Teachers Talk

SENTENCE COMPOSING FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

“Great for Reading Skills, Too” Very easy to use – 1 page lesson, followed by 1 page practice – These lessons are excellent for teaching students to READ fluently as well as teaching how to write and use varied sentence structure. It provides concrete sentence patterns to imitate and plenty of scaffolding to help students that struggle with language. The elementary level book is perfect for my middle school students with reading and writing deficits. The high school version looked to be too challenging. This method is one I have not seen before and it is definitely helping me to help my students improve their reading AND writing. Highly recommended!

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SENTENCE COMPOSING FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL

“Excellent Resource for Teaching Grammar” I first learned about this author at a CATE Conference in 2001. I hesitated at first, but after boring my students with other methods I tried the sentence composing approach Killgallon uses and the results were excellent. The kids not only enjoyed learning the grammar but they actually asked to do the sentence composing. The students saw the sentence composing as a puzzle to be solved instead of another boring lesson on the parts of speech and the usage of punctuation.

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SENTENCE COMPOSING FOR HIGH SCHOOL

“Great Book with Examples of Stunning Sentences” Though a late learner in my forties, I bought this book in order to study sentence variety. I find that this book is replete with examples of stunning sentences. A great book that should not be overlooked by many adult learners, who see it as a book written for teenage students. This book is fantastic not just for teenage learners, also for adults, for any aspiring writer or student, even for those who suffer from Writer’s Block.

If you love this book and are keen on studying sentence variety, then you will love the other books of same kind, those of the following below, all with my five-star ratings:

The two must-buy books by the same authors:

Grammar for High School: A Sentence-Composing Approach

Sentence Composing for College: A Worktext on Sentence Variety and Maturity

“Innovative and Substantive” I like Killgallon’s basic approach: students learn grammar and sentence fluency best by imitating the sentence structures of professional writers. I love Killgallon’s very simple, useful distinction between sentence openers, subject-verb splits, and sentence closers. His choices of professional writers’ sentences are also excellent, as is his series of sentence combining exercises. I will make use of this textbook in class, but will condense and adapt it to fit what I see as my students’ needs as developing writers.

“Do Yourself a Favor” My experience has been that 9th and 10th grade students are engaged by the lessons in this book. The examples come from both popular and literary works. The exercises build logically. Most students can do the work without questions, allowing time to work one-to-one with struggling students. Using these lessons gave the class a common language around creating complex sentences, which helped in the transfer of skills from the writing exercises to the use of complex sentences in essays and other written work.

“Ingenius, and Student-Proof, with Amazing Results” This guide provides many sentence revisions for the working English classroom. It is an excellent choice for the beginning teacher and can be used as a standby for the master teacher. Useful at all high school levels. I highly recommend this text for any high school English curriculum!

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SENTENCE COMPOSING FOR COLLEGE

“Encourages Creativity and Style” I bought this book plus other sentence-composing books, as I’d long suffered Writer’s Block.

Sentence-composing practices help me overcome writer’s block. I am now thinking and writing more creatively than ever previously. In addition, I am now writing and typing non-stop, thanks to sentence-composing techniques.

I wish that sentence-composing techniques were taught in my school days.

I think that this book makes an ideal gift for anyone affected by Writer’s Block.

Teachers, if your pupils suffer from Writer’s Block, suggest that they try sentence-composing exercises. Sentence-composing actually helps combat Writer’s Block and encourages brainstorming.

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STORY GRAMMAR FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

A Sentence-Composing Approach

“Easy to Use, Excellent Resource for Teaching Writing” I’ve been using this book with a sixth-grader who has struggled with writing in the past. He’s made a lot of progress, and this book in particular has really made a difference in his creative writing skills. Using sentences from well-known authors, this book shows students how to add “tools” to their sentences to make them more interesting. I’ve seen how my student applies what he is learning to his own writing. I highly recommend this book.

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GRAMMAR FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL

A Sentence-Composing Approach

“Excellent for High School Students As Well” Grammar for Middle School has worked quite well for my high school students. I work in an urban school district where students’ skills are generally several years below grade-level, so this book is definitely appropriate for them. It has nice scaffolding, and corresponds better with their high school sentence composing book (the small, purple one).

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GRAMMAR FOR HIGH SCHOOL

A Sentence-Composing Approach

“A Very Good Book” If your main interest is in writing, then buy this book and do the exercises. It teaches you to think in terms of phrases and clauses, and it shows you how to connect them to create interesting and sophisticated sentences, using models from well-known authors. The sentence-composing approach is practical and down-to-earth. This book should be seriously considered by high school teachers looking for a more engaging approach to teaching the (sometimes dry) subject of grammar.

SOURCE for above quotes: www.dropshadowz.net/v_30333235303132343636.php

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GRAMMAR FOR COLLEGE WRITING

A Sentence-Composing Approach

“Highest Praise!” Don and Jenny Killgallon’s book Grammar for College Writing is a masterpiece. Breaking down sentences into models to imitate, even the slowest writers can benefit. Learning by imitation is the best way to learn.

As an English instructor for grade 12 British literature and adjunct professor at a local community college, preparing students for college level work is the focus of my class. As Don and Jenny Killgallon point out, student sentences are usually flat and stale. The Grammar for College Writing, a toolbox for crafting great sentences, brings student writing up to its highest level.

Although it came out early in 2010, I have used it in my classroom with tremendous success. Students not only write better, but their reading skills improve, and their critical thinking abilities soar. Students taking the AP English exam scored higher than in years past, and the satisfaction of seeing students craft their paragraphs and essays is rewarding.