By Edgar Schuster - Breaking the Rules: Liberating Writers Through Innovative Grammar Instruction: 1st (first) Edition

by Edgar H. Schuster

Grammar doesn't have to be a stick-in-the-mud subjectstodgy, traditional, and rule bound. Open the pages of Ed Schuster's book and you'll find an energetic, untraditional, creative means of helping students become independent thinkers and more effective writers. Schuster acknowledges that there ARE bedrock rules of English syntax that should be honored, and offers lesson plans to show how these rules can be taught effectively, in ways that empower students and enable them to write with confidence, authority, and precision. He also examines the history of the other rules, the "myth rules" that are the legacy of traditional school grammartaught for hundreds of years but infrequently followed outside of the classroom, as shown in numerous examples of the best contemporary writing. He devotes his book to better ways of teaching grammar, usage, writing, and punctuation by teaching the unbreakable rules in such a way that they stay taught debunking the "myth rules" that are commonly taught in class, but infrequently followed in practice trusting students' own intuitive sense of grammaticality appealing to the evidence of the work of his own and others' students and to the best contemporary writing. "Only look and connect" is the guiding principle of Schuster's book. Look at the results of your teaching; look at the facts of language; look at practices of our best writers, both student and professional; look to see which rules really rule. Then connect what you discover to your teaching practice.

Genres: Writing, Education, Teaching, Language

Paperback

First published February 13, 2003

Reviews

[Beth Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was yet another book I purchased in order to be more effective in the classroom. It includes a lot of stylistic writing tools to help students become more sophisticated in their writing.

I was already teaching my students how to break quite a bit of these rules in class, which is why this received five stars rather than four. However, for the educator who is used to only teaching traditional writing, this is a great way to help students learn voice, sophistication, variation, etc.

Every ELA and writing teacher – regardless of level – should be required to read this It is a great resource to help students break out of the damage that we teachers have incurred from the formulaic, five – paragraph essay-teaching we formally did.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've finally overcome my academic/professional reading aversion, and I enjoyed my first FULL book in the genre. This book a) substantiates some of my suspicions about the fallibility of grammar (only discovered since I started using mentor sentences and paying better attention to author's craft), b)takes the edge off my general grammar Naziness (already greatly reduced since my above discovery), and c) allows me some freedom in teaching grammar in a variety of ways - strength-based or mentor-text based. I would have liked it if Schuster provided a few more positive examples of what/how grammar can be taught, but I suppose that I'll have to move on to Jeff Anderson for that.

[Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly revolutionary way to look at the teaching of grammar. This book changed the way I teach the subject, and made the teaching of grammar more fun for me while making it more accessible to my students.

[Carla Hahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

My students will be grateful I read this book, took it to heart, and will apply its principles in the classroom. FREEDOM! They'll be far better writers because of it. Highly recommend.