I was away from my mail for a day or so, so I'll reply to a number of
posts in one message.
   Paul, I very much enjoyed your "rant" (much more sensible than the term
implies.)  It would be nice to have a sense of scaffolding so that
students entering high school would have a solid base of knowledge
about language to build on.
    Cynthia, I was impressed as much by the tone of your post as I was by
its substance. I would love to know more about your approach and how
you layer things in over those three grades.  Are you supported by the
school?
    Jan, Allison, I'm sorry if I created the impression that a scope and
sequence draft already exists.  What I was hoping to say, no doubt
awkwardly, is that we should make it a very open process, and that
everyone should have a chance to read it and comment on it as it
unfolds. The ATEG website would be a natural place.
    A good place to start for reading about grammar would be Grammar
Alive, put together by ATEG members and published by NCTE. It lacks
scope and sequence sections because, if I understand this correctly,
NCTE would not have published it if it had. You can't do wrong with
Martha Kolln's two books (Understanding Grammar and Rhetorical
Grammar.) A book I have found enormously rich and helpful is
Halliday's Introduction to Functional Grammar, now in its third
edition. It's not easy going, but I much prefer it to the softer
explanations I have looked at so far.  My own attempt at a new kind of
synthesis (Meaning-Centered Grammar) is now in print.  It's aimed at
being a text for a college course in grammar, but I'm hoping it's
readable and accessible. Ed Schuster's Breaking the Rules... casts a
critical eye on entrenched practices and includes advice about
teaching the rest.  Lots of people like Joseph Williams' Ten Easy
Lessons in Style and Grace (It comes in a few different forms with
different titles.) All of these are easily googled and all are readily
available from Amazon. I'm sure other people on the list could add
their own suggestions.
    A good next step for the project would be to divide it up into smaller
units, delegate responsibilities, and sign people up.  The SCOPE
section will be critical:it should include what a well educated
citizen ought to know (on graduation from high school.)  The SEQUENCE
section would give advice for parceling that out (scaffolding) over
various age levels.  We should have an OFFICIAL POSITION, a clear and
direct alternative to the position of NCTE. We need to make
recommendations for ASSESSMENT, which should include a position on
standardized testing practices and procedures. We should make
recommendations about TEACHER TRAINING, the preparation that would
help teachers confidently carry this out.  I would also suggest
recommendations for CURRICULAR PRACTICES, including ways in which
grammar instruction should be integrated with critical reading and
writing. Obviously, each of these sections should work in harmony with
the others.
    Anyone who want to be a part of it should let me know and let me know
your preferences and what you bring to the project.

Craig

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