Publisher's Synopsis
This unique resource gives middle and secondary school English teachers 180 high–interest activities that build students? proficiency in the three major areas of the English curriculum?reading/literature, writing, and grammar. All the activities have been classroom tested, can be used with students of varying ability, and are effective as individual, group, or whole–class activities.
For quick access and easy use, the activities are organized into 36 weekly packets?each packet including five ?Dailies??and printed in a big 8–1/4? x 11? spiral–bound format that folds flat for photocopying.
Each ?Dailies? activity begins with a well–written student passage followed by prompts that encourage students to examine the passage in terms of usage, stylistic devices, grammatical concepts, punctuation, and reading/literature skills. The activities require students to learn the rules that apply and to use the examples as springboards for their own writing.
You?ll find that these integrated ?Dailies? activities are ideally flexible. They can be completed as ?warm–ups? at the beginning of class, as mini–reviews for more advanced students, or serve as walk–through activities or homework assignments for students who need reinforcement. Each activity will lead to inquiry and lively discussion as students analyze the model passage and learn to write effectively based on:
- GENRES REQUIRED ON STANDARDIZED WRITING TESTS including descriptive writing, narrative writing, expository writing, and persuasive writing as well as vignettes, character sketches, comparison/contrast, how–to directions, and poetry.
- READING SKILLS AND LITERARY ELEMENTS such as sequencing, inference, summarizing, author?s style, plot, setting, characterization, theme, mood/tone, and irony.
- STYLISTIC WRITING DEVICES such as vivid verbs, hyphenated modifiers, figurative language?similes, metaphors, and personification?repetition for effect, imagery, the unique ?magic three,? full–circle endings, interrupters, the narrative ?hook,? and humor.
- RULES OF GRAMMAR, USAGE, MECHANICS, AND STRUCTURE including capitalization, punctuation, subject–verb agreement, fragments, run–ons, adjective/adverb usage, pronoun usage, sentence combining, parallel structure, varying sentence structure, phrases, and clauses.
In short, English Workshop Activities for Grades 6–12 gives you an effective and proven way to develop each student?s writing competency regardless of grade or ability level. Once you guide students through the first few activities, they will gain confidence and begin to change ordinary writing into powerful writing.
