Martha Kolln wrote:

Dear John and Eduard and all,

It is indeed true that my colleague Sandra Wyngaard, head of English at State College (PA) High School, and I are in the throes of production.  Our book, "Discovering Grammar: Unlocking the Language Toolbox for Middle School Readers and Writers,"  takes teachers and students step by small step through minilessons to mastery.

We begin with a short lesson on Subject/Predicate, which, by the way, includes a structured writing assignment (which many of the minilessons do).  Then  come nine minilessons on nouns and noun phrases and pronouns.  These lessons include discussions of form--singular/plural as well as derivational endings-- that help students unlock their own inner grammar expertise.  Next come seven minilessons on verb forms.   All of these lead to and are integrated with the next series of lessons on ten sentence patterns, which are essentially predicate patterns.  With each lesson, directed mainly at teachers, we include several "Unlocking" exercises and "reading/writing connection"
exercises, classroom activities for the students--many of which are connected to the young-adult literature they are reading.

I have learned from Sandra--and by talking to many teachers--that today's language arts classes are very different from what many of us remember way back when--or even not so way back.  Today's teachers rely on minilessons, on word study, on word sorts (many of which we include),  with very little, if any, attention to syntax  in an organized way.  That lack of attention is due in large part to the teachers' own inadequate grammar background and very scant help from textbooks.

We are very excited about what we have accomplished so far.  The first section of the book--100+ pages--will be class-tested this fall in all nine middle schools of Carroll County, Maryland, as well as in
selected classes in four other school districts, including districts in  two other states as well as Pennsylvania.  We expect to have the finished published version ready for fall 2007.  We are publishing and planning to market it ourselves.

As I explain in the Introduction, the material is based on my "Understanding English Grammar," which is based on sentence patterns. I firmly believe that the framework of sentence patterns  has been enormously helpful for my college-level students in the teacher-prep grammar class.  In the new book, we are including the very simplest diagrams for the sentence patterns--so they will be there for those teachers who want to include them.

As I said in my keynote address at ATEG last month, minilessons are here to stay in the language arts classrooms of middle schools.  If we want to have an impact, we have to join them.  Believe me, these are not the  minilessons that Constance Weaver describes in her books, the "teachable moment" occasions that occur in writing workshops.  Ours are organized in small steps, designed to fit into a classroom period, that scaffold on one another but that also bring to the students' conscious understanding  step by organized step the subconscious knowledge that they had with them when they entered kindergarten.  Mastery through minilessons is our goal.

I'll appreciate your input and interest, especially those of you who might be interested in seeing more detail as it becomes available. The table of contents will be ready  soon; that might give you a better idea of our program.

Martha

John:

I guess the safest way to find out if this is true or not is to ask
Martha Kolln herself if she and her friends intend to publish a book
designed for "the lower level Japanese students." I am sure, as you
say, that "Japanese students would benefit from a version of this
book pitched at a lower level." Hopefully Martha is reading this
message and will answer your question.

Eduard



On Mon, 21 Aug 2006, =?Windows-1252?Q?John_curran?= wrote...

 >Eduard,

  Re your last submission:
  Here is a message from an Australian teacher in Japan at the chalk-

face=

,=20
teaching at the primary level. ATEG's "Grammar Alive - A guide for=20
Teachers" has been very helpful but it is difficult to adapt this

book to=

=20
the needs of the lower level Japanese students. Japanese students

would=20=

benefit from a version of this book pitched at a lower level. There

is a=20=

rumour going around that Martha Kolln and friends are preparing such

a=20=

book. Can we be so lucky?
              John Curran

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Martha,

Are you familiar with the two t-g books by Jacobs and Rosenbaum, published in 1967 and designed for seventh graders? They're called Grammar 1 and Grammar 2.

Marshall
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