Beth Hubbard Students can only master the skill on a worksheet and not apply it in their own writing. “The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) found that the formal teaching of grammar and mechanics had little effect on students’ writing and, in fact, had deleterious effects when it displaces writing time” (Anderson, 2005, p. 15). If research has proved its ineffectiveness, then why do we keep teaching the same way?

Beth Hubbard The Jeff Anderson Expressway Reading Jeff Anderson’s book, Mechanically Inclined, truly changed the way I viewed teaching grammar and mechanics. As I read the book, I kept saying to myself, “Yes! That makes so much sense!” I had experienced the same issues in my classroom regarding grammar instruction, but didn’t know how to fix it.

Beth Hubbard To teach grammar and mechanics effectively, Jeff Anderson suggests teaching grammar skills through the use of mentor text. He (2005) defines mentor text as “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’ ” (p. 16). Mentor text encourages students to read as a writer, not just a reader. Having mentor books available for students to browse and use as a resource is really like “gathering a multitude of teachers in the room rather than just having one teacher” (Heard, 2002, p. 80). Use of Mentor Text

Beth Hubbard Teach the Skill After analyzing the mentor text, the teacher provides a quick daily dose of grammar and editing, by inviting students to learn a writer’s secret. “To develop fluency in grammar and mechanics, students need quick daily instruction and practice” (Anderson, 2005, p. 19). In just five to ten minutes, the teacher shows students an example from a mentor text, and the students study it. Students must have interactive experiences between text and their own writing. Without that, the skills won’t be transported into their own writing. Anderson advises teaching only one skill at a time. By giving students too much of anything, they remember nothing (2005, p. 9). Students practice the skill by creating a sentence in the same format and/or incorporate the new sentence into a piece of writing.

Beth Hubbard Wall Charts To summarize the new rule that students have learned, Anderson (2005) suggests saturating the classroom with wall charts. These charts provide a visual reinforcement of the skill that was addressed. The wall charts must be interactive and referenced often or the students won’t internalize the concepts. Anderson says, “Wall charts are more than decoration; they’re brain magic” (2005, p. 51).

Beth Hubbard Example Wall Chart from My Classroom The students and I made the wall charts together, using mentor text to find examples of the grammar skill.

Beth Hubbard

Plural Noun Rules Singular and Plural Noun Examples from Mentor Text Sentence Combining Possessive Nouns – Rules and Examples

Beth Hubbard Traffic Jam – How Do I Assess Grammar Skills? According to Rhodes and Shanklin (1993), grading should make students want to write more and make it more effective, not discourage them. The main reason to assess is to gather information for future instruction. When assessing students’ writing, it is important to remember that not everything needs to be graded. Rhodes and Shanklin explain they “don’t find it useful to grade everything (or even close to everything) that students read and write” (1993, p. 382).