It's a great resource, but there are some minor kinks that do not necessarily mesh with my teaching style.
I prefer warm ups to last no longer than 10...moreIt's a great resource, but there are some minor kinks that do not necessarily mesh with my teaching style.
I prefer warm ups to last no longer than 10 minutes, unless it's a writing activity. I am much more willing to be flexible there. Some of the exercises/activities have as many as 20 questions, when truly if you want to check for comprehension about 5-10 questions should do it.
Some of the grammar lessons are simply lessons over the rules with no practice. The author meant for these lessons, such as "36 Introducing Phrases" to teach the concept and let the follow up lessons reinforce the learning, but with a block schedule the transitions won't be as smooth to the next lesson, as the review would have occurred the day before.
This probably isn't the book to use to teach grammar to struggling students or ESL students.
The strengths are that this book covers almost everything under the sun in short concise lessons. I don't see a lesson going over 15 minutes, which may or may not be a problem depending on your preferences. It's a great review tool, but not a book I would use to teach fundamental grammar.
It's a great book even with it's limitations, which in the end are due to the formatting and structure of the book. (less)
This is the first book I read in the "Write Great Fiction" series. There was a lot I liked about it, especially the various exercises included in each...moreThis is the first book I read in the "Write Great Fiction" series. There was a lot I liked about it, especially the various exercises included in each chapter. Kempton did a good job explaining the purpose of dialogue, its nuances, and what should be accomplished in a scene when writing dialogue.
However, sometime around chapter 6-7 I lost all interest in the book. In all fairness I haven't been able to figure out if it was simply due to outside factors such as work or if those two chapters in particular lacked the proper pacing and interest that the previous chapters contained. Once I was able to get past those two chapters I began to fall in love again with the book.
It's important to know that at times Kempton has this pop psychology approach to understanding characters and potential readers that will either completely turn you off or will resonate with you. If you read some of the lower rated reviews there are several mentions of this, though it may not be referred to as pop psychology and be labeled as Kempton talking down to you.
Some of her thoughts about the writer's fears about dialogue and the writer's final goals for potential readers made absolute sense to me. Then there were times I felt she was simply reading too much into the behavior of writers.
Towards the end of the book I ran across an exercise that involved a father and daughter stuck in traffic where the electronic devices die and the radio no longer works forcing the parent/child to speak. It clicked to me right there that several of the exercises could be used to teach personal narratives. While some of the scenarios would need to be modified they make perfect little warm ups and potential lessons for high school English classes. That alone makes this a five star read.
I felt that I learned a lot from this book, but the fact that I put this book off for so long has me worry that maybe those two chapters simply turned me off as a reader. So you've been warned, if you feel you're losing interest, then I suggest you skip ahead those chapters, because the rest of the material is helpful to writers and those who are either working on revisions or first drafts. (less)
I think as a friendly daily reminder of grammar and its rules the Devotional works well.
Some of its weak points include the brevity of the daily remi...moreI think as a friendly daily reminder of grammar and its rules the Devotional works well.
Some of its weak points include the brevity of the daily reminders itself. If you're needing more guidance and explanation, than it is probably best to start with one of Mignon Fogarty other books or any other grammar book for that matter.
The idea behind this book is that you're already familiar with grammar rules and just need a refresher course. Sometimes to break the monotony, they'll be a cute puzzle or word scramble, but all in all it's a fun cute book to have at your disposal.
The best part is if you're in need of a cute warm up, you can introduce the idea of devotionals to your class and present some of Fogarty's daily grammar devotionals in a fun relaxed way. I wouldn't do it everyday as it might be overkill to some students, but it's a nice change of pace for to my English classes. (less)
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