The Red Couch Reading Room

Do you need an easy tool for review of basic grammar and punctuation with your high school students? Do you want a method to teach basic writing skills before you hold students accountable in their work? Do your students have gaps in their grammar knowledge, or perhaps lack mature writing fundamental skills? This packet of lessons and worksheets will provide a comprehensive, accessible, quick and easy process for reviewing and teaching these foundational rules and techniques!

Gleaned from decades of teaching teens, I have identified the five most common “writing traps” that chain students to immature writing styles.  These "writing traps" prevent students from scoring higher on essay and college assessment tests such as the SAT and ACT essay sections.  The lessons here will help guide students to vary sentence structure to create a more mature writing style, to scan for high-imagery vocabulary, to add detail to sentences by using dependent clauses, and more.

In addition, I have narrowed down the twenty common grammar rules that students struggle to master. Having an entire packet of writing and grammar tips handy will give the students a place to go if they forget a rule, or just need a little help making a paragraph sing.

Twenty-seven worksheets with ready-to-go white board lessons, group or class exercises, pre and post-assessments, and an answer key are included. By working through the exercises as a class, weaker students will have solid writing skills modeled for them and stronger students have the opportunity to practice and hone these key writing skills.

I estimate the lessons at 10-20 minutes each (the complexity varies) and there are 27 lessons/worksheets total. The more complex lessons could be divided into two days. I suggest trying to complete the 27 lessons in the first quarter of the year, so that the student can be held to the standard of what he or she has learned throughout the rest of the year's writing assignments!