Note from Dave: Ever since I started using Doug Stark's approach to grammar and mechanics instruction, I've been encouraging him to share it with the wider world. I first became a believer when I saw the results: when I taught kids after they'd had Doug, there was a noticeable difference in their mastery of the English language.
As Doug explains below, we had a neat opportunity to measure the difference Doug's approach made, and the standardized test results were pretty incredible — even though, as Doug affirms, test prep is not what these warm-ups are about.
To me, these warm-ups are the epitome of being as clear and impactful and purposefully repetitive [1] as we can be. Why would we teach grammar and mechanics this way? Because each of our secondary students deserves a shot at mastering the most fundamental conventions of the English language, and because the world will not graciously look past distractingly erroneous prose.
With that said, I am so proud to introduce Doug's newly remastered warm-ups series, Mechanics Instruction that Sticks: Using Simple Warm-Ups to Improve Student Writing, which includes four levels of full year's worth of warm-ups (13 units per level) as well as quizzes for each unit and three supplemental activities). MITS is the first digital product I've published that wasn't my own, and I could not be prouder. I am so grateful and excited to introduce to you, Doug Stark.
Below, please enjoy Doug's introduction to his books.
English teachers are, in my humble opinion, the hardest working people in public education. We have the unenviable task of trying to convince a generation of kids raised on electronic devices and nursed by spell check to slow down and write with purpose and precision. We see ourselves as the last line of defense against the continual erosion of the language, and we try to teach our kids to avoid all of the dreaded errors – the run-on, the forgotten apostrophe, the misplaced modifier – that threaten to reduce our language into an incomprehensible stew of unpunctuated gibberish filled with text-friendly abbreviations and inscrutable emojis. We admire our content-teaching colleagues, but we secretly envy their ability to simply ignore the numerous errors that litter essay responses as they grade for ideas and content knowledge.
We, on the other hand, are English teachers, so we can’t just ignore those minor grammatical errors. We have to figure out how to teach our kids the “rules” in a way that sticks and works for them as writers. Over the course of my career as an English teacher, I have wrestled with competing notions about how to help students write with clarity and a degree of correctness. I remember my first year of teaching and how I focused on free-writing and journaling, rarely taking the time to use direct instruction in relation to grammar or conventions.
I also vividly remember having students switch into my class at semester; these students had been taught by an outstanding veteran teacher who had high expectations for student work. Needless to say, her kids were miles ahead of mine simply because she refused to accept work that did not reflect a student’s best effort.
Entering my second year, I decided that my kids were going to get some top-notch grammar instruction. I planned out a start-of-the-year, six-week “boot camp” of sorts. I would teach these kids how to diagram sentences, and I would cover various common errors that they would be expected to identify and correct.
I went through with my plan. At the end of the six weeks, my students could diagram sentences quite well. They could identify different types of clauses, and they could label parts of speech like nobody’s business. Unfortunately, during this six-week period, my kids didn’t do much authentic writing, so nothing I had taught actually stuck. As we wrote various compositions throughout the rest of the school year, I found myself reteaching virtually everything that I had covered so diligently at the start of the year.
Thankfully, my school sent me to training to learn the “John Collins” approach to writing instruction and grading as a part of our school’s push to begin writing across the curriculum. At this training I learned all about focus correction areas. I was told that I didn’t need to mark every error on every piece of writing that I assigned. I could simply focus on three or four criteria, one of which would be a convention (i.e., no fragments, no run-ons, no errors in agreement, etc.).
This training session was a revelation to me. I immediately became a much better writing instructor, primarily because my students were writing much, much more. Still, many students struggled due to the fact that they had very little background knowledge in relation to the conventions of language. Our school district’s philosophy, at the time, was very much anti-grammar or mechanics instruction. All instruction regarding correctness was supposed to take place within the context of student writing, which makes sense and is supported by research. However, in practice, very little instruction was actually taking place either within or outside of the context of student writing.
As a result, I was getting a large number of freshmen students who knew very little about the actual language of grammar and correctness. For instance, when I would first introduce a mini-lesson on avoiding run-ons, I would start out by asking students to define “run-on.” The vast majority of students would define it as a “really long sentence.” I would then correct this misconception and explain to them that a run-on didn’t necessarily have to be a “really long sentence.” In fact, I told them, you could have a run-on if you incorrectly joined two independent clauses. This led me to define and explain what an independent clause was, which led me to define and explain what a subject and verb was. Basically, I had to work backwards to fill in all of the missing background information that was essential if my students were going to understand WHY an error was an error.
And that was really the crux of the problem. The kids didn’t need to know how to label every single grammatical function within a sentence, but they did need enough knowledge so that they could explain the WHY behind any error that they might encounter.
Using Warm-ups to Supplement Writing Instruction
From this point on, I began experimenting with using “warm-ups” (also known as bell-ringers) as a way to teach students how to identify and edit common errors in their writing. The warm-ups were designed to focus on a particular concept and took about 10 to 15 minutes to complete. I would make sure that whatever area we were focusing on during warm-ups became the focus correction area for any and all writing assignments.
As I continued using these warm-ups, I noticed that students were getting better at editing for errors; however, they were not necessarily experimenting with new sentence structures. When it came to sentence variety, my students were struggling, and I wasn’t quite sure how to get them to transfer the knowledge they were gaining from editing practice to their actual writing.
Fortunately, at this time a colleague gave me a copy of Jeff Anderson’s book Mechanically Inclined. Anderson uses extensive modeling and visual aids to help students craft sentences. Most of the sentences he uses as models are either from works of literature or from student work.
I decided to incorporate Anderson’s approach to sentence crafting within my warm-ups [2], and my students responded positively. They enjoyed drafting sentences and didn’t even mind reading them aloud. More specifically, I found that students were actually transferring many of these sentence structures over to their writing. I noticed students were starting to use the semicolon correctly. I saw fewer comma errors, especially after introductory elements. In general, my students were pushing themselves to become more sophisticated writers.
Because I had put up posters with models of different sentence structures, I found it much easier to teach sentence variety. Often times, before students would begin writing, I would simply ask students to use and highlight a particular sentence structure. I felt like I had finally found a functional, logical way to teach students to use punctuation properly.
How to Use the Warm-ups
The warm-ups will not work if you use them like worksheets. You can’t just hand them out and let the kids go. I try to think of each warm-up as an interactive lesson with multiple checks for understanding. Here are the steps I follow when using a typical warm-up.
Step 1: When students enter the room, a copy of the warm-up is projected on the screen in the front of my classroom. Printed copies of the warm-up will be sitting in the front of the classroom, right next to the door. Students know to grab a sheet when they enter. (See Figure 1 for the sample warm-up on semicolons being used in this explanation; click on the Figure to see a larger version.)
Step 2: Most students will start filling in the background knowledge before or right after the bell rings. They know that I will give them approximately one minute to fill in this information. I always ask students to try to fill in the background knowledge from memory. If they can’t remember, they can look back in their writing guides. (My students receive an Academic Writing Handbook at the start of the year. It includes the explanatory pages that I’ve included in this e-book. See Figure 2 for a sample explanatory page.)
Step 3: After a minute I will start randomly calling on students to help me fill in the necessary background knowledge. I try to get through this process as quickly as possible. Sometimes I fill it in on my copy; sometimes we just go over it verbally.
Step 4: I read through the directions for the application exercise (1-3 in this case) and get kids started. As kids work, I quickly circulate around the room, focusing on students who I know are struggling. In most cases, I circulate for no more than about 1-2 minutes.
Step 5: After circulating, I read the following aloud: “Use a semicolon and a transition to join two independent clauses.” I then point to the different visual clues for the sentence structure. Finally, I read the model sentence and point out that the semicolon and the word “consequently” are used to connect two independent clauses. I then ask the students to construct their own sentences following that model.
Step 6: After a minute or two, I read the directions for exercise #5. I remind the students to be prepared to explain why the other four examples won’t work.
Step 7: As students finish, I say the following: “Turn to your elbow partner (or neighbor) and check numbers 4 and 5 together. Read your sentence construction aloud and have your partner initial next to the sentence if it makes sense and is punctuated properly. Then, discuss which answer is correct and explain why the other four are not correct.” While students check their answers, I circulate around the room, making sure they are on task and checking in with struggling students.
Step 8: After a minute or two, we are ready to correct the warm-up. Most of the time I will have students correct their own warm-ups. Sometimes I will have them exchange papers. I ALWAYS have the students put some type of grade on the warm-up, and I ALWAYS collect the final product. How you choose to grade these warm-ups is totally up to you. Because I call on students randomly as we correct the warm-up, I rarely have any issues with students not finishing. I also make sure that kids understand that this is a timed assignment and will often place a stopwatch on top of my copy under the document camera, so they can see how long they have to work.
Step 9: For the first three, I would simply call on a student randomly to tell me where he/she placed punctuation. If the student gets anything wrong, I will try to talk him/her through his/her mistake.
Step 10: For the sentence construction, I call on three different students to read their sentences. I always have the students read the punctuation aloud so everyone in the class can hear where they placed it. This may seem weird at first, but it is extremely effective. For instance, I’d read the model sentence like this: “The evidence was overwhelming … semicolon… consequently … comma … the jury returned a verdict of guilty.” If a kid forgets to read the punctuation aloud, I make him/her repeat the sentence. If any part of the sentence does not make sense, I quickly explain what is wrong. I do not want to get into a prolonged discussion at this point, but I do want the student to understand why the sentence does not work.
Step 11: Finally, for number five (see Figure 1), I would ask one student to identify the best response and to briefly explain why it was best. I would then go through the incorrect answers, asking random students to explain why each example was incorrect.
Reading through those directions, this sounds like it takes a very long time. In truth, the entire process takes around 10-12 minutes. If that is longer than you want to spend, cut the warm-ups down. Split them up. Do whatever you need to do. Just don’t cut back or eliminate the process of checking for understanding. Give the kids time to share their answers with a partner. Make sure that you talk over the WHY behind the answers.
My preference is to complete approximately three warm-ups a week (30-35 minutes of instructional time). Because my school is now on a semester schedule with 60 minute periods, I still have 45-50 minutes to initiate and complete a lesson on days when I use a warm-up. If I need the whole 60 minutes, I skip the warm-up on that particular day.
In my opinion, the warm-ups help my students build a base of knowledge that they can apply to the writing process. When we’re writing, I am free to circulate through the room, conferencing with students, making note of other errors that students are making (this is where I focus on surface errors involving capitalization, word errors, or spellings that are not heavily discussed during warm-ups). I can refer back to concepts that we’ve learned and discussed, and I can quickly and efficiently adapt to the needs of my students during the writing process.
Final Thoughts
Using warm-ups or any other type of worksheet will have zero effect on student achievement if it is not tied to extensive, repeated opportunities to write. I have always looked at these warm-ups as mini-lessons designed to improve the writing ability of my students, not as a replacement for authentic writing.
Some of the activities on these warm-ups resemble the activities on the ACT or SAT tests, but that is more a function of my wanting to give kids a few examples to build some degree of familiarity. If you look at the warm-ups as a whole, you’ll see that they are not designed for “test prep.” They are designed to help students gain a stronger command of the conventions of the language.
Feel free to adapt these warm-ups as you see fit. Look through the supplemental activities that I’ve included and see how they might fit within your classroom. I know that I am constantly tweaking every classroom process and activity to help my classroom function more efficiently and effectively. I have shared my warm-ups with many of my teacher friends, and I am always impressed with how they alter them to fit their instructional style.
I have ordered the warm-ups based on the sequence that makes most sense to me. However, if you prefer, you could certainly choose to pull mini-units to teach as you see fit.
I sincerely hope that this little handbook helps make your job a little bit easier. If I can be of further service, don’t hesitate to be in touch.
Footnotes:
1. John Wooden once said, “The importance of repetition until automaticity cannot be overstated. Repetition is the key to learning.” John Wooden produced many, many successful young people; we ought to consider his words before we make snap judgments about unfashionable words like “repetition.”
2. Anderson’s templates, sometimes with variation, are incorporated on nearly every warm-up (e.g., see Figure 1’s “Independent Clause; Transitional Words, independent clause” graphic). These are used with permission from the publisher. For a robust treatment of these sentence templates and Anderson’s approach to mechanics instruction, check out Mechanically Inclined: Building Grammar, Usage, and Style into Writer's Workshop.
Susan Smiley says
Would these warm-ups be appropriate for fifth grade students? Thanks!
Doug Stark says
I think you could adapt some of the warm-ups to fifth grade, especially the units on basic sentence structure and punctuation rules. I would highly recommend that elementary teachers / middle school teachers purchase Jeff Anderson’s book. I love his approach, but Jeff’s work is intended to be used within the context of a writer’s workshop (geared to grades 5-8), so it doesn’t translate directly to most high school classrooms.
Cheryl Green says
I purchased MITS level B and have the screenshot of the license number but do not have a clue where to access what I purchased. I am very disappointed as there is nowhere to turn to find information. I’ve tried to contact Dave Stuart as well. I hope my school does not loose its money.
Dave Stuart says
Cheryl, I am so sorry to hear this. The product was delivered to you immediately upon purchase, via the receipt email. Please contact support@davestuartjr.com for quick support!
Anna says
Hi,
Thank you for sharing your work. I just wanted to let you know that I noticed a mistake on the first page of the word document. You have written “should have went” instead of “should have gone”.
Dave Stuart Jr. (@davestuartjr) says
Thank you, Anna! Problem fixed; the files within Gumroad are now updated.
John Kehoe says
I don’t have an e-reader. Can I just download these to a computer?
davestuartjr says
Yes, John! That is what I do; I prefer the bigger screen.
Twins Happen says
Thanks for another great resource! I truly appreciate the content and ideas that you’re putting out for us at an affordable price!
davestuartjr says
Thank you so much, TH. It’s important to me that these resources are affordable for an actual teacher.
Paula Shuck says
Quick question: I use the “a” parts (ex., 1.1.a) for warm-ups. . . what are the “b” parts (ex., 1.1.b) used for?
davestuartjr says
Hi Paula! Doug created those as extension activities so that teachers can extend or “mix it up” as needed.
Pam DeLucia says
I just purchased and noticed on exercise 1.1 questions 5 A and C have weather spelled incorrectly.
davestuartjr says
Hi Pam! Doug sometimes includes random words errors in the sentence revision sections to touch on some word errors that hang some students up. With those sections of the warm-ups, you want the kids to be able to speak to word errors, if applicable, when they are discussing why a given sentence is one of the wrong answers.
We appreciate you bringing this up, as I’m sure others will have similar questions!
shannon says
Hello,
I was trying to purchase today, but the link is not working. Can you send the link or is it being repaired? These look amazing!!
Holly says
Hi, Dave. Can you explain the Academic Writing Handbook? Is this entire 17 Unit series of pages the handbook? Or is it something different? I’d like to use try this program with my students, but I’m a little lost on how to begin!
Hillary K says
Hi Holly, I just wondered that same thing! I may be wrong, but my interpretation was that the Unit introduction pages (ex. the page that says Clauses and Phrases – Unit 2) for each unit make up that handbook, so it would be 17 pages total to give the kids.
My question to add to yours is whether it is best to go through those beforehand and, if so, how to do that. There are short fill in the blank pieces for each of those pages and I’m wondering how Doug goes through those. I’d love to print those pages for my kids.
Judy says
I’m really interested in this resource, but I teach 10th and 11th graders. Before I make the purchase I wonder what your thoughts are on using the warm-ups with these students. Thanks!
Sang says
Do these warm-ups come with answer sheet?
davestuartjr says
They do!
Maryann says
Where are the answer sheets?
davestuartjr says
At the end of the .pdf file — scroll all the way down!
Sheila Pollock says
I was so encouraged by the information. I instituted Instructional Notebooks (INB) and “Bell work” three years ago and love how it all works together. Last year our school did a training with Dr. John Collins and my teaching of ELA has more purpose. I am glad to know I am on the right track and other professionals are seeing success with this format.
Ron says
Are these appropriate for tenth graders without needing to be adapted further? Thanks!
davestuartjr says
Yes, Ron — Doug and I think these are ideal, as is, for grades 9-10.
Maryann says
Hi Doug,
I bought your program and I am in Unit 2. I already feel insecure about not having an answer key to back up my work with my students. Although some teachers may not feel the need for this support, I want to make sure I am correct in my grammar work. Will you create an answer key for this program soon? I would really appreciate it. I have a brilliant group of honors 9th grade students who ask a lot of great questions but some I can’t quite answer.
Thank you,
Maryann
davestuartjr says
The answer key is included, Maryann! Check out the end of the PDF file 🙂
Maryann says
I just noticed that I have to download using Adobe in order to get the full program with the key! Thanks Dave!
davestuartjr says
I’m so glad, Maryann — thank you for the update!
Angie says
Does the book have any assessments, or simply the practice?
davestuartjr says
Angie, no assessments at this time — that’s a possibility for the second edition. Thank you for the question as it helps us know how to shape future iterations of the book!
Terrie Boston says
Do you have plans or have you updated since my original purchase a unit on the use of ellipse. 8th grade teachers would be grateful!!!
davestuartjr says
Hi Terrie! Right now, no plans for the ellipse. I will let Doug know that’s of interest to folks; he’s at work on another edition!
Anna says
I have purchased this resource for use in 7th grade, and my colleague is interested in using it as well in 8th grade. Do you have a suggestion for this, or have you developed a resource to use before or after this program?
davestuartjr says
Hi Anna! First of all, Doug and I are excited that you have this question because Doug has started work on another set of warm-ups.
For the time being, you might have your colleague modify some of the sentence corrections portions of the warm-ups — that could serve as good review for your students. However, next year, we should have more than just one warm-ups book.
Thank you for asking, Anna!
Anna says
I’m so glad to hear this! Thanks!
Amy Siegert says
Hi Dave, and Doug- I purchased the book and hope I can make it work for my 6th graders! What do you think?
davestuartjr says
Amy, I think it’s doable. Stay tuned for some updates Doug is working on for the beginning of August — they should help make this even more possible!
Amy says
Sounds good – thanks, Dave! and Doug!
Sarah J. Miller says
This is a great resource. I used it last year (2015-2016) with both freshmen and seniors. I just need to get it more into the routine, but the students said that they learned more with me (in regards to grammar) then any other class. [sad for the seniors!] If you haven’t read Jeff Anderson’s book, you really should. It does help to understand these even more. I was trying to create something similar after my first reading of Mechanically Inclined. Fortunately, I stumbled upon these. I really appreciate your work and will definitely look for future products!
Peg says
Thank you Doug and Dave for sharing! Your approach makes so much sense! Has there been any conversation about creating classroom summative assessments for students to demonstrate proficiency?
davestuartjr says
Stay tuned, Peg! Doug MAY be working on something like that for NEXT school year.
Peg says
Ok, thanks! Wouldn’t it be cool if the classroom-level summative assessments could be SAT-like? Then I think more students would get the connections between the warm-ups, their writing, and standardized testing. Thank you again for giving teachers a great tool!
Cyndy says
I just started using the program and I’m wondering if there is a way to use less paper. I like it, but it seems like a lot of copying. Any ideas?
Thanks!
davestuartjr says
Hi Cyndy,
Doug and I have heard of teachers using the warm-ups digitally, and once in awhile we experiment with putting one warm-up on the projector and having kids do the work on their own sheet of paper. We find that that works well for some of the exercises (e.g., sentence creation) but less well for others (e.g., sentence corrections).
Amy says
Hi I selected “click here” to purchase grade 7-9 ebook for $10.00. The pull down menu it says “book level loading” and won’t let me purchase. Not sure what I’m doing wrong. Help? Thanks!
davestuartjr says
Hmm, Amy — try accessing it on another device, maybe. That problem is a new one for us!
Jane Klembarsky says
Hi! When you encourage “adapting” to your needs, do you mean the pages are editable? Thank you!
Jane Klembarsky says
Oh – I found a Q&A that answered my question! The only edit I want to make is the font for a 504 – not any of the content. However, I went to buy and clicked on, “To buy Doug’s year’s worth of warm-ups for $10, click here” on this page, but when I clicked, the price was $15 instead of $10. Will you honor the $10 price?
davestuartjr says
Hi Jane,
The price went up because the “Level B” version of the book got an overhaul this summer, including over 50 new pages of material. The added $5 comes to about ten cents per new page — quite a bargain! With that said, if the $5 is too much to ask, I will gladly send you a coupon for the $5 off. Also, I do appreciate you letting me know about the typo on this page! It’s just me doing this blogging thing (and just Doug doing the writing of the MITS books), so every little bit of help is huge 🙂
Yours,
Dave
Jane Klembarsky says
Thank you for answering my question so quickly, and on a Sunday! $5 for 50 pages is, indeed, quite a bargin. I was looking at Level A as I teach 7th grade. Is that one still $10 then? Because it looks like it’s $15 when I click through. I would love a coupon if the price is $15. Thanks for your generosity!
Jane
US says
Is the book an electronic PDF file that will be emailed to me upon purchase?
Dave Stuart Jr. (@davestuartjr) says
It comes in both PDF and .doc formats. When you purchase, you are given a link to a page where you’ll be able to download and view the files indefinitely. I hope that helps, US!
US says
Yes it does. Thank you!
Meliss Vassallo says
I am teaching 8th grade General ELA. Should I choose the one geared for 6-8?
davestuartjr says
Either the 6-8 or the 8-10, Meliss, depending on where your students are at. This link will show you what each of the Levels teaches — I would make my decisions based on that: http://davestuartjr.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/2016-Map-Grammar-Books.pdf
Natalie Tannehill says
I have loved using MITS with my 9th graders, and now my whole department will be using them next year! My question is in regards to technology: Any chance the handbook will be published in Google Docs format?
davestuartjr says
Hi Natalie! That would be amazing, but right now, no plans for it. The difficulty is that Doug has so much intense formatting going on in Microsoft Word for these warm-ups pages that it really doesn’t transfer into Google Docs. I don’t know anyone who formats things as intensely in Word as Doug. The good side of that is that the warm-ups do a lot on a single page; the bad side is that, when you want to edit them or make them techno-friendly, they are really finnicky.
If you can think of any solutions, let me know!
Kristen Goddard says
Any new updates regarding this question about adding to Google classroom?
Robin Moore says
Hi Dave! Our standards for verbs extend to mood. Would there be any plans to supplement these to further align with CCSS? Thanks!
Jerolyn Robbins says
I purchased the Level B book a while back, but quiz material was not included. How do I get just the quiz info at this point? I love this material and use it with both 9th and 10th grade classes.
davestuartjr says
Here you are, Jerolyn! https://gumroad.com/l/mits3quiz
Cristie Hooker says
Where can I purchase these? The Gumroad site says they are no longer available.
davestuartjr says
Here you go, Cristie! http://www.davestuartjr.com/mechanics
Susan says
Can you recommend anything similary for grades 3-5?
Amy Yost says
I purchased this program when it VERY first came out. It’s great but can I get the remastered version with quizzes?
davestuartjr says
You’ve got it, Amy! The full version with quizzes is here (you’ll want Level B): https://gumroad.com/l/MITS3
… and just the quizzes here: https://gumroad.com/l/mits3quiz
Devon says
I purchased all three books for this program,but I cannot access it via my email. Is there another way I can access the PDFs? I would like to begin using this with my 8th graders on Monday.
Lynsay Mills Fabio says
Hi Devon! I’m so glad you reached out to us here and at support@davestuartjr.com. I hope my reply was helpful. If you’re still having access issues, just email us and I’ll get right on it. We want you to have what you need!
Cassandra Kreek says
Thank you, Dave and Doug, for this post! I’m in a teacher education program at the moment, and although we’ve had repeated discussions on the ethical implications of teaching grammar/usage, we’ve had almost no instruction on how to teach it effectively. I had read that research suggests that grammar instruction needs to be tied directly to student writing, but I had never been sure exactly what this would look like in the classroom. Thank you for your detailed description of how you make this happen with your students. I love the way your warm-ups enable students to develop their understanding of mechanics while experimenting with new, more sophisticated sentence structures. This shifts the emphasis from correcting mistakes to acquiring new tools. I’m looking forward to trying out these warm-ups when I have my own classroom!
Harth Huffman says
Doug and Dave, this is another note of gratitude. Last year, when I asked my high school colleagues if they taught grammar and what strategies they used, I did not get much of a response. One person did say he had bought something online and he would share it with me, which he did. This year, I made the class time to put it to use and have seen strong results. The concepts are easy to follow and it is all very well presented. I especially love the ability to edit my own version, which I use to personalize it for my students. In short, it is a top-notch resource and I plan to keep using it. I just ordered my own copy so that you would receive payment since I got the first one without paying. Thank you for the time and effort it took to create this and make it available. Cheers, Harth Portland, OR
Dave Stuart Jr. says
Harth, we appreciate it very much — thank you!
Stacy says
Hi,
I am wondering if you see a way to incorporate these into virtual learning? A lot would be lost, don’t you think? What isn’t lost in virtual learning?!
Thanks for any input.
Dave Stuart Jr. says
Hi Stacy! Doug has just completed an article on this question — here it is: https://davestuartjr.com/how-to-use-mechanics-instruction-that-sticks-when-teaching-remotely-thoughts-from-the-author-doug-stark/
Karen Pasternak says
A colleague left the MITS packets for me when she retired but I don’t have the assessments. Is there a way to purchase just the assessments?
Dave Stuart Jr. says
There sure is, Karen — just head here! https://davestuartjr.gumroad.com/l/mits3quiz
Clare says
Are there samples of several pages anywhere for level A?
Dave Stuart Jr. says
Hi Clare! Email me at support@davestuartjr.com and I can help you out with this!
JA says
I really like the idea of teaching grammar through warm-ups rather than making it some big lesson to learn. Grammar is an extremely useful tool for students, but it’s just a tool, not the center of what we should be teaching as English teachers. As a warm-up lesson it brings the students into focusing on class but also makes it a peripheral piece of information. They can focus on the lesson later on and bring in things from earlier in class to their work later on. I definitely plan on using this method in the future.
Hong says
I would like to order all the four levels of MITS for my classes, but I would like to have a bit more information. Could someone share how many pages there are in each level of the MITS? Thank you.
Dave Stuart Jr. says
Hi Hong! Email me at support@davestuartjr.com and I can give you some samples@!
Courtnie Tate says
Hello,
I was wanting to purchase the “Mechanics Instruction that Sticks” series with my teacher supply money. However, I do not see am address that I could place on my purchase order. Is there a certain place that I need to look? Thank you.
Dave Stuart Jr. says
Hi Courtnie — email me at support@davestuartjr.com and I can get you that info!
Rachel says
Hi there! I teach 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Any suggestions about how to implement this across all grade levels? I notice that Level A says grades 6-8 and I cannot repeat the same program each year. Thank you!
Dave Stuart Jr. says
Rachel, in this case I would use A for 6th, B for 7th, and C for 8th,
Anna says
I’m unable to purchase Mechanics Instruction that Sticks, level D. I have attempted for a couple of weeks, but I get a message saying there’s a temporary problem.
Dave Stuart Jr. says
Hi Anna — give it a try now! It’s all set, I believe.
Kelly Hakow says
Hello, I’ve tried multiple times to purchase Mechanics Instruction That Works for Grades 8-9. I keep getting a message saying there was a problem and that I should try another Internet connection or browser? I’ve tried different devices and browsers to no avail. Help! I could really use this resource.
Dave Stuart Jr. says
Hi Kelly — give it a try now! There was a problem with my online payment processor but it appears to be fixed now!
Kim Hayse says
My school is purchasing these materials for me. However, they need to pay with a PO. Can we work something out for that?
Carol says
I had a question about the phrases and clauses unit in Level A. It seems like you are calling relative clauses, phrases, and it is quite confusing. Please tell me if I am wrong in this. For example: 2.2 Sentence Creations MODEL SENTENCE 2 says, “Steve wandered around the park looking for his brother, a task that was both frustrating and frightening. You labeled the last part after the comma, a phrase, but isn’t it a relative clause? Thank you for your help!
stephanie buckman says
I teach 4th grade. Is there something like this for younger students? I used level A with my 6th grade this year and loved it!
Stacy says
As I get ready for the year, I have found that I am missing a few components of previously purchased sets (A & B). It’s been a few years, so they do not show up in the Gumroad library. Unfortunately, I cannot find my key either. Is it possible to somehow get access to them? (I actually commented here way back if you look above).
They are great; I just went back and got C!
Lisa Trimble says
Hello! I purchased sets A and B several years ago while teaching at another school district. I noticed there has been an update to your programs, and looking through your notes it was mentioned that you sent an email about the updates to customers who purchased the programs prior to 2018. I think I may have missed the email in my move from my old school to my new one. Is there any way to access the updated versions on sets A and B?
Thank you for your time,
Lisa Trimble