Hi Johanna,
I haven't been ignoring your question.  Our school system didn't prepare for
Sasser!
I'm using a method that I developed about eight years ago in my classroom.  It has
since been published, and teachers are using it in 30 states and a few foreign
countries.  The method is basically a different way of organizing the information
so it "sticks" better.  I don't want to "advertise" it here, but you can see how
it works at www.dgppublishing.com.    I will say that my latest set of pre and
post tests show an average of 42% improvement in understanding of parts of speech,
sentence structure, punctuation, diagramming, etc.  (My students started out
knowing practically nothing!)  My students and I use the grammar vocabulary that
they have developed in order to discuss their own writing.  Our writing lessons
are much more productive and meaningful since we have this common language.
Regardless of which method teachers and students find to be effective, a solid
understanding of the fine points of grammar does make a difference as long as
teachers enable students to use grammar concepts as a tool to improve writing.

Johanna Rubba wrote:

> Dawn --
>
> tell us what you're doing!!!  :)  :)
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Johanna Rubba   Associate Professor, Linguistics
> English Department, California Polytechnic State University
> One Grand Avenue  • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
> Tel. (805)-756-2184  •  Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone.  756-2596
> • E-mail: [log in to unmask] •      Home page:
> http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
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