Teaching
Grammar and Mechanics in Writing
Workshop
Grammar vs. Mechanics
• Grammar includes principles that
guide the structure of sentences and
paragraphs.
He likes to eat pizza, but I like
spaghetti.
Grammar vs. Mechanics
• Mechanics is how we punctuate to
achieve meaning (punctuation,
capitalization, paragraphing,
formatting).
“Let’s eat Grandma.”
“Let’s eat, Grandma.”
Why Teach Grammar and
Mechanics?
• Grammar and mechanics shape meaning
• Allow writer’s words to be understood by the
reader
“I say we spray!”, shouted Dad taking aim with a squirt.
“Yes! Spray! Spray!” cried out Mom and Emily.
“So spray already!” sputtered Oliver.
So they spritzed him and sprayed him. And they gooped,
glopped, and moussed him. They even hair-pinned him flat
in five places for good measure.
“Aaah,” they said, sighing a confident, job-well-done
sigh.
Oliver’s bedhead was now one slick gelhead.
And then…
Margie Palatini, Bedhead
How do we teach it?
• Studies show that teaching
grammar in isolation is not
the most effective teaching
strategy.
• Teach grammar in context.
• Apply grammar/mechanics
to students’ writing.
Teach Grammar
and Mechanics
• As principles to be studied,
explored, examined, and
practiced rather than rules
• Tools to serve a writer in
creating text reader will
understand
Focus on Craft instead of
Correctness
• Students need grammar and mechanics
tools so they have choices and can make
decisions about crafting their writing
• Make editing and revising activities as
regular as breathing.
They can’t even…
• What are they using correctly?
• What are they attempting to do?
• Make a list of grammar and mechanics
errors you notice over and over in
students’ writing
Boys
- Is the writer able to arrange words, sentences, and
paragraphs
to convey meaning?
- Does the writer understand the sentence as a unit, even if the
punctuation isn’t correct?
-Does the writer understand verb tense?
--What grammatical understandings is this student
approximating?
-- Does the writer understand simple conventions such as
contractions, indenting, use of punctuation, subject-verb
agreement?
Spending hours correcting
grammar and punctuation?
• Hours of work…tons of hope… little result
• “Marking every error does as much good as
yelling down a hole.” Nancie Atwell
What do I teach?
• Base your teaching on the errors they
make. Use Treasures/Trophies as a
resource and guide.
• Base your teaching on the strategies
they need.
• 20 Most Frequent Errors
20 Most Frequent Errors
-sentence fragments
-tense shift
-run-on sentence
-its vs. it’s error
-subject-verb agreement
-vague pronoun reference
-no comma in a compound sentence
-possessive apostrophe error
-pronoun agreement error
-wrong/missing prepositions
-no comma after introductory element
-wrong word
-lack of commas in a series
-unnecessary shift in person
-wrong/missing inflected endings
-comma splice
-no comma in nonrestrictive element
-dangling or misplaced modifier
-unnecessary comma with restrictive element
-wrong tense or verb form
(Connors and
Lumsford)
Argument: Correct-Alls vs.
Mentor Texts
• DOL helps with editing…sometimes.
• More than one concept
• Visually absorbing incorrect writing
What is a mentor text?
• Any text or piece of text that can
teach a writer about an aspect of
writer’s craft, from sentence structure
to quotation marks to “show don’t
tell”.
• Sentence Stalking
• His room smelled of cooked grease,
Lysol, and age.
-Maya Angelou, Why the Caged Bird Sings
• Matilda’s wonderfully subtle mind was
already at work devising yet another
suitable punishment for a poisonous
parent.
– Roald Dahl, Matilda
We Know We Need to Teach
Grammar in Context…
• Context is about meaning.
• The key is meaning, not length.
• Use mentor sentences to teach
grammar and mechanics principles.
Teaching Grammar
•
•
•
•
Teach one thing at a time
Apply it to daily writing
Use the shortest mentor text possible
Give students time to work with the
principle
• Scaffold for maximum success
• Display visuals for constant
reinforcement
At first they may…
• Copy directly
• Overuse concept
• Attach meaning to the
wrong things
And you…
• Keep teaching, re-teaching,
repeating, mentioning, thinking
aloud, noticing, encouraging
• Writing is recursive
• Students may need WEEKS to
master one principle
If struggling readers need to see a word
forty times to learn it (Beers 2002), then I’ll
make a leap and say students need to see
grammar and mechanics rules highlighted
in different contexts at least as many times
to own them.
- Jeff Anderson
Mini Lessons on Grammar
and Mechanics
• Short! 5 - 10 Minutes!
• Best taught at the beginning of Writing
Workshop
• Display and read mentor text
– Make observations
– Play around with punctuation, etc.
– Make more observations
• Discuss rule or principle
Moving Past a 4
Various Sentence Structures
are Used
•
•
•
•
Simple sentences
Complex sentences
Compound sentences
Sentence variety ., !, ?
Assumption
A sentence has a subject and verb. It must make sense
and stand on its own.
His mother yelled, “Be careful crossing the street.”
The boy raced across the street.
What makes a sentence?
Sentsentence
Subject
(who or what did something)
+
Verb
(what did they do?)
stands on its own
Cows moo.
Cows moo?
Cows moo!
Sentence Fluency begins in
the
ear.
A fragment is missing a subject or verb and/or
doesn’t make sense.
A car came zooming
big and bold
when I was little
Kids need to be able to identify and fix fragments. In order to do
this, they must understand the simple sentence. Everything builds
on this understanding – from compound to complex.
The ability to pare down a sentence to its
essential core is the first tool students need in
order to uncover the craft of all sentences.
Jeff Anderson, Mechanically Inclined
Sentence Smack Down
When I was five. I had a Chuckie doll. I
would scare everybody with Chuckie.
Chuckie was about two feet, had orange
hair, little red and white shoes, overalls,
and plastic knife. To make Chuckie look
more like the real thing. From the kitchen
drawer. Like a mini-butcher knife. I super
glued it into
Chuckie’s hand.
Sound familiar?
• I went to Disney it was awesome and
we took my friend Sam and then we
went to the Frontier for lunch and we
had bar be que and then we went
swimming at the pool it was so much
fun!
The classic run-on!
Compound Subject
My mother looked at the map. My sister looked at the
map.
My mother and my sister looked at the map.
Compound Predicate
The leaves fall on the ground. The leaves cover the
ground.
The leaves fall and cover the ground.
This is
easy!
Compound Sentences
• Essential tool in a writers toolbox.
• I like teaching reading but I don’t like
teaching PE.
What do you notice?
Every day was a happy day, and every night was
peaceful.
-E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web
Nick Allen had plenty of ideas, and he knew what to
do with them.
-Andrew Clements, Frindle
I want to buy a new car, so I have to save some
money.
I want to take a cruise to Hawaii, but I don’t have
enough time.
What do you notice?
Every day was a happy day, and every night was peaceful.
Every night was peaceful, and every day was a happy day.
Every day was a happy day and every night was peaceful
Every day was a happy day every night was peaceful.
Probing Questions
-What do you notice?
-What else?
-What’s the punctuation doing?
-How does it sound as we read it?
-What would change if we removed
this or that?
-Which do you prefer? Why?
Building the Compound
Sentence Pattern
Sentence
I want to go,
,
for
and *
nor
but *
or *
yet
so
but
sentence
.
I have to clean my room.
I want to go, but I have to clean my room.
Compound Sentences
A compound sentence contains two subjects and
two predicates. A conjunction is used to combine the
two sentences.
F - for
A - and
N - nor
B - but
O - or
Y - yet
S - so
Notice, Notice, Notice
I hit a double, and then
everything changed.
He forgot his lunch money, so he had to
eat a peanut butter sandwich.
I thought I lost my homework, but it was
under my bed.
Grammar Notebooks
Download Mentor Sentences
ELR Cab Conference
Build Grammar Section of
Writer’s Folder
• Explain principle
• Students cut and paste principle and mentor
sentence in writer’s folder
Subsequent days…
• Students imitate sentence and/or pattern
• Leave room below -- encourage students to find
more sentences from their reading to add
Let’s Give it a Try
• Invitation to imitate
I sat near the back with Stephen, and he kept
pestering me.
Stephen is my best friend, but I’m not sure he
would admit it.
There was only about a block to go before our
bus stop, but I couldn’t stand Stephen’s
whining.
-Andrew Clements, The Report
Card
Let’s Give it a Try
• Invitation to imitate
I sat near the back with Stephen, and he kept
pestering me.
I sat on the floor with Harry, and he kept
licking me.
-Andrew Clements, The Report
Card
Collecting Sentences
Next Steps
• Add compound sentence(s) to daily writing
• Collect sentences
• Practice combining
I tried calling her as soon as I got home
from school.
Her line was busy.
Celebrating Grammar
• For homework have children, “Shop the
World” looking for sentences that follow the
pattern (or have them write one)
• Share the sentences aloud
• Celebrate, reread, compare, contrast,
enjoy, and review the craft of grammar
• Display sentences all over the room
• Empower kids -- “I can do that, too!”
If struggling readers need to see a word
forty times to learn it (Beers 2002), then I’ll
make a leap and say students need to see
grammar and mechanics rules highlighted
in different contexts at least as many times
to own them.
- Jeff Anderson
Principles We’ve Learned
• Construction of a Simple Sentence
Subject + Verb + stands on its own
• Construction of a Compound Sentence
Sentence, + Conjunction +
sentence.
Moving on…
Complex Sentences
Dependent
Vs.
Independent
If independence means to stand on
your own, what does dependence
mean?
Independent clause
(Simple sentence)
Subject
Verb
An Independent Clause
•Is a sentence
•Stands on its own
•Is perfectly fine as it is
But sometimes we want more
 Pictures or images
 Information
 Specifics
 Description
So how do we add information to our
sentences without making run-on or
incorrect sentences?
We can write complex
sentences.
Not all of our sentences have to be short;
We need long and short sentences.
What you add to the sentence
• Can’t be a whole new sentence
• Can’t stand on its own— it must be…
Independent
This has a noun and a verb
Does it stand on its own?
Does it express a complete thought?
It’s Dependent
must lean on an
independent clause (sentence)
Invitation to Notice
Sentence
,
closer
.
They are shouting your name, asking if dinner is ready yet.
-Jim Grisley, Winter Birds
Abraham was growing fast, shooting up like a sunflower.
-Russell Freedman, Lincoln: A Photobiography
Furlough found his brother in the library, standing on the top of
the great open book.
-Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of
Despereaux
Download Mentor Sentences
ELR Cab Conference
Let’s Give it a Try
The dog approached me.
There are three basic complex
sentence patterns
• Add information at the beginning of a
sentence
• Add information in the middle of a
sentence
• Add information at the end of a sentence
Complex Sentences
The three basic patterns…
Beginning
,
, interrupting ,
, closing .
Where should we add the
dependent?
At the Beginning?, Middle?, End?
• Which one sounds the best?
• Does it add detail to the sentence?
,
Flapping its wings the duck flew.
The duck
, flapping its wings, flew.
,
The duck flew flapping its wings.
Which do you like better?
You are the artist you get to decide which is best.
Dependents can be many things, but they will
always:
> Begin
> Interrupt
> Close
> Add detail to an independent clause
We need to teach
students that sentences
are as much fun to
build – and play around
with as Lego castles.
You build them, stand back to check
them out, break them up and build
them another way.