Ten reproducible poems that have middle-school appeal are paired with complete lessons to target key grammar concepts&;predicate adjectives, direct objects, gerunds, clauses, compound sentences, and more. Nancy Mack's lessons provide a scaffold for students to grasp each concept and then use it skillfully in their own writing. Includes lively student models, literature links, and step-by-step publishing activities that help embed grammar instruction within the context of real writing. For use with Grades 6-8.
A former middle- and high-school teacher, Dr. Nancy Mack is currently a professor of English at Wright State University where she works with preservice and in-service teachers. In addition, she co-directs the university&;s Summer Institute on Writing and has worked with local PBS stations to develop multimedia support programs for teachers. Her publications include chapters in books from Heinemann and NCTE and articles in The English Journal, The Writing Instructor, and Pedagogy. She previously published Teaching Grammar With Playful Poems (Scholastic, 2005).