—Mary Ehrenworth
Author of The Power of Grammar
Are Chantal Francois and Elisa Zonana’s students like yours? Economically, linguistically, and culturally diverse; excited to write; yet underprepared for the kinds of writing demanded in middle school and beyond? Don’t be daunted. Francois and Zonana found a solution, and in Catching Up on Conventions they share lessons that help kids quickly master Standard English grammar.
Catching Up on Conventions will make a difference in your writing workshop and in your middle schoolers’ lives. With Catching Up on Conventions and its annotated lesson plans, you’ll:
- make key grammatical rules explicit and scaffold learning through highly structured, tightly focused lessons
- strengthen students’ narrative and expository writing
- give students specific tools for editing and revising
- support code-switching between the language students use outside the classroom and Standard English.
Francois and Zonana designed Catching Up on Conventions to be easy for you to implement and highly effective. It raises students’ awareness of Standard English grammar with:
- targeted lessons that slide into even the most packed curriculum.
- teaching based on widely recognized best practices that are proven to work.
- suggestions for instructional language and assessment practices that empower linguistic choice rather than “correct” or devalue the language skills students bring to school.
Mary Ehrenworth, Senior Deputy Director of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project and co-editor for the Units of Study for Teaching Reading, Middle School series, works with schools and districts around the globe, and is a frequent keynote speaker at Project events and national and international conferences. Mary’s interest in critical literacies, deep interpretation, and reading and writing for social justice all inform the books she has authored or co-authored in the Reading and Writing Units of Study series as well as her many articles and other books on instruction and leadership.
You can connect with her on Twitter @MaryEhrenworth.
Elisa Zonana is coauthor of the Heinemann title Catching Up on Conventions. She has worked in New York City public middle schools for the past thirteen years. She is currently a staff developer at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, where she works in New York City public schools as well as schools around the country. She is a former teacher and literacy coach at East Side Community High School, where she continues to do much of her work.
Chantal Francois is the coauthor of the Heinemann title Catching Up on Conventions. She taught at East Side Community High School in New York City. Now she is a doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she works as a research assistant, teaching fellow, consultant, and editor of the Harvard Educational Review. Her research focuses on the staff’s and the students’ experiences of East Side’s literacy program.
