much better than the standard books on Literacy teaching recommended on PGCE courses. For more information and reviews, I suggest you check it out on the US version of Amazon.