Gretchen,
   Of all the posts I've just read, yours is the most important.
Whatever else you do, please stay on the list and continue to post.
Unfortunately, it will be a while before I can give you my detailed
response to your important question, "what do I do on the first Monday
of the new school year?  And the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday after
that?" There are a few people who are beginning to work with me to
develop the KISS curriculum, but day-to-day exercises are not in the
works yet. I would suggest, however, that part of the problem is that
you can't do the whole job by yourself. Connie's unsystematic approach
is a primary cause of your problem. Thus, you might want to work within
your school system to see if you yourselves can divide the work. For
example, can students entering your class identify subjects and verbs?
If not, could they be taught that before they enter your class? (I'm not
sure what parts of my site you have read, but have you looked at the
curriculum design at http://www.sunlink.net/rpp/GC.htm
Because it begins with 3rd grade, it probably will not work for you, but
it will give you some idea of what I have in mind. One of the problems
with many people on this list is that they have spent years studying
grammar/linguistics, but they then discuss teaching it as if one could
give everything to students in a single course in a single year. I
appreciate your frustration, Gretchen, but please stay with us.

    On a more general note, I read some of the posts, particularly about
the publishers, as if I were a publisher. What I see are disagreements
among the experts, none of whom have a following of any size (market
value). Assuming that I have no knowledge of what should be taught, even
if I agree that the stuff in my current book is bad, WHOSE ideas should
I attempt to develop in my books? What I am suggesting, plainly put, is
that blaming the publishers is not the answer.
     Once again I will suggest that the only way ATEG will solve this
problem is if it acts as an umbrella for several sub-groups based on
different positions. We are not going to get one curriculum design from
the SSS committee that will satisfy the majority of the group -- we are
too splintered. We will make much more progress if the SFG people all
get together and develop their ideas, the sentence pattern people form
another group (or groups) etc. That would put people like Gretchen in
the position of being able to see several programs in development. She
could choose the one that looks most interesting to her, and (ideally)
join it and help develop it.
      We also need hundreds of more people like Gretchen, i.e., teachers
who are interested in the problem but who do not have an established
position. Ultimately, it will be these people who try to use the various
designs and who, through their work, will determine what does and
doesn't work. To get these people, may I suggest, once again, the idea
of regional affiliates? Perhaps Rebecca, Michael, or Edith can correct
me with newer information, but my experience has been that, by moving
the conference, we get about twenty people who attend yearly, and every
year we lose the locals. With even just a one-day conference, local
affiliates would probably be more likely to pull in and keep many more
members.
Ed