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 To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/