Ready-To-Use English Workshop Activities for Grades 6 - 12: 180 Daily Lessons Integrating Literature, Writing and Grammar Skills

by Mary Ellen Ledbetter

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" lay-flat format for easy 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.

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2002

Reviews

[Cathleen Bott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of ready-to-use activities that integrate reading, writing, and language arts skills. The excerpts are written by students grades 7-9 or the teacher, Mrs. Ledbetter. The questions generally contain a grammar/punctuation question, a vocabulary or usage question, a literary term or reading comprehension question, and a question on writing craft, and often a writing prompt. Before starting this program, allow time to front load the smiley face tricks.

Pros: Using this program 2-3 times a week definitely improved my students' writing. The "smiley face tricks" are effective. The grammar questions focus on why this piece of writing is effective. The close reading format is easy to recreate for whole-class novels, read-alouds, your own students' writing, etc. I cut and pasted the entries to use for the week depending on what we were doing in class.

Cons: I used this when I had three 90 minute class periods, and used these 2-3 times a week as a warmup. Each day's entry took 15-20 minutes. When we switched to 54 (and later, 47) minute periods, and I had 5-6 classes to grade, I cut out this program because it was too time-consuming. I cannot imagine using this during the pandemic; even though we were fully in-person 2021-22, there were so many absences that we had to put everything on Google Classroom. Having to scan the worksheets each week as well as posting the answers would not sit well with me. Who knows--there may be an online version of this out there.

[William Lawrence · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much more appropriate for grades 4-7.