What is Applied Grammar and Writing?

We Apply Grammar to Writing From the Very Beginning

Reading and writing standards across the country have placed renewed emphasis on the teaching and learning of English grammar.  As these concepts are often omitted from university-level methods courses, teachers responsible for grammar and language instruction are frequently underprepared for such work.  We help teachers to learn and refresh their knowledge and understanding of grammar through engaging, interactive seminars that link their grammar learning to their classroom instruction. 

Applied grammar instruction differs from traditional grammar teaching in that the primary instructional goal is to accelerate language learning by focusing on the form, function, and meaning of foundational grammar skills that are essential for reading comprehension and academic writing. 

Our Successful THree-Pronged Approach

Rules: Language is governed by rules, much like math or science.  When students are taught the rules of a language, from simple to complex, their pace of learning is accelerated with better control of language comes improved reading comprehension and academic writing.

Methods:  Certain language-teaching methods have proven to work better than others.  States, districts and schools have adopted our proprietary and research-based methods because they make sense, they work with all students and they produce quick and sustainable results.

Principles: We have six Key Language Acceleration Principles that fast-track student and teacher learning.  These principles transform teaching from satisfactory to world-class.

Applied Grammar and Writing Seminar Options

GRAMMAR-FOCUSED WRITING: TEACHING STUDENTS THE WHY AND THE HOW OF WRITING SO THEY CAN EXPRESS EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT AND TO WHOM.

            Description: The recent deluge of assessments that check and re-check student progress in order to provide teachers with a roadmap to remediation has neglected the most critical evidence teachers have at their disposal every day for diagnosing students’ linguistic needs. This session shows how, if we read their written texts carefully, students will tell us everything we need to know about what skills to teach.  Teachers will learn how to use the writing students have already done to maximize instructional time without spending hours grading the entirety of written prompts.

Teachers will:
1.    Implement a simple student writing analysis tool to make strategic choices about the progression of grammar instruction in their classroom;
2.    Teach students the specific grammar-concepts that are most frequently misused or omitted to enhance student writing.

FROM VERB TO ESSAY: A BOTTOM-UP APPROACH TO WRITING

            Description: Students cannot write a good essay if they are unable to formulate an effective paragraph. They can’t formulate an effective paragraph if they can’t compose a complete sentence. And they will never compose a complete sentence if they can’t correctly conjugate verbs that agree with the subject and intended tense of the ideas they are trying to express. This session shows teachers how sometimes taking two steps back can allow our students to take 10 steps forward by beginning all writing instruction with a focus on the cornerstone of the English language --  the verb.

Teachers will:
1.    Learn how the 12 basic English verb tenses are conjugated and accurately applied across all writing genres;
2.    Implement Verb-Tense Study, a high-impact grammar method to accelerate student writing skill development. 

LANGUAGE QUADRANTS: WRITING METHODS THAT MAXIMIZE STUDENT PRODUCTION AND ACCELERATE THE WRITING PROCESS

            Description: Listening, speaking, reading and writing have long been the focus of language and literacy teachers. Most often, however, periods of the day labeled writing find students working silently to draft ideas into final products. This session shows how to strategically incorporate all four domains of language -- listening, speaking, reading and writing -- to utilize greater levels of student cognition and accelerate the learning of new writing skills.

Teachers will: 
1.    Utilize three specific classroom methods to incorporate all four domains of language during the writing process to accelerate the learning of writing skills;
2.    Teach students to systematically use each of the domains of language to maximize their ability to convert thinking into written expression.

SINGLE AND MULTI-FRAME TEXT-WEBBING- TEACHING STUDENTS TO THINK SYNTACTICALLY TO ENHANCE ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS

            Description: Many students have been taught to think sequentially or to complete a given template to ensure their writing matches a predetermined formula. This process has produced student writing that is formulaic at best, or formulaically disjointed at worst. This session shows how we can teach students to formulate the essential components of their thoughts and manipulate the order and pattern of each sentence to communicate importance, tie sentences together and connect ideas.   

Teachers will:
1.    Implement two high-impact writing methods that teach students to generate sentences using specific syntactic patterns;
2.    Show students how and why to manipulate the syntactic patterns they use to more accurately express their intended ideas when writing. 

MAYBE THEY SHOULDN’T WRITE IT THE WAY THEY SAY IT: CONVERTING CASUAL THOUGHTS INTO ACADEMIC EXPRESSION

            Description: Would you write an email to your boss the same way that you speak to your husband? Do you talk to the students in your class the same way that you would compose a writing sample for a job interview? Of course not! But how many times have we heard students being told, “Just write it the way you would say it.” This session shows teachers five specific ways to help students take their thoughts from the way they orally express them and convert them to academic sounding writing that they can be proud of turning in for a grade or assessment.

Teachers will:
1.    Implement two high-impact writing methods that teach students how to take their ideas and convert them into academic writing;
2.    Push! students to write at a level of complexity and sophistication that is parallel to the text they are expected to comprehend.