How to Teach Grammar Effectively According to Jeff Anderson

Mechanically Inclined the novel by Jeff Anderson brings up some good points about teaching grammar to students based on his experiences in the classroom. One thing that he talks about that I really liked was the idea of teaching with models from literature. He talked about using authors such as Gary Paulson and other texts that could relate to students and something that interests them. Research shows that relating grammar to students in this way is better than doing worksheets on grammar or doing grammar when its not related to anything. When teachers just give students a worksheet, students have a harder time transferring those ideas into their writing. 

Anderson says that using a mentor text is a great way to show students how commas or any grammar topic are working. Students can look at the mentor text and then try to replicate the way they are using the grammar concept in their papers and that is something that makes the idea transferable. Looking at many authors can give students ideas for their own writing and we want them to begin to read as a writer and see and appreciate what each author is doing with grammar. Anderson also talks about putting student examples up in the room because doing this will encourage other students to write like them or put in a good effort to get there work up there. 


Another idea that Anderson discusses in his book is the idea of reading aloud which I found very interesting. He said teachers should read aloud no matter the students age. Hearing the words out loud can help students see what they like about a text. He made the interesting point saying that what we hear and see will end up in our writing now or at some point later on. I agree with that because I know that sometimes I hear phrases from my parents or just from other people on the street and it just comes into my head when I am writing and then I use it in my writing. 

I found a great website to check out that includes tips and ways to teach grammar without using a worksheet or drill and kill kinds of exercises. It discusses ideas similar to Anderson.