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MAY/JUNE 2007

Unconventional
Conventions: Teaching
Grammar and Mechanics
FEATURE
Stray from the Conventional Wisdom:
Show Writers How to Shape Writing with
Grammar and Mechanics
by Jeff Anderson
CLASSROOM VIGNETTES
Grammar, Games, and Good Guys:
Unconventional Conventions for ADHD
(and Other) Students
by Celeste Garcia Madsen
Teaching Grammar Can Be Fun:
An Oxymoron?
by Lisa Patrick
Grammar Gimmicks
by Cathy Brooks Walker
STUDENT VOICES
Perspectives on Grammar and Punctuation
A LOOK AT THE OGT
Mechanics, Grammar, and Usage: How
Much Is Enough?
by Carol Brown Dodson
FOR YOUR BOOKSHELF
Books by Anderson, Noden, Weaver,
and Ehrenworth & Vinton
by Sheila Cantlebary
FROM THE ORC COLLECTION
More Resources on Unconventional Conven-
tions: Teaching Grammar and Mechanics
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Before we can talk about whats unconventional in the
teaching of grammar and mechanics, we have to settle
on whats conventional. Id have to say death by editing
or tough-love-error eradicationyou know, papers splat-
tered with red marking off a crime scene of error. We
train kids to follow the errors, to become a CSIcrime
sentence investigator. Thats been the order of the day.
As if students take home the eviscerated essay and con-
sider their pattern of error and use a handbook to brush
up on their weak spots. I think they fle them awayin
the garbageand then assume the identity that they
cant write. And as I travel throughout the United States,
I hear that this is conventionallythough a bit exaggerat-
edhow grammar and mechanics are taught. There are
a few who stray from the fock of the conventional; how-
ever, many do unto others as was done to them. I dont
mean to get biblical on you, but the teaching of grammar
and mechanics has a history, and that affects how it is
taught today.
Many teachers tell me, If I dont mark up every error,
how are students going to know theyre wrong? Even
more say, I get it. If I mark every single error, I just
make the kids think they cant write. Then, they dont
experiment or grow as much as they could. At the same
time, I dont think that daily sentence practice works ei-
ther (you know the drillone sentence with enough er-
rors to exhaust the most tireless CSI). Every single day
we edit a sentence on the overhead. We correct it, but
then later the kids dont know how to apply it to their own
writing. What are we supposed to do?
I say stray. Stray from the conventional. Stray from teach-
ing students that hunting for errors (Weaver, 1995) is the
end-all and be-all of writing. Stray from putting incor-
rect sentences on the overhead everyday for editingor
is it target?practice. Does it make sense for students to
stare at wrongness every day (Anderson, 2005)? Really. I
am asking. Does it make sense?
When I invite teachers into a conversation about how fo-
cusing on a sentence smudged with error might not be
a sane educational strategy, they ask questions which
range from What do I do while I take roll? to How else
do they get enough practice? The latter is the real ques-
tion: How do we warm students upfguratively and liter-
allyto know and use grammar and mechanics to shape
their writing?
I began with an attitude shift. In my book Mechanically
Inclined: Grammar, Usage, and Style in Writers Work-
shop (Anderson, 2005), I propose we love our students
errors. They are going to make them; that is part of the
process. Embrace the errors. Rather than putting our
students in the authors electric chair, lets invite them to
join us on a thinking path toward correctness. We can as-
sist students in following thoughtful paths to make deci-
sions about how grammar and mechanics can best serve
them as writers instead of giving them the feeling You
got served! when they get a paper back with every error
marked.
Marking up errors or even staring at them everyday
doesnt teach students how to think through constructing
powerful sentences or making meaning with punctuation.
It teaches them that teachers get excited about errors:
capitalization, commas (they really get in a tizzy about
those), subject-verb agreement. Name the errorteach-
ers dont like it. In trying to avoid error, students revert
to what I call crapshoot grammar (Anderson, 2007). Stu-
dents know teachers worry about capitalization. If they
are unsure of what to do, students know they have a
ffty-ffty chance of getting it right. They roll the dice and
see what happens. Sometimes theyre right; sometimes
theyre not. Its a crapshoot. Have you ever noticed stu-
dents get it right sometimes and not others? They arent
thinkingtheyre rolling the dice. Thats not what I want,
but how do I help students think?
I celebrate attempts rather than eradicate errorsthis is
essential to move students down the path to correctness
and meaning. Wow, this is so cool. Tell me what you
were trying to do here. I follow that up by asking the
writer, Are you ready for a writers secret? (Anderson,
Stray from the Conventional Wisdom: Show Writers
How to Shape Writing with Grammar and Mechanics
by Jeff Anderson
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2007; Spandel, 2004). Next I offer some writers advice
on how to achieve what the young writer wants. Then the
student writer shares the discovery with the class.
Its not about fearing error. Its not about avoidance. Its
communication. Its an invitation, providing stepping-
stones along the way that teach students how to think
about the meaning of their writing and shape what they
have to say. I try to:
Show powerful models rather than correct weak
examples
Model thought process and share writers secrets
rather than simply make corrections
Encourage experimentation and play rather than
have them go on error hunts
Facilitate student thinking through grammar and
mechanics choices rather than let them guess and
hope for the best
But How Do You Teach Grammar and Mechanics?
Writing is about learning how writers create text we want
to read, about understanding how to create clear mes-
sagesand maybe while were at it, about creating beau-
ty. Vicki Spandel, author of Nine Rights of Every Writer
(Heinemann, 2005), often says in her workshops that
every piece of writing is a lesson on writing waiting to
happen. Instead of error, Id rather focus on a great sen-
tence by a student or published author and discuss how
the writer achieved the technique, rule, or pattern, and
give it a try ourselves.
A student, Jesse, wrote this sentence: If you wake up
singing, you will probably get a raise. Besides putting a
smile on my face, I knew I could use this sentence to
teach my students about subordinate clausesthough
I will let Jesses sentence illustrate what a subordinate
clause is rather than name it. When young writers analyze
powerful models, they learn from them. I ask, What do
you notice? What did this author use to communicate with
his readers? Students notice that Jesse used a comma
to tell us where to pause, and then we suppose why we
would need to pause there. Does the if cause us to need
a pause? If we say the phrase up to the comma, is that a
sentence? Is the part after it? Then students are guided
to imitate the sentence. I say, I noticed that the author
started with if. So here is my sentence: If I go into my
class smiling, I know my students will learn. I notice that
the if part by itself leaves my reader hanging, so I must
attach it to a complete sentence that explains what will
happen if. Then I ask, What else did I do like the author?
We go through it step by step, where I put my comma,
how I attached the if phrase to a complete sentence. Next,
I invite students to imitate the sentence, to play around
with the pattern.
Later, students revise a piece of their own writing by us-
ing an if sentenceor other subordinating conjunctions as
sentence beginnings, as they discover them. We celebrate
and recalibrate as we go. At the end of class, we discuss
our challenges and successes, sharing our sentences and
celebrating what grammar and mechanics can do.

Why Not?
If helping students think and shape their writing isnt con-
ventional grammar and mechanics instruction, I think it
should be. Why not? I invite you and your students to look
for unconventional ways to teach conventions. After all is
said and donewhy not?
Have you ever noticed
students get it right
sometimes and not
others? They arent
thinkingtheyre rolling
the dice. Thats not what
I want, but how do I help
students think?
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References
Anderson, Jeff. (2005). Mechanically inclined: Building
grammar, usage, and style into writers workshop. Port-
land, ME: Stenhouse.
Anderson, Jeff. (2007). Teaching editing: The error of our
ways. In Constance Weaver, The grammar planning book:
A smart teachers approach. Portsmouth, NH: Heine-
mann.
Spandel, Vicki. (2005). Nine rights of every writer. Ports-
mouth, NH: Heinemann.
Spandel, Vicki. (2004). Creating young writers. Boston:
Pearson.
Weaver, Constance (1995). Teaching grammar in context.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Jeff Anderson teaches middle school in San Antonio,
Texas. He is the author of Mechanically Inclined: Build-
ing Grammar, Style and Usage into Writers Workshop
(Stenhouse, 2005). He enjoys sharing what works in his
classroom in staff development as well in articles in Edu-
cational Leadership, Voices from the Middle, and English
Journal. Recently, he received the National Council of
Teachers of Englishs Farmer Award for an outstanding
contribution to English Journal. He has also been selected
to be a part of NCTEs consulting network (http://www.
ncte.org/profdev/onsite/consultants/anderson). Currently
Jeff is working on a new book about unconventional daily
grammar instruction, Everyday Editing (forthcoming). The
Craft of Grammar, a DVD of Jeff teaching his students, is
available from Stenhouse (June 2007).
Grammar, Games, and
Good Guys: Unconventional
Conventions for ADHD
(and Other) Students
by Celeste Garcia Madsen
How many of you believe that grammar is an important
job skill? I asked as I passed out copies of an actual busi-
ness letter my husband and I received with the identify-
ing information removed. Hands went up tentatively, until
one of my ADHD students commented, You dont get
grades in grammar when youre an adult. I smiled and
asked students to read the brief letter. Initially, they were
more curious about the author than the grammar in the
letter. The same student commented again, I cant even
understand this letter. Other students chimed in with
agreement. Not only was the letter hard to understand,
but the grammar and spelling errors were glaring.
Students spent the period in teams identifying errors and
rewriting the letter. At the end of the period I decided to
return to the comment of the day, You dont get grades
in grammar when youre an adult. I asked the class what
grade they would have given the letter. Unanimously the
grade was an F. Then I asked if they thought the author
knew what he was doing on the job. They said, No. Fi-
nally, I asked if they would trust that person to do a good
job for them. Again, they said, No.
I had students calculate a loss of commission so that
they would see what a loss of an account could mean in
terms of income. They were shocked. Students discussed
the letter for the entire week, because for the frst time
grammar was important in the real world outside the
classroom. They were hooked!
The interest that this activity sparked caught my atten-
tion. My ADHD students were actively engaged and on
task. I asked the entire class what they liked about the
activity. The answers of the ADHD students were reveal-
ing.
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The letter was real world.
They got to work in small groups.
The activity was short.
The activity was a break from the normal routine.
While all the kids enjoyed the letter, their grammar skills
still needed to be developed. So I broke this learning into
three stages to make sure the ADHD students were able
to successfully master the material. The three stages are
acquisition, application, and articulation. Students need
to acquire the skill, apply it academically in all areas of
the curriculum, and articulate how and why they applied
the skill.
Acquisition
The acquisition stage involves the basic learning of ma-
terial. To help acquire grammar skills, several strategies
have proved helpful.
Present material in a variety of formats: video,
websites, texts, worksheets, and lecture.
Present information in small chunks.
Work as a whole class, in small groups, and indi-
vidually.
Provide feedback frequently.
Provide examples and tips.
Use graphic organizers to help students construct
information about grammar topics such as parts of
speech.
The problem Ive observed in my ADHD students is that
the acquisition process breaks down. Worksheets are
where I often frst detect a breakdown in the learning of an
ADHD student. These breakdowns, however, are not the
same for each ADHD student. The use of multiple means
of presentation will support students who may have addi-
tional learning diffculties often found in ADHD students,
such as reading comprehension and memory problems.
Repetition is another way to support ADHD students, but
not the same thing, in the same way, over and over again.
ADHD students are a great gauge of the same old since
I lose them if I do the same things in the same way too
often. In the case of diagramming sentences, practice
seems to help because it provides a visual organizer of
the sentence and points out the relationships between
the words. Flash cards are another good example of using
repetition to support learning in the acquisition phase.
The most important element for ADHD students in learn-
ing grammar is presenting material in small chunks. Ad-
justing the amount of material presented at one time
and providing students feedback are essential during this
stage. Knowing that a student has not acquired the infor-
mation early makes a huge difference in managing con-
fusion and frustration in ADHD students. Alternating be-
tween whole-group, small-group, and individual activities
also provides ADHD students with the support of other
students. A technique students seem to enjoy is making
up their own tips to help them remember fne discrimi-
nations and exceptions. Reading, writing, listening, and
speaking activities also help reinforce the information
and move the student into the application stage.
One area that ADHD students in my room struggled
with was recognizing adjectives, pronouns, adverbs, and
prepositions. To help all students in the room become
quicker at recognizing parts of speech, we play a fyswat-
ter game I call SWAT. The process is quite simple. We
form two teams. Each team has a poster board with lami-
nated index cards that are attached by Velcro, usually
twenty to twenty-fve cards on each board. The index
cards have words that are various parts of speech, such
as but, brown, two, run, quickly. There is also a deck of
index cards that have categories of parts of speech writ-
ten on them. Each team is given a fyswatter. When the
category, say conjunctions, is called out, the player uses
the fyswatter to hit a card with a conjunction written on
it. For example, in the case of conjunctions, the player
might swat the word and or but. If the player hits a word
that is the appropriate part of speech, the word is re-
moved from the game board. Otherwise the card remains
on the board. The next turn goes to a player from the op-
posing team (whether or not the previous player scored a
correct swat), and a new part of speech is called out. The
frst team to clear all the words off its board wins.
Some of the students asked if they could make fash cards
for conjunctions, articles, pronouns, and prepositions.
The answer was, of course, yes. Getting their words from
lists provided in the text, they quizzed each other using
the fash cards and did signifcantly better the next time
we played SWAT. Games like SWAT introduced an ele-
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ment of friendly competition into the room and helped
me to see if students had, in fact, learned the content
material. Plus the kids liked whacking things!
Application
In the application stage, students begin to apply the
knowledge they acquired in the previous stage. Students
also continue to learn in this stage as they receive feed-
back and make adjustments in how they use what they
have learned. Some of the ADHD students experienced
problems in this stage because they could not successfully
apply the knowledge. Students were often able to tell me
the book defnition of a part of speech but not apply that
information when looking at a sentence.
Two strategies that helped with the application of knowl-
edge were peer modeling and color coding. Transparen-
cies of worksheets provided an opportunity to use both
peer modeling and color coding at the same time. We
projected the transparencies onto the board in order to
provide some fexibility in the way we used the work-
sheets. Sometimes we used the worksheet transparen-
cies to complete the work as a group, and sometimes the
students formed teams to have a relay race to complete
the exercise. Comments from students indicate they like
the racing activity because they are up and moving, able
to pick the next person, and see other students model the
work. Students also appreciated the ability to call on a
friend for help with their turn. The use of colored marking
pens allowed one student to fnally make the connection
that numbers are usually adjectives. When asked about
the connection, the student said, The green words are
adjectives; I get it now. Finally, the student was able to
apply the information to evaluate a sentence. In this case,
watching other students complete the activity and visually
seeing all the green words allowed the student to make
the connection to adjectives.
The application stage continues especially into writing for
other areas of the curriculum. What I noticed about my
ADHD students is that the progress made in English did
not necessarily transfer to social studies. The grammar
activity done most frequently across the curriculum in my
classroom is editing. One of the signifcant lessons Ive
learned about ADHD students is that time of day matters.
Activities that require a lot of concentration are better
done when my ADHD students are alert and awake. Mid-
morning and after lunch seem to work best. Additionally, a
brief mini-lesson or checklist reminding students of what
to look for when editing helped everyone, especially the
ADHD students.

Articulation
The fnal stage, articulation, involves students being able
to tell how and why they have applied a particular gram-
mar skill. Their intended audience is third and fourth grad-
ers. To help my students get to the stage of articulating
the parts of speech, we created grammar superheroes.
Every student was assigned a part of speech. Their task
was to create a superhero for that part of speech and give
a two-minute character speech introducing themselves
and what they can do in a sentence. To create the super-
hero, students needed to come up with a name directly
related to the part of speech they were assigned, give
the character super powers based on how it functions in
a sentence, and create tips and examples for the third
and fourth graders in the school. The goal of presenting
to the third and fourth graders proved to be a signifcant
motivator in the way the ADHD students (in particular)
approached the project.
To start the project, we talked as a class about super pow-
ers such as the ability to transform words, travel through
time, replace words, and change speed or position. The
ADHD students focused on developing super powers and
predictably got carried away. The class was hooked but
needed support. We decided to brainstorm the assignment
in small groups to generate a lot of ideas and support for
students who were having trouble. The brainstorming pro-
vided ideas for everyone to get started.
When presentation day arrived, I wondered if the assign-
ment was too demanding for my ADHD students. Each
student completed a graphic organizer on the parts of
speech for the presentations. From the completed graphic
organizers, I could see that the ADHD had learned about
the parts of speech during the unit. I laughed the whole
way through the presentations. Students, in costumes,
articulated clearly how the parts of speech functioned. For
example, Superhero Mr. Connect, with his tool belt, joined
sentences with a hammer; Superhero Principal Preposi-
tion organized the direction of action in the sentence; and
Superhero A.V. (adverb) had lys shooting out of his gloves
to create adverbs. I loved watching them all!
Continuing the articulation process, the class is currently
working on a skit called Extreme Make-Over: Sentence
Edition. The superheroes will show up again to fx a sen-
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tence in extreme need of repair. The experience of work-
ing to develop characters and skits has helped everyone in
the class have a better command of the parts of speech.
The kids just realized that this project is working on their
editing skills. Well see if there is carryover the next time
I read through social studies projects.

Afterthought
In listening to the feedback of my ADHD students, they
were able to tell me a lot about how to teach them more
effectively. Their enthusiasm for these projects has helped
me to share what has worked in my classroom. Not only
do they realize that grammar has real-world importance,
but they are having fun building their grammar skills.
Celeste Garcia Madsen teaches a seventh and eighth grade
self-contained class at Mater Dei Academy in Columbus,
Ohio. She has presented programs on universal design
for learning and ADHD at local and national educational
conferences. Celeste is a member of the Ashland Univer-
sity Early Elementary Advisory Committee and a frequent
guest speaker at Ashland University about ADHD, where
she is working on her masters degree.
Teaching Grammar Can
Be Fun: An Oxymoron?
by Lisa Patrick
Teachers and students alike often yawn when it comes
time to study grammar and mechanics. These topics tend
to be dry and boring, but they are required skills accord-
ing to Ohios Academic Content Standards. In Ohios Writ-
ing Conventions Standard:
Students in grades 6, 7, and 8 are required to use all
eight parts of speech (noun, pronoun, verb, adverb,
adjective, conjunction, preposition, interjection).
Students in grade 9 are required to maintain the use
of appropriate verb tenses.
Students in grade 10 are required to use clauses and
phrases.
Students in grades 11 and 12 are required to use
correct grammar.
According to the Writing Conventions Standards, students
are expected to grow more skillful at using the gram-
matical structures of English to effectively communicate
ideas in writing and to express themselves.
So how can we get our students to grow more skillful? I
have found great success in using picture books to teach
grammar and parts of speech. Elementary school teach-
ers have long been advocates of using picture books in
the classroom, but they can be valuable resources for
middle and high school teachers too.
One of the masters of the picture book, Maurice Sen-
dak, in his introduction to James Marshalls book George
and Martha: The Complete Stories of Two Best Friends
(1997), believes, The picture book is a peculiar art form
that thrives on genius, intuition, daring, and a meticulous
attention to its history and its various, complex compo-
nents. The picture book is a picture puzzle, badly misun-
derstood by critics and condescended to by far too many
as merely a trife for the kiddies. Quality picture books
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contain memorable language and beautiful illustrations.
If you have ever experienced reading a childs precious
picture book aloud, you know the value picture books can
provide to adults and children alike.
I teach a class to educators at Ashland University on
teaching children to write. In this class, I encourage
teachers to use picture books with students of all ages
to illustrate quality writing. According to Kurstedt and
Koutras (2000), The rich language and beautiful rhythm
of picture books make them excellent choices for intro-
ducing the characteristics of great writing. . . . Students
can more easily understand and appreciate how literary
elements work from a short, complete work than they
can from longer chapter books and novels (p. 5). The
concise format of picture books offers teachers a prac-
tical tool for modeling great writing. Picture books also
offer students authentic examples of correctly written
grammar and parts of speech, as opposed to isolated
worksheets and exercises.
Teaching Grammar with Picture Books
I like to use mini-lessons to teach the rules of grammar.
Mini-lessons are short lessons designed to introduce,
model, practice, and apply skills. For example, if I want to
teach my students about adverbs, I might begin my mini-
lesson by reading Ruth Hellers Up, Up and Away: A Book
About Adverbs (see below). After a discussion about what
an adverb means and where to locate adverbs within sen-
tences, I would model how to effectively use adverbs in a
piece of writing. Next, I would provide guided practice in
using the skill by giving my students a variety of action
words and having them practice writing appropriate ad-
verbs to describe these verbs. Students could then apply
this skill by searching in their writers notebooks for cor-
rectly written adverbs. They could also search their indi-
vidual writing pieces for verbs and add adverbs to help
describe the actions in more detail.
A number of authors have written picture books that ex-
plore grammar and parts of speech.

Ruth Heller
Ruth Heller has an impressive series of picture books that
address a variety of language arts concepts. This World
of Language series is a valuable resource to help stu-
dents who struggle with using grammar correctly in their
writing.
Hellers picture books not only provide detailed defni-
tions of the various parts of speech; they are also power-
ful models of grammatical structure. Using lively verse
and vivid illustrations, Hellers books combine grammar
defnitions with a multitude of examples. She uses play-
ful rhyme to teach the rules of grammar. And her books
are very appropriate for older students, as they cover
high-level grammatical concepts. For example, the au-
thor doesnt stop at defning a pronoun; she also covers
more diffcult concepts like refexive and interrogative
pronouns.
At the end of her frst book, A Cache of Jewels and Other
Collective Nouns (1987), Heller introduces her World of
Language series this way:
But nouns arent all collective,
and if Im to be effective,
Ill tell about the other nouns
and adjectives and verbs.
All of them are parts of speech.
What fun!
Ill write a book for each.
Ms. Heller went on to write seven other engaging books
that focus on various parts of speech.
In Kites Sail High: A Book About Verbs (1988), the author
observes:
A VIGOROUS VERB
is super superb.
It tells you
freworks EXPLODE
or horses THUNDER
down the road.
In this book devoted to verbs, she describes a variety of
different verbs: active, passive, linking, auxiliary, tenses,
irregular, imperative, indicative, and subjunctive.
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Many Luscious Lollipops: A Book About Adjectives (1989)
offers this apt rhyme:
An ADJECTIVEs terrifc
when you want to be specifc.
Predicate, demonstrative, possessive, proper, compara-
tive, superlative, and irregular adjectives are covered in
depth.

In Merry-Go-Round: A Book About Nouns (1990), Heller
writes:
Nouns name a person, place or thing...
a damsel, a forest, a dragon, a king.
These NOUNS are all COMMON,
and theyre very nice,
but PROPER NOUNS
are more precise.
The book defnes a variety of noun categories: proper,
common, abstract, concrete, compound, collective, singu-
lar, plural, and possessive.
In Up, Up and Away: A Book About Adverbs (1991), Heller
rhymes charmingly:
ADVERBS work terrifcally
when asking most specifcally,
When? and How?
and Where? and Why?
WHEN do owls hoot?
HOW do you do?
WHERE in the world
is Timbuktu?
Heller clarifes positive, negative, irregular, comparative,
and superlative adverbs.
In Behind the Mask: A Book About Prepositions (1995),
she explains:
Of PREPOSITIONS
have no fear.
They help to make
directions clear.
In addition to describing prepositions, she also defnes
phrasal prepositions and distinguishes between preposi-
tions and adverbs.
Mine, All Mine: A Book About Pronouns (1997) informs
readers that:
PRONOUNS take
the place of nouns...
so we dont have to say...
Mike said Mike walked
Mikes dogs today.
Mike walked Mikes dogs
a long, long way.
How boring ...
Heller writes about a variety of pronouns: possessive, de-
monstrative, indefnite, refexive, interrogative, and rela-
tive.
Finally, in Fantastic! Wow! And Unreal! A Book About In-
terjections and Conjunctions (1998), interjections take
center stage frst:
INTERJECTIONS are words we use
to declare ...
Good grief!
Out of sight!
Holy cow! Thats her hair.
Theyre capitalized
and punctuated,
and stand alone
when emphatically stated.
Many forms of interjections are covered, as are conjunc-
tions, including coordinating, subordinating, correlative,
and compound.
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Brian P. Cleary
Brian P. Cleary is another author with
a series of picture books on grammar.
Like Hellers books, Clearys picture
books clarify grammar concepts us-
ing a myriad of examples. Cleary has
written books on nouns, pronouns, ad-
jectives, verbs, adverbs, and preposi-
tions. His books are written for much
younger readers, but they get the point
across admirably. For example, in I and You and Dont
Forget Who: What Is a Pronoun (2004), he instructs:
Indefnite pronouns tell about people and things
without being specifc
as in someone around here is quite a good cook and
something in here smells terrifc.
Here are other books by Cleary (all published by Carol-
rhoda Books, Minneapolis, MN).
A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink: What Is a
Noun? (1999)


Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What Is an Adjective?
(2000)




To Root, to Toot, to Parachute: What Is a
Verb? (2001)




Under, Over, By the Clover: What Is a Prepo-
sition? (2002)






Dearly, Nearly, Insincerely: What Is an Ad-
verb? (2003)




How Much Can a Bare Bear Bear? What Are
Homonyms and Homophones? (2005)




Pitch and Throw, Grasp and Know: What Is a
Synonym? (2005)




Stop and Go, Yes and No: What Is an
Antonym? (2006)


Lime, a Mime, a Pool of Slime: More About
Nouns (2006)




Slide and Slurp, Scratch and Burp: More
About Verbs (2007)



Rick Walton
Unlike the books by Heller and Cleary, Rick Waltons
books on grammar are actual stories. Walton illustrates
the parts of speech by highlighting them within the text
itself. Waltons books (published by Gibbs Smith, Layton,
Utah) are fast paced and engaging. The illustrations are
unique and humorous.
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Suddenly Alligator: An Adverbial Tale
(2004) recounts the antics of a boy who
encounters an alligator in a swamp. Each
adverb is highlighted in green. An exam-
ple of the text follows. The alligator was
right behind me. He lunged at me, growling
loudly.
Around the House the Fox Chased the
Mouse: A Prepositional Tale (2006) follows
a wily fox chasing a mouse all over a farm.
The prepositions are written in a large font
and highlighted in different colors, as in ...
into the barn, out the window...
Herd of Cows! Flock of Sheep! Quiet! Im
Tired! I Need My Sleep! (2002)a story
about a sleepy farmer, a food, and the lo-
cal faunais peppered with interjections
that serve as a lesson in the use of excla-
mation points.
Robin Pulver
Robin Pulver is the author of a valuable
picture book about the importance of
punctuation. Punctuation Takes a Vacation
(Holiday House, New York, 2003) examines
what it would be like if every punctuation
mark took a vacation from the classroom.
The disappearance of the punctuation marks causes cha-
os and confusion in a classroom, so the students decide
to write postcards to the marks, entreating them to re-
turn. The author includes a short list of punctuation rules
at the end of the book. One idea for applying this book is
to have students write postcards to the various punctua-
tion marks, highlighting the job they perform.
In another book by Pulver, Nouns and Verbs
Have a Field Day (Holiday House, 2006),
the students participate in a feld day, in-
spiring the nouns and verbs in the empty
classroom to hold a feld day of their own.
When the nouns form teams only with other
nouns and the verbs only with other verbs, they fnd that
they are unable to accomplish anything and eventually
learn that Things happen when we work TOGETHER.
Lynn Truss
Lynne Truss, well known for her best-
selling book on punctuation: Eats,
Shoots & Leaves, has written a simi-
lar book for younger readers. Eats,
Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Re-
ally DO Make a Difference! (Putnams,
New York, 2006) is a clever book that documents the im-
portance of correct comma use. Ms. Truss employees a
special book design to illustrate how changing the place-
ment of a comma can change the entire meaning of a
sentence. She writes the same sentence on both the left
page and the right. However, she places the commas in
different positions in each sentence. Bonnie Timmons, the
illustrator, uses her drawings to refect the difference in
meaning the comma change causes.
As an example, one of the left-hand pages says Go, get
him doctors! and shows a teacher yelling at a group of
students to go get a doctor for an injured child. The oppo-
site page reads Go get him, doctors! and shows some-
one yelling at a group of doctors to chase after a run-
away child. At the end of the book the author includes a
technical explanation for each set of illustrations. For the
frst example I shared, the author explains, The comma
separates the two independent clauses Go and get him
doctors. For the second example, the author points out,
This comma makes Go get him a command directed at
the doctors. Students could explore the importance of
comma placement by creating their own humorous ex-
amples of mirrored sentences and illustrations.
My daughters ffth grade teacher read Lynn Trusss book to
her students. Following is my daughters attempt to write
her own version of the difference commas can make.
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Learning grammar doesnt have to be a drudgery of fll-
ing in tedious worksheets. Instead, open a stimulating
picture book, and introduce students to an authentic ex-
ample of the skillful use of grammar.

References
Kurstedt, R., & Koutras, M. (2000). Teaching writing with
picture books as models. New York: Scholastic.
Marshall, J. (1997). George and Martha: The complete
stories of two best friends. New York: Houghton Miffin.
Lisa Patricks background is in elementary education. She
taught for many years in the intermediate grades. Her
masters degree is in curriculum and instruction, with an
emphasis in integrated teaching and learning. Currently,
she holds two part-time positions in the feld of educa-
tion. She supervises student teachers for Ohio Wesleyan
Universitys Early Childhood Education Department. Also,
as an adjunct professor, she teaches literacy courses at
Ashland Universitys Columbus Center in the Curriculum
and Instruction Department.
Grammar Gimmicks
by Cathy Brooks Walker
Do you remember your middle school days? Do you ever
remember rushing to English class in anticipation of the
days grammar lesson? If you were like most teenagers,
instead of grammar lessons, I am sure you were hop-
ing for a really l-o-n-g fre drill or praying for a natural
disaster of any kind that would postpone this unbearable
torture called grammar.
We all know how dramatic teenagers can be. Use your
students fair for drama and create unconventional
grammar lessons that resemble familiar games that they
love and will want to play over and over. Below are some
suggestions I use with my classes. These lessons can
serve as a quick get-the-class-started activity, as a re-
view of previously learned concepts, or as a complete
structured grammar lesson. You can easily adapt them to
your classroom and your style of teaching. So reach for
your graphic programs, add your own creative fair and
pizzazz, and, voil, you will have a recipe for a happen-
ing classrooma classroom with active and energized
learners trying to anticipate what you might have waiting
for them next.

Grammar Wall
Create a place where students can write down what they
are feeling, thinking, or learning. Take a large piece of
paper, put it on a wall or blackboard (or whatever kind of
board you have) in your room, and let students write on
it. Tell students to write their thoughts in complete sen-
tences on the wall with markers. Have a variety of colors,
but designate one color that students can use to correct
any grammar errors written by fellow classmates. Ask
the students to explain why they corrected the sentence.
I fnd my students are always willing to tell other class-
mates the errors of their ways, so here is a productive
way to harness that natural tendency to see the mistakes
of others.
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Preposition Activities
Prepositional Roll
This activity helps students to see how prepositions con-
nect a noun or pronoun and another word in the sentence.
Create your own game boards like the one shown below.
The top row and the left-hand column can contain nouns
and pronouns. Fill the other squares with prepositions.
Students can play this by themselves, in pairs, or in small
groups. All they need is a game board and two dice.
To play the game:
Roll one die at a time.
If you roll a 2, go across the top row two spaces. On
the game board above, you will have landed on baby.
Roll the other die. If you get a 3, then you go down
the left column three spaces. On our game board, you
will have landed on fence.
Look for the square where the row and the column
intersectin our case, at from.
Write a complete sentence connecting fence and baby
using the preposition from.
Variations of this game include having students create
their own game boards (once they are familiar with how
the game works) and using vocabulary words, spelling
words, etc.
Twister Game
Use the Twister game to show students prepositions and
their relationship to other words in a sentence. Ask a cou-
ple of students to play the game. While the two students
are moving around the Twister mat, have the other stu-
dents write sentences describing what is happeningfor
example, Susans leg is under Bobs arm. Have students
change roles, letting participants become writers and
writers become participants. Share sentences, and help
students recognize prepositions and prepositional phras-
es and how the phrases work in sentences.
Pick a Preposition
I use index cards onto which I draw or
paste pictures of fowers. After writing a
preposition on each, I laminate the cards
and attach a magnet to the back. Then
I hang the cards on my blackboard, and
I have the students pick a fower. They
have to use the preposition in a sentence, explaining what
noun or pronoun is being connected to the other words
in the sentence.
Prepositional Poems
Creating Poems Using a Template
Provide students with a variety of pictures they can choose
from, such as snowfakes, cars, houses, animals. After
they choose a picture, they can write a themed poem (un-
rhymed is fne) about it using the template shown below:
Poem Template
Noun
Verb, verb, verb
Prepositional phrase
Prepositional phrase
Prepositional phrase
Noun
Example
snow
blows, swirls, twirls
over the rooftops
through the cracks
over the entire globe
whirlwind
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Creating Poems Using Only Prepositional Phrases
Ask students to choose a situation (or suggest one to
the students) and write a poem using only prepositional
phrases. For example, you might ask students to write
such a poem about going to gym.
Out of my chair
On the foor
Across the room
To the cabinet
For the balls
At the door
In line
For P.E.
Recycled Games
Go to your local Salvation Army or Goodwill thrift shop,
and head for the game area. You will discover a variety of
games, selling anywhere from 50 cents to a couple of dol-
lars, that you can adapt to the study of grammar. You will
be amazed at what you can fnd that will get your creative
juices going!
Fishing for Homophones
I go to my Print Shop program
and print out many different
types of fsh. On the back of the
fsh, I type homophone pairs
like threw, through; too, two, to; and sight, site, cite. I
laminate these fsh and then put magnets on the back.
When my students come into the classroom, they take a
fsh off the blackboard, look at the homophones, and put
them in a sentence, demonstrating they know how to use
each one properly.

Sealed Envelopes
Greet your students at the door with sealed envelopes
that contain the directions for the days lesson. The only
catch is that the students cant open the envelopes till you
tell them to. Build up the suspense, and hook them into
your lesson for the day.
Hint: I use the envelopes that have the clasps so I can
reuse them.
Greeting Cards
Take old birthday cards or any other
greeting card that you get during the year.
Highlight a word or several words on the
card. Have students look at the highlight-
ed word(s) and tell what part of speech is
being used.

Create-a-Word
Create-a-word is a lesson on understanding compound
words. I go to my Print Shop program, print out some
graphics I like, create clues to put on the back of the
graphics, laminate them, put a magnet on the back, and
hang my creations on the blackboard. Then I have stu-
dents pick one, read the clue, and compose an answer to
write on the board. Examples include:
At night we have moonlight. In the day we have ____
______. (daylight)
A sport played with a ball and bat. (baseball)
A piece of jewelry you wear on you ear. (earring)
You turn this to open a door. (doorknob)





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Game Boards
The website http://jcschools.net/tutorials/gameboard.htm
helps you create your own game boards in PowerPoint.
Use these game boards to practice:
Vocabulary words
Proper and common nouns
Singular and plural nouns
Punctuation marks
Base words, prefxes, and suffxes
Story comprehension questions
This site also gives you templates for game cards, spin-
ners, and dice to help make your games complete.
Hint: I go to dollar and other discount stores to look for
cheap plastic or rubber ants, critters, etc., to use as game
pieces. For example, for the game board for Ant Picnic, I
use plastic ants for the pieces. The students love it!
Adjectives
Ticket Trios
Either buy, print out, or otherwise make tickets. Add a
trio of nouns to each ticket.
Ask students to write an adjective that could be used to
describe each of the three items. For example, suppose a
student had a ticket, like the one shown above, with the
trio of words library, mouse, whisper. An adjective that
would make a good answer is quiet.
Some other trios you might use are:
whistle, music, siren (noisy, loud)
noun, fraction, English (proper, common)
watch, coin, earrings (gold, old, expensive, lost)
The students will come up with many creative ideas, and
if I cant make the connection, I ask them to explain their
thought process; many times it is very clever.
The Describing Game from an Adjective Perspective
Take colored index cards or different-shaped colorful cut-
outs, and put adjectives on them, such as thick, smooth,
fresh. Have students pick up a card and come up with as
many nouns as he or she can think of that the adjective
describes. (This could be a noun lesson as well.)
Variation: Pass out the adjectives. Ask students to change
each adjective into a comparative (er) or superlative (est)
form.
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Adverbs
Make a set of hidden adverb cards, and ask the students
to discover the hidden adverb and then write a sentence
using it. To create a hidden adverb:
Substitute one letter in the adverb to make a differ-
ent word (frequently you have to change the order
of the letters to do this). Underline the new letter.
For example, for the word well, you might drop one
l, add a b, and change the word to blew.
Instructions to students might be something like:
Replace the underlined letter with a different letter, and
then rearrange the letters to spell a word that is often or
always used as an adverb. Post a class list of adverbs for
students to consult as they work.
Nouns
The Describing Game from a Noun Perspective
Take colored index cards or different-shaped colorful cut-
outs, and write a noun on each one, like boat, sunset,
anniversary. Have students think of as many adjectives
as possible that could describe this noun. (This can also
serve as a lesson about adjectives.)
Common and Proper Nouns
Make common and proper cards such as these:
Be sure you make a pair for each topic, one for the proper
noun and one for the common. Pass the cards out to stu-
dents as they walk into the room. The students have to
give an answer to their card.
Examples: A kind of shop in the mall common (shoe
store, candy store). A kind of shop in the mall proper
(Pennys, Barnes and Noble).
Concrete and Abstract Nouns
Make cards with various abstract and concrete nouns writ-
ten on them.
I attach magnets to the backs. As students are walking
into the room, I give each student a card with a word on
it. On the board, I have a chart.
The students have to put the words in the correct spot.
Classmates can disagree if they think a word has been put
in the wrong place.
Types of Sentences
Exclamatory and Imperative Sentences
On fash cards, write an exclamatory sentence on one side
and an imperative sentence on the other side. I make
exclamatory sentences yellow and imperative sentences
orange. Then throughout the year, when we write these
types of sentences on the board, we use yellow and or-
ange chalk.
The sentences are scrambled so that the student has to
fgure out the right order of the words, which leads to
a good discussion on patterns found when writing these
types of sentences.
Imperative
a dash of salt add
label remove carefully the
Exclamatory
not breathing is he
it me to you owe
Examples
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Declarative and Interrogative Sentences
On fash cards, put a declarative sentence on one side
and an interrogative sentence on the other side. I fnd it
helpful, as below, to make the declarative sentence one
color and the interrogative sentence another.
Ask students to read the interrogative sentence and write
an answer to the question, turning it into a declarative
sentence.

Then have the students read the declarative sentence on
the card and turn it into an interrogative sentence.
Put the Pieces Together
Type a list of sentences, laminate the list, and cut the
sentences into chunks of at least three or four words.
Put magnets on the back of each part, and scramble the
sentence parts as you put them up on the board. Ask the
students to take the parts and make complete sentences.
All sentences should make sense.

Ad-Mania
Collect grocery ads for the week. Cut out a wide variety
of products like pancake mix, juice, Kleenex, and carrots.
Put about ten or twelve products in an envelope, one en-
velope per student or small group of students. Ask stu-
dents to use the words on the products and put together
complete, detailed sentences. Have students share with
the class. Students can critique the sentences for gram-
mar, punctuation, clarity, etc. As a variation, you could
have students bring in grocery ads, cut out the products,
put them in envelopes, and exchange them with another
person or group.
Verbs
Shooting Hoops to Learn Verbs
Past, Present, Future
Go to your Print Shop, and create basketballs (or get a
picture of a basketball and make multiple pictures using
a copier). On the back of each basketball, write a verb
and the tense you want the student to write; for example,
you might write study (present), taste (past), and heat
(future).

Irregular Verbs in the Past Tense
I use this game to help students learn the past tense of
irregular verbs like lie, write, bring, and do.
As above, create basketballs, and on the back of
each, write a verb.
Put all the basketballs on the table (you could also
attach magnets on the backs and put the basketballs
on the board).
Ask each person to pick up a basketball.
Have each student read the word on the back of the
basketball and write the past tense of the verb ei-
ther directly on the board or on a separate piece of
paper.
Let students share their answers. Classmates must
agree with the answers or tell what they think the
right answer is.
Suggestion: Get a Nerf basketball and hoop, and let stu-
dents take shots as a reward for getting correct answers.
For example, a student might be allowed to shoot a bas-
ketball after he or she gets a specifed number of correct
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answers or when he or she fnds a mistake. Or you might
use a special mark on some of the basketballs to desig-
nate diffcult questions. If a student chooses a hard ques-
tion and answers it correctly, the student can take a Nerf
shot or two.
Verb Concentration
My students enjoy playing concentration, so making a
variation of the game by having students match irregular
verbs has proved to be an almost effortless way to study
irregular verb forms. For verb concentration:
Make cards like the one shown.
Cut the cards apart to make individual word cards.
Turn the individual cards face down, and mix them up.
(You can do this, or your students can.)
Students play the game just like they would other concen-
tration games, turning one card over and then another to
try to match the irregular verb forms.
Abbreviations
Using words such as United States,
January, and Street, create a
number of graphics. Put magnets
on the backs, and put them on a
board. Cover the words so when
the students come in, they wont
know the word they are going to choose. I tack up a want-
ed poster with the word alias on it to help connect the fact
that an abbreviation is a shortened version of a word or
phrase. Students have to choose a word from the board
and then write the abbreviation for it. You could also do
the opposite: Write the abbreviation, and then have stu-
dents tell what it stands for.
Parts of Speech Treasure Hunt
Everyone loves a treasure hunt! Assign students to teams
to do this activity. Give a treasure box to each team to hold
correct answersyou might even have each team design
its own box.
Type sentences that are long enough to contain a va-
riety of parts of speech.
Highlight the various parts of speech, using different
colors for nouns, verbs, prepositions, etc.
If you place the sentences on the board, cover them
so the students cant see them. In the spirit of the
activity, you can make your covers look like the top
of a treasure chest. The idea is for the students not
to see the sentences beforehand so they will not pick
ones they feel sure they know.
Ask students to pick a sentence and tell you what
parts of speech are highlighted.
If a student gets the correct answer, then he or she
can put the sentence in the teams treasure box.
The group that gets the most sentences in the trea-
sure box wins.

Cathy Walker graduated from Ohio State in 1982 in home
economics education. In 1986, she took advantage of a re-
training certifcate offered by the state and started classes
to get her elementary certifcate. In 1993, she taught one
section of seventh grade English. Since that time, she has
become a full-time seventh and eighth grade language arts
teacher. She has been a presenter at OCTELA, eTECH Con-
ference, and local in-services, and she was also nominated
for Disney Teacher of the Year. She has also written grants
to bring authors, plays, and resources into the classroom.
One of her greatest growing and learning experiences as
a teacher occurred when her son started school and was
diagnosed with ADHD, the inattentive type. It took over
three years to understand what was causing his struggles
in school. In this process, she learned some invaluable
tools to break down learning so all students can feel suc-
cessful. This experience served as a crucible of her ideas.
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Student Voices
Perspectives on Grammar and Punctuation
List three rules of grammar or punctuation that
are the most diffcult for you to use correctly in
your writing.
In grammar, sometimes I put too many commas into a
sentence. I may use one word too many times in a sen-
tence or in a paragraph. Im not always sure where to put
other punctuation marks.
Student, Hopewell-Loudon Junior High School
The frst attribute of writing that confuses me is where
to place commas, which can be confusing in a several-
subject sentence. Another part of good grammar that is
diffcult for me is remembering all the different names
for the different parts of speech. A 3rd thing that can be
challenging is not using small and undescriptive words in
sentences.
Student, Hopewell-Loudon Junior High School
Things in grammar that confuse me are:
When Im writing a sentence Im not always sure about
spelling all the time.
Im not always sure about where to put the commas.
Im not sure when and where to use the apostrophes, like
in theres.
Student, Hopewell-Loudon Junior High School
In grammar there are three things that cause me prob-
lems:
I cant remember where to put commas.
I never use ! and I always use.
I write run on sentences a lot.
Student, Hopewell-Loudon Junior High School
In grammar, I always get confused when to use words like
their or there. I also dont know where to put commas in
my sentences.
Student, Hopewell-Loudon Junior High School
Can you describe what you fnd diffcult about
grammar and punctuation?
Everything about grammar is hard and confusing. Every
time I think I fgure what something does, it changes. Its
just hard to tell sometimes what part of speech a word is
because it depends on how the word is used. Objects are
the hardest for me because it takes such a long time to
sort out which words go together. It takes a lot of time to
fgure this stuff out.
Middle school student, Mater Dei Academy
Punctuation is the hardest for me. I can never tell if I
should use a comma or not. I forget the rules for using
colons and semi-colons also.
Middle school student, Mater Dei Academy
The part about grammar I fnd the hardest is comple-
ments. I get confused about predicate nominatives and
predicate adjectives. If we just stay to the basics of gram-
mar, it isnt too bad.
Middle school student, Mater Dei Academy
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A Look at the OGT
Mechanics, Grammar, and
Usage: How Much Is Enough?
by Carol Brown Dodson
Parents and employers talk about the issue of gram-
mar and writing as they discuss what they often call bad
grammar, usually lumping together punctuation, capital-
ization, mechanics, and spelling errors.* Researchers and
experts in the feld attempt to determine the reasons for
poor student writing. Universities and community col-
leges work to fnd solutions to the problem in order to
reduce the number of freshmen enrolled in non-credit-
bearing courses such as remedial or basic writing.
If we are to fnd answers to this seemingly unanswer-
able question, we must frst look at some of the history.
In 1940, Charles C. Fries concluded that the teaching of
grammar in the schools differs from the way the language
is actually spoken and written. In a review of the litera-
ture in American English Grammar, Fries reveals some
of the arguments surrounding the teaching of grammar
that prevailed throughout the eighteenth and much of the
nineteenth century.
Based on the complaints of well-known writers such as
Jonathan Swift and Thomas Sheridan, Fries identifes two
statements that describe the eighteenth-century point of
view about the teaching of grammar and its impact on
writing.
A. The English used by most English people, even by
the learned and the best authors, is deplorable be-
cause of its grammatical incorrectness and inac-
curacy.
B. The only remedy for this deplorable use of English
will be for English people, young and old, to set
out to learn correct English by means of a study of
grammar rules.
According to Fries, the coming of the measurement
movement in education brought the frst really effective
challenge of the asserted connection between grammar
and good English (p. 19). In addition, Fries indicates that
the test results appeared to demonstrate the absence
of any relation between knowledge of English grammar
and the ability either to write or to interpret language
(p. 19). Many of the studies reviewed by Fries were con-
ducted in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Yet the formal study of grammar (parts of speech, pars-
ing of sentences, and structure of language) had become
such an accepted part of the English classroom that the
practice persisted even in the face of evidence showing
that it didnt alleviate the problem of poor writing.
Were now in another measurement movement. High-
stakes tests are used to evaluate students writing. In
addition, grammar, usage, and mechanics continue to be
emphasized in many of these tests and thus taught more
vigorously in language arts classrooms. As a result of the
renewed emphasis upon correctness, the debate about
whether schools should teach the rules and structure of
language (grammar) or teach students to apply the rules
to actual writing (usage) has heated up once again. Teach-
ers, whether using mini-lessons to help students apply a
particular rule to their writing or teaching parts of speech
and rules of punctuation in isolation, are left to wonder if
they are doing the right thing for their students.
The bottom line is that students must be able to apply
the rules and knowledge of the language to their writing.
They do not have to memorize the rules of punctuation,
capitalization, and other grammatical concerns, but they
must be able to use handbooks and style manuals when
necessary to edit their writing for publication.
The multiple-choice and short-answer questions on the
OGT assess students ability to apply the writing process
standard. A quick review of the writing process bench-
marks for grades 810 reminds us that they include such
topics as variety of sentence structure, use of effec-
tive transitions, sentence fuency, grammar, and usage.
Grade-level indicators spell out some of the skills included
in the benchmarks, and students dealing with the appli-
cations of the rules must demonstrate the ability to apply
the rules during the editing or proofreading process.
One question on the March 2006 Ohio Graduation Test
(https://ims.ode.state.oh.us/ODE/IMS/Assessment/Con-
tent/CEW_AI_200603_GR10_12.pdf) seemed particular-
ly diffcult, with only 46 percent of the students choosing
the correct answer. The test item provides two pieces
of information from a grammar handbook followed by
a question that includes four sentences for students to
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Adolescent Literacy In Perspective
May/June 2007
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choose from. The sentence that they are told to identify
contains an error that needs correction. Both rules ad-
dress the use of a semicolon. In order to select the sen-
tence that needs to be edited, students must eliminate
each sentence that uses the semicolon correctly or does
not need a semicolon. The application of the rule to each
sentence causes students to read carefully and to make
connections between the rules themselves and the ap-
plication of the rules.
A similar question on the March 2005 test (https://ims.
ode.state.oh.us/ODE/IMS/Assessment/Content/CEW_
AI_200503_GR10_03.pdf) requires students to apply
three rules of capitalization in order to edit a sentence
correctly. Although students often perform well in the
area of capitalization when producing a piece of writing,
they appear to have diffculty applying the rules to a sen-
tence. Of students responding to this item, 53 percent
answered it correctly. Once again, the question is fairly
complex, with students expected to apply three separate
rules to the same sentence.
When taking the test, students should note carefully what
the question is asking them to do. In the question about
the uses of semicolons, students are asked to select the
sentence that contains errors; whereas in the question
about capitalization, students must select the correct
sentence.
Students need practice in using handbooks and applying
the rules to their own writing or the writing of their peers
during the editing process. The Ohio standards do not
require students to memorize parts of speech or types
of sentences, but they do require teachers to teach stu-
dents to use handbooks and style manuals and to apply
them to their writing. When preparing a mini-lesson to
help students address a particular error, its important to
let them fnd and apply the information to their writing.
The question about grammar, usage, and mechanics per-
sists: How much is enough? Students should be able to
write complete sentences and apply rules of capitalization
and punctuation to the sentences. They should be able to
use transitions and coordinating conjunctions appropri-
ately and to write complex sentences that contain inde-
pendent and subordinate clauses. Students need to gain
experience in using a series of phrases so that they can
practice making them parallel and recognize the problem
for the reader when the series is not parallel. Research
and best practice remind us that students learn to apply
rules to their writing most easily by writing frequently
and by engaging in the entire writing process, including
editing their writing.
An outstanding new book that deals with editing skills
within the writing process is The Grammar Plan Book: A
Guide to Smart Teaching by Constance Weaver (2007).
Chapter 5, aptly entitled Teaching Editing Skills and
(Gasp!) Standardized Tests of Grammar Skills, not only
identifes some of the editing skills to teach, but also of-
fers some ways to teach these skills. In addressing the
issue of teaching to the test, Weaver recommends that
we not abandon best practice in the teaching of writing.
But she also suggests that we make use of the overlap
between the revision and editing skills your students re-
ally need and the skills tested on the standardized tests
(p. 64).
Weavers informal analysis of the ACT, used by her state
of Michigan as the state test for high school juniors, re-
veals numerous parallels to the Ohio Graduation Test (pp.
6668). Perhaps the best advice she gives to teachers
is to keep in mind that we cannot do it all. We really do
have to prioritize (p. 69).
If, as a teacher of writing, you can afford (or can get your
school to purchase) only one professional book about
grammar, Weavers book would be an excellent choice.
Of course, it certainly isnt the only good grammar book;
and, in fact, several others are referenced in the For
Your Bookshelf column and the More Resources sec-
tion in this issue of Adolescent Literacy In Perspective. A
good professional library should contain at least most of
these recommended books.
The ORC website includes some outstanding resources
for teaching the conventions of English, including several
professional articles or excerpts from professional books.
One such resource is The Power of Grammar [excerpt]:
Putting Conventions in Our In-Tray: Planning Grammar
Curriculum, chapter 2. (http://www.ohiorc.org/record/
?id=6022)
Chapter Two, Putting Conventions in Our In-Tray:
Planning Grammar Curriculum, is readable here in
PDF format as the full-chapter excerpt from the book,
The Power of Grammar: Unconventional Approaches
to the Conventions of Language. The authors, Mary
Ehrenworth and Vicki Vinton, introduce direct instruc-
tion, inquiry, and apprenticeship in order to facilitate
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Adolescent Literacy In Perspective
May/June 2007
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teachers in their planning of both grammar lessons
and grammar curriculum. The authors look both at
individual lessons that model direct instruction and
at case studies in inquiry and apprenticeship, consid-
ering all the while how grammar instruction fts into
writing process and writing workshop. Additionally,
some yearlong plans, broken down into school-calen-
dar months, are offered. The authors discuss teach-
ing fuency and teaching writing as well as where
reading and writing research (including research by
Nancie Atwell, Lucy Calkins, Katie Wood Ray, Heather
Lattimer, and Donald Murray) ft into the whole gram-
mar picture. (author/bebrown)
Additional information about the book is given in the re-
view by Sheila Cantlebary in this months For Your Book-
shelf.
This useful resource for teaching about passive and ac-
tive voice includes practice exercises for students.
Choosing the Best Verb: An Active and Passive
Voice Mini-lesson
http://www.ohiorc.org/record/?id=3365
For most students, speech and informal writing fow
naturally. Yet students often struggle with formal
or academic writing. This mini-lesson explores verb
choice in a variety of online resources, and then en-
courages students to draw conclusions about verb
use which they can apply to their own writing. Stu-
dents begin by identifying verbs in a variety of con-
texts, determining whether constructions rely on ac-
tive or passive voice. Following classroom discussions
about verbs, students apply the strategies they have
learned to their own writing by revising verb choice to
match audience and purpose. (author/ncl)
The following resource is particularly applicable to this
column both because of the examples of varied sentence
structures from such notable writers as F. Scott Fitzgerald
and because of the detailed suggestions for proofreading.
Both features support the application of grammar and
mechanics studies to writing.
Writing for Publication
http://www.ohiorc.org/record/?id=306
This resource offers strategies for teaching cre-
ative writing. This instructional unit, maintained by
the New Zealand Ministry of Education, allows stu-
dents to write and publish an original story. Students
are encouraged to experiment with a variety of plot
structures. Sample plot structures are available at
the site. Content support, assessment guidelines,
and links to other internet resources are also pro-
vided. (author/ncl)
The article described below will also shed light on the is-
sue of when and how to teach grammar.
To Grammar or Not to Grammar: That Is Not the
Question!
http://www.ohiorc.org/record/?id=5168
The focus of this article is the importance of gram-
mar instruction in the language arts classroom. The
authors point out that the question should not be To
grammar or not to grammar, but rather What as-
pects of grammar can we teach to enhance and im-
prove students writing, and when and how can we
best teach them? Research indicates most students
do not beneft from grammar study in isolation from
writing. Instead, the skills transfer more easily when
students are provided with models from literature as
teachers teach skills in the context of student writing.
This instruction takes its form in mini-lessons and in-
dividual writing conferences rather than as analyzing
sentences and labeling parts of speech. The authors
share mini-lessons, writing activities, samples of stu-
dent work, and other useful information about how
they have accomplished this in their own teaching ex-
periences. (authors/aec)
The next ORC resource is notable because it not only
shows the most frequent errors marked on the papers of
college freshmen, but also points out the changes that
have occurred in student writing since the advent of the
computer and word processing programs and the result-
ing widespread dependence on them.
The Top Twenty
http://www.ohiorc.org/record/?id=9827
This content resource is taken from the pre-publica-
tion version of the Bedford/St. Martins Handbook
(sixth edition). The excerpt presents the revision by
Lunsford of her 1986 fndings concerning the twenty
most common errors in writing. The new study of
frst-year college composition essays, conducted by
Andrea Lunsford and Karen Lunsford, reveals a re-
vised list that differs somewhat from the 1986 list of
errors. The original list is presented along with nota-
tions about changes. In addition, Lunsford points out
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Adolescent Literacy In Perspective
May/June 2007
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that todays students are writing longer, more com-
plex work for their college courses (more than twice
as long, on average, as essays written in 1986)
without a signifcant increase in the rate of error.
(author/cbd)
Additional resources for the teaching of grammar and
conventions may be accessed by going to the OhioWINS
section of the ORC website.
By becoming familiar with the research and advice shared
by the authors of the professional resources listed above
and by using some of the ORC resources for teaching the
skills in the context of writing, Ohio teachers will be able,
once and for all, to answer the question, How much [me-
chanics, usage, and grammar] should we teach?
* The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defnes grammar as the
study of the classes of words, their infections, and their func-
tions and relations in the sentence, or as a system of rules
that defnes the grammatical structure of a language (Mer-
riam-Websters Online Dictionary http://www.m-w.com/diction-
ary/grammar, May 4, 2007). The same dictionary defnes usage
as the way in which words and phrases are actually used (as in
a particular form or sense) in a language community (http://
www.m-w.com/dictionary/usage). Grammar, then, is the system
of rules for the structure of our language; usage, the way the
language is actually used.

References
Fries, Charles C. (1940). American English grammar. New
York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Weaver, Constance C. (2007). The grammar plan book: A
guide to smart teaching. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Carol Brown Dodson is the outreach specialist for the
Ohio Resource Center. Dodson was an English language
arts consultant for the Ohio Department of Education and
is past president of OCTELA (Ohio Council of Teachers of
English Language Arts). Dodson, formerly a high school
English teacher, department chair, and supervisor of Eng-
lish language arts in Columbus Public Schools, serves on
the Ohio Graduation Test Reading Content Committee.
For Your Bookshelf
Books by Anderson,
Noden, Weaver, and Ehren-
worth and Vinton
by Sheila Cantlebary
Mechanically Inclined: Building Gram-
mar, Usage, and Style into Writers
Workshop by Jeff Anderson (Sten-
house, Portland, ME, 2005)
In her foreword to this gem of a book,
Vicki Spandel says that reading it is
like having a conversation with a trust-
ed coach. Anderson shares his own
journey, starting with his stance as a nongrammarian.
Although he had been admonished as a young teacher to
teach grammar and mechanics in context, he was strug-
gling with how to do it effectively. Finding that his eighth
graders facing high-stakes testing needed explicit instruc-
tion, he set out to discover ways to systematically merge
grammar and mechanics with craft. Instead of using pre-
packaged editing programs, which often draw their ex-
amples from incorrect usage, he began to use powerful
literature and the students own good writing to do the
teaching. He and his students became sentence stalk-
ers, looking for great ones. Throughout the book, Ander-
son provides a series of over thirty detailed lessons. His
instructional strategies emphasize four key elements: (1)
short bursts of daily instruction focusing on high pay-off
grammar and mechanics rules during writers workshop,
(2) the use of high-quality mentor texts to teach gram-
mar and mechanics in context, (3) visual scaffolds, in-
cluding wall charts, and visual cues that can be pasted
into writers notebooks, and (4) regular, short routines,
like express-lane edits, that help students spot and cor-
rect errors automatically. Throughout the text, Anderson
weaves in a strong research base for his practice.
The appendix features ready-to-use activities such as
Sentence Smack Down, visual scaffolds for sentence
patterns, mini handbook pages, and several succinct lists,
24
Adolescent Literacy In Perspective
May/June 2007
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charts, and guides. A glossary of grammar, usage, and
mechanics terms includes Andersons own helpful mne-
monic devices.
Changing the prevailing negative attitude toward the
teaching of grammar and mechanics is my mission, writes
Anderson. This book, flled with humor, passion, practical
advice, and actual classroom photos and vignettes, will do
much to answer that need.

Image Grammar: Using Grammatical
Structures to Teach Writing by Harry
R. Noden (Heinemann, Portsmouth,
NH, 1999)
In the act of creation, the writer, like
the artist, relies on fundamental ele-
ments, says Harry Noden. Students
can begin to learn what Noden calls
image grammar by painting with fve basic brushstrokes:
participles, absolutes, appositives, adjectives shifted out
of order, and action verbs. Throughout the book he pro-
vides rich examples from media and literature to illustrate
these and many other techniques. The frst part of each
chapter explains its key concepts for writing and links
them to the world of art. For instance, he shows how both
the artist and the writer must focus on specifc details
and draws an analogy between the artists rhythms and
the music of parallel structures. The second part of each
chapter offers creative strategies for guiding students as
they add to their structural palettes. There are guidelines
for imitating without plagiarizing and for moving from imi-
tation to creation. The section Creating Special Effects
with Punctuation shows how to teach students to con-
sider rhetoric rather than rules.
Noden demonstrates techniques for analyzing the struc-
ture of not only sentences, but also longer passages. He
discusses the myth of topic sentences and shows how stu-
dents can be taught to look at the grammar or sequence
of unity in longer fction and nonfction samples.
The fnal chapter includes advice and checklists for teach-
ing systematic revision of form, style, content, and conven-
tions. Additionally, an interactive companion CD features
key teaching strategies, activities, and quoted examples
from each chapter in a ready-for-classroom-use format. To
spark student writing, the CD contains image collections
and links to great sites that provide models and stimuli for
writing. Image Grammar is an inspiring treasure trove of
ideas for integrating the teaching of grammar and writing
in meaningful ways.

The Grammar Plan Book: A Guide to
Smart Teaching by Constance Weaver
(Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH, 2007)
Renowned expert on the teaching of
grammar, Constance Weaver condens-
es into one useful resource what smart
writing teachers need to know about
intertwining grammar and writing.
Since research has solidly shown that grammar taught
in isolation does not produce signifcant improvements
in writing, Weaver offers, instead, ten observations and
principles that can guide effective instructional decisions.
In Part One of the book, she also shares a framework for
the extended teaching of grammatical concepts. This sug-
gested framework provides a sequence of steps that can
be used at all grade levels to help students understand and
apply a particular construction or skill. A handy summary
of basic grammar terminology and types of modifers that
can enrich writing is supplied along with ideas for intro-
ducing these constructions during the writing process. To
assist teachers in preparing students for such high-stakes
standardized tests as the ACT, she shares her analysis of
the items on six English tests, categorizing them accord-
ing to the skills tested and degree of emphasis.
Part Two of the book features a Grammar Planner designed
for use by individual teachers, building-level teams, and
curriculum coordinators at the state or local level. The
text presents a grammar and conventions overview, and
the margins provide space to record instructional notes,
including in which phase of the writing process the con-
cept will be taught and whether it is to be reviewed for test
taking. Weaver even addresses several of the well-estab-
lished nonrules such as Dont start a sentence with and
or but. Finally, a ready-to-customize scope and sequence
chart is provided for additional planning purposes.

2S
Adolescent Literacy In Perspective
May/June 2007
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The Power of Grammar: Unconven-
tional Approaches to the Conventions
of Language by Mary Ehrenworth and
Vicki Vinton (Heinemann, Portsmouth,
NH, 2005)
Through their reading, writing, and
teaching, Mary Ehrenworth and Vicki
Vinton have developed an understand-
ing of how grammar is linked with a culture of power. In
The Power of Grammar, the authors share their insights
and research on grammars infuence on power, beauty,
and voice. They offer a sample curriculum calendar for
a year of writing workshops which embed grammar and
conventions instruction throughout the writing process.
Three key teaching methodologies help students develop
the habits of mind of fuent writers. During direct instruc-
tion lessons, students see how teachers make signifcant
choices about their own writing. For inquiry lessons, stu-
dents investigate the effect of grammar on meaning, and
for apprenticeship lessons, they imitate the craft of ex-
cellent published writers. Detailed examples of individual
lessons show how to implement these practices and also
incorporate systematic reteaching of concepts at various
stages of the writing process.
A primer on usage is flled with text boxes that highlight
clear explanations. Brimming with vibrant mentor pieces
of text, student samples, and classroom anecdotes, this
inspirational book shows what it looks like when students
are actively engaged in both reading and producing pow-
erful language.
Sheila Cantlebary is a reading content specialist at the
Ohio Resource Center. As a former teacher in Columbus
Public Schools, she taught English, language arts, and
reading (712), served as a K12 English language arts
coordinator, and was a teacher in the Apple Classrooms
of Tomorrow program. Her teaching experience also in-
cludes facilitating State Institute for Reading Instruction
and English Language Arts Academy sessions.
From the ORC Collection
More Resources on
Unconventional Conventions:
Teaching Grammar and
Mechanics
Here are some resources from the ORC collection relat-
ed to this months theme, Unconventional Conventions:
Teaching Grammar and Mechanics.
The Power of Grammar [excerpt]: Putting Conven-
tions in Our In-Tray: Planning Grammar Curriculum,
chapter 2
http://books.heinemann.com/shared/onlineresources/E00688/
chapter2.pdf
RESOURCE TYPE: Professional Resource
DISCIPLINE: English Language Arts, General Education
STANDARDS ALIGNMENT: 7 - 12
PROFESSIONAL COMMENTARY: Chapter Two, Putting
Conventions in Our In-Tray: Planning Grammar Curricu-
lum, is readable here in pdf format as the full-chapter
excerpt from the book, The Power of Grammar: Uncon-
ventional Approaches to the Conventions of Language.
The authors introduce direct instruction, inquiry, and ap-
prenticeship in order to facilitate teachers in their plan-
ning of both grammar lessons and grammar curriculum.
PROJECTS: AdLIT, OhioWINS
FULL ORC# 6022
Mechanically Inclined: Building Grammar, Usage,
and Style into Writers Workshop
ht t p: // www. s t e nhous e. c om/ pr o duc t c ar t / p c / v i ewpr d.
asp?idProduct=8960
RESOURCE TYPE: Professional Resource
DISCIPLINE: English Language Arts
STANDARDS ALIGNMENT: 8 - 12
PROFESSIONAL COMMENTARY: This site includes the
full text of the introduction and chapter 3 of Jeff Ander-
sons Mechanically Inclined. Anderson gives teachers
concrete ways to merge grammar and mechanics with
craft in the context of meaningful writing.
PROJECTS: AdLIT, OhioWINS
FULL ORC# 6024
26
Adolescent Literacy In Perspective
May/June 2007
www.ohiorc.org/adlit/
Conventions
http://danenet.wicip.org/mmsd-it/lang_arts/conventions.pdf
RESOURCE TYPE: Content Resource
DISCIPLINE: English Language Arts
STANDARDS ALIGNMENT: 3 - 12
PROFESSIONAL COMMENTARY: This resource packet
on the conventions of writing provides materials and in-
structional ideas related to the rules of written English.
Part of the six-trait writing approach, these materials
can be used to assist in teaching and reinforcing rules
for punctuation, grammar and usage, paragraphing, and
capitalization.
CAREER FIELDS: General Career Skills
PROJECTS: AdLIT, OhioWINS, Standards First
FULL ORC# 3728
Every Punctuation Mark Matters: A Mini-Lesson on
Semicolons
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=260
RESOURCE TYPE: Instructional Resource -- Promising
Practice
DISCIPLINE: English Language Arts
STANDARDS ALIGNMENT: 6 - 8
PROFESSIONAL COMMENTARY: Martin Luther King,
Jr.s Letter from Birmingham Jail demonstrates that
even the smallest punctuation mark signals a stylistic
decision, distinguishing one writer from another and en-
abling an author to connect with an audience.
CAREER FIELDS: Business & Administrative Services,
Education & Training, Government & Public Administra-
tion, Marketing
PROJECTS: AdLIT, OhioWINS, Standards First
FULL ORC# 3805
Choosing the Best Verb: An Active and Passive
Voice Mini-lesson
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=280
RESOURCE TYPE: Instructional Resource -- Promising
Practice
DISCIPLINE: English Language Arts
STANDARDS ALIGNMENT: 9 - 12
PROFESSIONAL COMMENTARY: For most students,
speech and informal writing fow naturally. Yet students
often struggle with formal or academic writing.
CAREER FIELDS: Arts & Communication, Health Sci-
ence, Marketing
PROJECTS: AdLIT, OhioWINS, Standards First
FULL ORC# 3365
Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/index.html
RESOURCE TYPE: Content Resource
DISCIPLINE: English Language Arts
STANDARDS ALIGNMENT: 11 - Postsecondary
PROFESSIONAL COMMENTARY: This content resource
from the Online Writing Lab at Purdue offers explanatory
handouts with examples, as well as exercises in grammar,
punctuation, and spelling. Features of grammar, punctua-
tion, and spelling are listed, with handouts and exercises
included for each feature.
PROJECTS: OhioWINS
FULL ORC# 8280
The Top Twenty: New research and major new dis-
coveries about student writing
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/lunsford/Lunsford_TopTwenty.aspx
RESOURCE TYPE: Content Resource
DISCIPLINE: English Language Arts
STANDARDS ALIGNMENT: 9 - Postsecondary
PROFESSIONAL COMMENTARY: This content resource
is taken from the pre-publication version of the Bedford/
St. Martins Handbook (sixth edition).
PROJECTS: OhioWINS
FULL ORC# 9827
Character Clash: A Mini-Lesson on Paragraphing
and Dialogue
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=117
RESOURCE TYPE: Instructional Resource -- Best Prac-
tice
DISCIPLINE: English Language Arts
STANDARDS ALIGNMENT: 4 - 7
PROFESSIONAL COMMENTARY: This mini-lesson de-
scribes a self-editing activity in which students look
closely at their writing, marking speaking parts, and then
make corrections. Using highlighters or colored fonts,
students mark parts of their text to indicate where dia-
logue is occurring.
CAREER FIELDS: Arts & Communication
PROJECTS: AdLIT, OhioWINS, Standards First
FULL ORC# 2772
AdLIT Staff
Executive Director, ORC Margaret Kasten
Assistant Director, ORC David Majesky
Project Director Nicole Carter Luthy
Managing Editor Judy Duguid
Graphic Designer Andrew Ault
Contributing Editor Carol Brown Dodson
Contributing Editor Sheila Cantlebary
Web Developer/Engineer Diah Vargas
Web Developer/Engineer Constance Buckley
Systems Developer Niel Epstein
Administrative Support Gale Martin
Affliated Staff
Science Content Specialist Terry Shiverdecker
Mathematics Content Specialist Sigrid Wagner
Mathematics Content Specialist Judy Spicer
Project AdLIT
Ohio Resource Center for Mathematics,
Science, and Reading
1929 Kenny Road
Columbus, Ohio 43210-1079
Hours Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Telephone (614) 247-6342
Fax (614) 292-2066
Email web@ohiorc.org
What Is AdLIT?
Advancing Adolescent Literacy Instruction Together
(AdLIT) is designed to address the unique literacy needs of
adolescent learners by promoting and supporting effective,
evidence-based practices for classroom instruction and
professional development activities in Ohios middle and
secondary schools.
Each issue of Adolescent Literacy In
Perspective highlights a topic in adolescent
literacy. Here you can read teacher-written
articles, see what experts in the feld are
saying, gain insight from students, and
fnd resources for classroom use.
About the Ohio Resource Center for
Mathematics, Science, and Reading
The Ohio Resource Center works to improve teaching and
learning among Ohio teachers by promoting standards-
based, best practices in mathematics, science, and reading
for Ohio schools and universities. The Centers resources
are available primarily via the web and are coordinated
with other state and regional efforts to improve student
achievement and teacher effectiveness in K-12 mathematics,
science, and reading. To learn more about ORC, visit the
website at www.ohiorc.org.
The Ohio Resource Center is a project of the State University
Education Deans, funded by the Ohio General Assembly, and
established by the Ohio Board of Regents. ORC is located
on the campus of the Ohio State University and is affliated
with OSUs College of Education and Human Ecology.
The Offce of Reading Improvement is part of the Ohio
Department of Education. The ultimate goal of the
Offce of Reading Improvement is to help all students
become profcient readers. The initiatives from this offce
communicate research-based practices and attempt to build
an awareness and understanding for a richer, broader view
of adolescent literacy in schools and communities. The offce
engages in statewide collaborations with other institutions
and agencies. AdLIT is one of many collaborations that
bring together a variety of constituents and stakeholders
in promoting value for focus on adolescent literacy. For
more information, see http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/
Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=3&Topi
cRelationID=890&Content=10467.

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