Catching Up on Conventions: Grammar Lessons for Middle School Writers

by Mary Ehrenworth, Elisa Zonana

Mary Ehrenworth Author of The Power of Grammar Are Chantal Francois and Elisa Zonanas students like yours? Economically, linguistically, and culturally diverse; excited to write; yet underprepared for the kinds of writing demanded in middle school and beyond? Dont be daunted. Francois and Zonana found a solution, and in Catching Up on Conventions they share lessons that help kids quickly master Standard English grammar. Catching Up on Conventions will make a difference in your writing workshop and in your middle schoolers lives. With Catching Up on Conventions and its annotated lesson plans , Francois and Zonana designed Catching Up on Conventions to be easy for you to implement and highly effective. It raises students awareness of Standard English grammar But its not too late for underprepared students to find the power of choice and take their passion for writing to a whole new level. Not when theyre Catching Up on Conventions .

Genres: Education, Professional Development, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published February 19, 2009

Reviews

[Lynnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short book with a few templates.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book for people trying to reconcile grammar instruction with the Lucy Calkins writing workshop model. It's also extremely practical, as the authors provide actual lessons and handouts for teachers to use. I would highly recommend this book to other teachers in urban settings.

My only negative comment about this book is that the authors propagate the acceptable (because people don't know better!) but irritating rule of only writing an apostrophe instead of an apostrophe-s to form a possessive after words that end in "s". For example, the authors taught their students that the possessive form of "Chris" should be "Chris'". I personally believe (as do most grammar references...look it up!) that it should be "Chris's". To test this, say the sentence: "Chris's homework isn't finished." The "'s" is what people actually SAY when they pronounce that word. Also, it just doesn't make sense to not put an "s" just because there's already an "s" at the end of the word/name.

Also, the authors incorrectly use the word "affect" in the introduction. They say "affect change" when it should be "effect change."

For a book on how to teach grammar, mistakes like these are unnerving. Heinemann apparently needs to improve its editing!

[Lindsey Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Those familiar with Lucy Caulkins's work will see her imprint on the writers of this book. It is a nice companion piece for reader/writer workshop. I think I didn't love it because it offered no new ideas for me - very similar to Lucy's work as well as Kelly Gallagher's (which I tend to favor over this one).

The lessons also seemed to simplistic for middle/high school instruction.