Customer Reviews

Mechanically Inclined: Building Grammar, Usage, and Style into Writer's Workshop

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In MECHANICALLY INCLINED, Jeff Anderson tackles the issue of grammarphobia and edit-phobia head on. You know the diseases. They are endemic in English classrooms everywhere.

Anderson advocates using "mentor" sentences and paragraphs taken from books that interest students. He also details how to set up a writer's notebook where kids can write freely without fear of the Red Pen (which, to them, is like an invader from the Red Planet, as narrated by Orson Welles). The notebook includes sections for creativity, exploration, modeling, and copying well-written sentences and paragraphs.

I especially like Anderson's idea for the Editing Checkout, where students "scan" work looking for specific skills, then create a "receipt" of their findings. NATIONAL ENQUIRERS are not necessary for this activity. The kids will get a kick out of it and (not too loud, now) will learn something about editing (with one pen, two pens, red pens, or blue pens) while they're at it. What more could a teacher ask for? (OK, don't answer that...)

I absolutely adore this book! It's incredibly user friendly, and I didn't feel stupid about grammar while reading it. The first half of the book sets up the lessons. The second half is the lessons. It's obvious Jeff uses a writer's notebook and writer's workshop. He truly makes 'grammar in context' a meaningful and attainable way to teach. I have used several of the lessons with my fourth graders and they love it. I think only a book like this, and Jeff himself, could get someone like me to yell AUWWBIS like a farmer's pig call. It's fun and effective - get this book!

Anderson explains how to show students the practicality of grammar and how to teach it in context rather than isolation in a way that middle school students will not only understand but also enjoy. He provides lists, lessons, examples, and everything needed to take this approach and immediately implement it in the classroom. This is one of the best-written and most helpful books I have read in years.

This book provides strategies to help teachers "merge grammar and mechanics with craft in the context of meaningful writing", and it does exactly that! It outlines how to use mentor texts to teach students how to write well-written sentences. paragraphs and essays.

This is a must read for any pre-service English teacher or, for that matter, any English teacher. No more correct-alls and sentence diagramming. Anderson's unique and energetic approach to teaching grammar and mechanics will inspire you and get your students to engage in text as if it were play!

I'm a glutton for books on education, and I can comfortably say that this is hands-down the most practical, entertaining, and useful book I read in 2008. While I was still reading the book I was able to implement some of Anderson's ideas in my own classroom. He's a middle school teacher but I adapt many of his lesson ideas for my third grade class. He answered every question and eased my discomfort about teaching structure in a fluidly structured environment like writer's workshop. Well done in striking the balance between squelching student ideas and squeaking by with any old slop.

I had to have this book for my Language Arts class. I really enjoyed reading it. The author uses humor to engage the reader. Plus, the book is full of wonderful ideas that can actually work in the classroom. I've tried a few of them myself.

As the forward of this text suggested, this book IS engaging enough to read far into the night, despite it being about grammar and usage! It is packed with usable information, visuals, examples and stimulating ideas for writing teachers. I highly recommend it, for teachers and writers of all ages (middle school to college).

I first came across this book at the library and found that I was constently writing down ideas from the book. I returned the book and decided to buy my own copy! Great resource book for Language Arts teachers! I highly recommend it.

I love this book. I teach high school and I was never able to find creative and concrete ways to teach grammar concepts. Anderson takes the best of what we know about how to teach grammar (that is should be taught in the context of a student's own writing, that it should be active, that is should be scaffolded, etc.) and really focuses on how to make that happen. Look at his "sentence smack-down" and the "express lane editing" to really change how you look at teaching grammar. My kids loved it and I really felt like they were getting it and would use it again. The book is teacher-friendly and activity-based and includes copies of handouts.