1. Gr. 3-8 Writing Interventionist Dorchester School District Two
Using Jeff Anderson’s mechanically inclined Grammar for the Writing Classroom
Empowering writers through
positive application strategies
Gr. 3-8 Writing Interventionist
Dorchester School District Two
March
Susan Grinsteinner

2. Jeff Anderson, Stenhouse, 2005
Mechanically Inclined: Building Grammar, Usage, and Style into Writer’s Workshop
Empower writers through positive application strategies
Jeff Anderson, Stenhouse, 2005

3. Contact Information
Susan Grinsteinner Gr. 3-8 Writing Interventionist Dorchester District Two

4. Today’s Goal Learn to Empower writers through positive application strategies

5. “We have to find ways to teach students about grammar and mechanics at a time when they have less and less experience with the written word. Mechanically Inclined, p. 13

6. Where Do We Start?

7. Your Grammar History
How confident are you about your own knowledge of grammar and mechanics? Explain. How confident are you about the quality of your writer’s workshop or writing process instruction? Explain. What would you like to improve about your grammar instruction?

8. Definitions Grammar: Mechanics:
How words fit into the part of a sentence (Parts of speech)
Mechanics:
Conventions for the technical side of writing (spelling, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations (sentences vs. fragments, subjects and predicates, subject-verb agreement, and capitalization)

9. Punctuation Takes a Vacation

10. 20 Most Common Errors (In Order of Frequency)
No comma after introductory element Vague pronoun reference No comma in compound sentence Wrong word No comma in nonrestrictive element Wrong/missing inflected ending Wrong or missing prepositions Comma splice Possessive apostrophe error
Tense shift Unnecessary shift in tense Sentence fragments Wrong tense or verb form Subject-verb agreement Lack of comma in a series Pronoun agreement error Unnecessary comma with restrictive element Run-on or fused sentence Dangling or misplaced modifier It's versus its error

11. 20 Most Common Errors in Order of Frequency
Caution: Base your Teaching on the CCSS First
and Student Errors Second.

12. Nouns and Verbs Have a Field Day

13. Before Teaching a Skill or Strategy, Ask…
How is this grammar and mechanics issue also a craft issue? How can I use it to generate authentic text? How can I look at it in the context of literature? How can I quickly turn kids back to their writing, so they can be on their way to becoming independent revisers, crafters, and editors?

14. I’ve Taught it, but they still aren’t getting it…

15. If students are struggling, ask…
Did I…
immerse students in correct models, visually and orally?
post examples?
demonstrate how to use the pattern in my own writing?
model correcting this type of error in focused edits?
give students ample practice in editing this type of error?
place the item on our classes' editor's checklist?
have students edit their own writing for the error?
Is this error important enough to warrant all of the aforementioned work to teach it?

16. Teaching Grammar in Context?
The key is meaning, not length. Context does not have to mean using whole texts only. It does not have to mean using students’ writing. We can zoom into the sentence or paragraph level for initial instruction and zoom back to the essay level once the pattern is established.

17. Pulling It All Together…
Teach quick doses of grammar and mechanics with application to writing daily. Use the shortest mentor text possible. Extend the invitation… Provide models and scaffolds for each skill Apply skills & play with mentor sentences (writer’s notebooks) Fill walls with visuals that provide reinforcement.

18. Thinking about Grammar and Mechanics in Writing.
Invite students to…
Notice
Revise
Imitate
Edit
Collect
Celebrate
Write
Invite Students to THINK.

19. The Other Way to Listen

20. Max’s Words

21. Mentor Texts
A mentor text is any text that can teach a writer about any aspect of writer’s craft, from sentence structure, to quotation marks to “show don’t tell.”

22. Show -- Don’t Tell

23. Mentor Texts Where can I find mentor texts?
Correct sentences from proofreading warm-ups
A text you are reading or will read in class
Students’ Writing
Great Sentences Blog
http: //

24. When I Was Young in the Mountains
When I was young in the mountains, we listened to frogs sing at dusk and awoke to cowbells outside our windows.

25. AAAWWUBBIS , . opener sentence
As Although After While When Unless Before Because If Since
opener ,
sentence .

27. When I was young… As Although After While When Unless Before BecauseIf
Since
Imitate ten sample sentences. Start every sentence with a subordinate conjunction. Circle the one you have the most to say about. Begin freewriting.

28. Wall Charts That Work
Write big. Include examples. Use color. Use light backgrounds. Place carefully. Have students use sentence strips.

30. Moving from “Correct - Alls” to Mentor Texts

31. Ask Yourself…
Is it a sane educational strategy to have kids stare at something so wrong for the first ten minutes of class everyday?

32. What the Research Says
What students see and hear will end up in their writing sooner or later.
Harste, Burke, & Woodward (1985)
Cambourne (1987)
Bernabei (2005)

33. Canning Daily Correct-Alls
Daily Correct-Alls: prepackaged proofreading warm-ups It is impossible to spend sufficient time on each type of error. There is little transfer. Sentences on standardized tests will only have one error. It’s all about finding what is wrong with writing rather than what is right. Consider using mentor texts instead.

34. Day 1
His room smelled of cooked grease, Lysol, and age. Maya Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings What do you notice about this sentence? Write your observations in your Writer’s Notebook.

35. Day 2
His room smelled of cooked grease, Lysol, and age. The bathroom smelled of vanilla, lavender, and relaxation. Compare yesterday's sentence to the imitation sentence I wrote today. What do you notice? Write your observations in your Writer’s Notebook.

36. Day 3
His room smelled of cooked grease, Lysol, and age. The bathroom smelled of vanilla, lavender, and relaxation. Today, write your own imitation of the sentences above. Compare your sentence to the others. What do you notice? Write your observations in your Writer’s Notebook.

37. Day 4
Use your imitation sentence from yesterday as the lead for a paragraph. Write your paragraph in your Writer’s Notebook.

38. Day 5
Revise and edit your paragraph from yesterday and turn it in when you have finished.

39. Think of grammar as creational rather than correctional.

40. Teaching Writers’ Secrets
Lift a sentence from literature and let students tell you what is right about it. Lift a sentence from literature and leave out one piece of punctuation or make one usage error and have students correct it. Lift a sentence from student writing and imitate it’s mistake. Ask students to imitate a construction and talk about it’s uses. Ask students to copy down an example of a rule from a mentor text, then discuss it.

41. The Key…
…to unlocking writers’ secrets is that the “secret” has to be applied in writing that day, pointed to again during writing workshop, and again at the close of writer’s workshop.

42. Weaving Grammar and Mechanics into Writer’s Workshop

43. A Writer’s Notebook

44. Writer’s Notebooks: Set-Up
Never tear out a page of your notebook. Leave a “fly page” up front just like in books. Number pages only on the bottom right-hand side, starting after the fly page. Only write on the right-hand pages. Leave the left hand pages blank for revisit, rethinking, and tinkering.

45. Writer’s Eye or Writer’s I
Students write about the life they’ve observed with their own eyes. Students start a collection of the people, places, games, hobbies, interests, and so forth they know well.

46. Handling the Notebooks
Do they go home? Storage? What if students mess up? Assessing?

47. Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer

48. “Write what’s in front of your nose.”
--William Carlos Williams
Remind students…
You don’t have to write about big trips to Disney World, though you certainly can. If all you ever write about are the things that happen to you at home or at school, that’s enough.

49. Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street

50. Freewriting
Many students will “stall out” after only a few minutes. Freewriting Rules! Begin with a stimulating piece of literature.

51. Bedhead

52. Metacognition: Express Lane Edit
After students complete a piece of writing they do a quick clean-up of their work. It is important for students to do the recording on the express lane edit shopping list. By writing the list of editing items, they are internalizing what matters most. Reflections on what they did well or learned are in the receipt column.

53. Express Lane Edit
Shopping List
Receipt

54. Contact Information
Susan Grinsteinner Gr. 3-8 Writing Interventionist Dorchester District Two