A Non-Workbook, Non-Textbook Approach to Teaching Language Arts: Grades 4 Through 8 and Up

THIS IS THE LANGUAGE ARTS BOOK FOR YOU IF: You find textbooks and workbooks a bore to your students (and you)—or less effective than you’d like. You need effective, creative (and structured) ideas on how to teach paragraphing and larger compositions. You want to get your students on the road to doing research—like the professionals do. You want some creative ideas for student public speaking. You want lists, forms, and charts to aid you in your teaching. You want two free games—each worth more than the price of this book

Author Jim Charnock does not do much educational philosophizing—although you will see and feel the soundness of his techniques throughout the book. After his short, but compelling, introduction, you are in the thick of learning. One chapter after another tells how to best, in his opinion, go about teaching the language arts of several types of writing, public speaking, researching, book reporting, interviewing, dramatizing, and more.

What he writes in his synoptic Table of Contents about one particular chapter can be said about this entire small but practical volume: "This is not one of those ‘you ought to do this, but I’m not going to lead you by the hand,’" books.

Mr. Charnock’s clarity, energetic style, and practical approaches will make this book a worthy addition to your teaching library, and the ideas an asset to your teaching repertoire. You will be impressed with the simplicity of learning and teaching what others have so onerously complicated. And, after reading and experiencing his ideas, you may, like those in his seminars, feel the urge to stand up and clap.

James Charnock, M.ED, is a veteran of thirty years of teaching at the elementary and junior high levels. In addition to creating educationally oriented market products, for several years he was a feature writer/children’s book reviewer for a national reading journal (The Reading Teacher) and has served on the editorial board of a national English journal (Language Arts).

Former top students have honored him—not once or twice, but four times (less than two percent of teachers are so honored twice) by placing him in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers—"The best teachers in America chosen by the best students." He was "the teacher who made a difference." He has also been listed in Who’s Who in the East.

Mr. Charnock has written one other book, Mt. Horeb: The Little White Schoolhouse on Little Deer Creek, about the history and memories of one of Maryland’s last one-room schoolhouses, where he started his education.

The author lives in a suburb of Philadelphia, where he continues as a freelance writer, often serving as a seminar speaker on the teaching of writing. He also volunteers his time to the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity and teaches an adult course in paper art.