How to Teach Essay Strategies
What first pops into your mind when I mention essay strategies? Fair to say that many of us would think of the the characteristics and/or structure of a particular genre (domain), say a persuasive...
View ArticleFree Grammar and Mechanics Resources
How do most teachers teach grammar and mechanics? Frankly, many of us just are not teaching these subjects, except as a few weeks of drill and kill worksheets prior to the standardized test. Teachers...
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Grammar Openers
District administrators and teachers are digging into the newly adopted Common Core State Standards and finding some unexpected buried treasure: the Language Strand. Of course, one’s pirate’s treasure...
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Problems with Daily Oral Language (D.O.L.)
I’ve already detailed sixteen reasons Why Daily Oral Language (D.O.L.) Doesn’t Work in a related article; however, readers of my blog have added “fuel to the fire” by identifying two more problems with...
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Why D.O.L. Does Not Transfer to Writing
“I greatly prefer D.O.L. over isolated study because it addresses all the issues at once, not just commas or just capitalization or just subject-verb agreement. Kids have to consider all those, just...
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Why Grammar Doesn’t Stick
Last Wednesday, one of my favorite eighth grade English-language Arts colleagues burst into my fifth period seventh grade class. Herding ten of my previous students through the door to stand in front...
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How to Teach Interactive Grammar
If I’m going to entice you to read this article by offering some how-to’s and free resources to teach grammar interactively, we had best get on the same page about what we both mean by grammar. I like...
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Grammar | Teaching in the Social Context
Language Conventions Academic Literacy Centers If we consider the traditional four communicative contexts of English-language arts (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and add on a fifth, the...
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Grammar Quiz for Teachers
Grammar Quiz for Teachers See how much you know about grammar by taking the 10 Question Grammar Quiz for Teachers. Don’t worry; I’ll dispense with the usual “If you score 9 or 10 out of 10, you are…”...
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Don’t Teach Grammar Mini-Lessons
Don’t Teach Grammar Mini-Lessons Don’t teach grammar mini-lessons for two reasons: this instructional methodology is implicit and ineffective. Currently, the top Google search for “new research on...
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