My many years teaching in independent schools with rigorous, long-established English curriculums certainly influenced my views on teaching grammar.

In those tradition-minded schools, concerning writing instruction, we did grow to embrace the writer’s workshop model, 6-traits writing instructional tools, an avalanche of technological advancements, and more(!), but as the writing trends and gurus came and went, a steady stream of grammar instruction remained and proved to be a reliable asset for me when communicating with students about writing, as well as a key source of formal knowledge striving students would often tap to help them reach their fullest potentials as writers.

Teaching writing was (and still is!) my passion, and I was happy to have found grammar to be so helpful, but, like so many teachers, I wondered how much grammar and mechanics was too much? It’s considerably easier to positively engage students with writer’s workshop time or a literature discussion than with lessons about twenty-six capitalization rules or transitive vs. intransitive verbs! So I began to ruminate: What are the most useful, practical, and developmentally appropriate grammar concepts for middle school writers? I became determined to finding a better path, one weaving in just the right amount of grammar and mechanics, rather than one aiming to cover all that can be taught about these things.

Over the course of 30+ years of teaching in public, private, and international schools, I refined my material through trial and error with thousands of students and generous colleagues. Once “the writing guy,” I am now “the grammar guy”—but it always has been and always will be about giving students the chance to become the very best writers they can be.

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