I feel a little foolish, Gretchen, about suggesting that you teach grammar
in your math class.  My mind was flashing back to medieval times when middle
school was nondepartmentalized junior high school.

Let me suggest, however, that you implement some of the same philosophy by
working with other teachers in other disciplines.  Construct you grammar
lessons around writing being done in other classes.  Indeed, encourage
teachers in other disciplines to require writing and work on the editing of
that writing in your English class.  Then, you can slip in your grammar
minilessons.

One big thing about middle school grammar.  Try to talk your principal into
mixing the grammar course with a literature/writing course.  Then take the
full year to cycle through the grammar instead of just one semester.  Never
teach grammar without a context beyond grammar.  In other words, don't do it
the way I do it in my college grammar course.  (I'm trying to fix that,
Connie, but I haven't solved the problem of too much to teach and too little
time yet.)  If you mix literature, writing, and grammar, you'll have a
context beyond the grammar.  Just be sure to balance your time so all of the
above get their share of attention.  In a concentrated course like middle
school grammar, I might stretch the time limit from 10 minutes to 15 minutes
per day of grammar.

Jeff Glauner
Park University