Amy Benjamin – författare

Teacher, researcher, and consultant Amy Benjamin challenges the idea of “skill and drill” grammar in the second edition of this lively, engaging, and immensely practical guide. 

Does grammar instruction have to elicit moans and groans from students and teachers alike? Only when it’s taught the old-fashioned way: as a series of rules to follow and errors to “fix” that have little or no connection to practical application or real-world writing.

Benjamin’s enlightened view of grammar is grounded in linguistics and teaches us how to make informed decisions about teaching grammar—how to move beyond fixing surface errors to teaching how grammar can be used as the building blocks of sentences to create meaning. By using sentence patterns, mapping, visuals, and manipulatives, Benjamin presents an approach to grammar instruction that is suitable for a variety of student populations.

Although she doesn’t advocate for teaching to the test, Benjamin acknowledges the pressures students face when taking high-stakes tests such as the SAT and ACT. Included is a chapter on how to improve students’ editing skills to help prepare them for the short-answer portion of these tests.

Learn how to make vocabulary instruction more effective by making better use of mini-lessons and word study time to achieve durable learning about words and how they work. In this essential new book, literacy expert Amy Benjamin presents her 4E model (Exposure, Exploration, Engagement, Energy) for teaching vocabulary so that students gain deep understanding, improving their overall language and literacy skills. Benjamin guides you through bringing these 4Es to life in your K-8 reading-writing workshop.

-Exposure: Enrich your teacher talk with sophisticated words and phrases to facilitate natural language acquisition and application of new words.

-Exploration: Promote consistent vocabulary growth with a multifaceted instructional approach that incorporates etymology, word associations, word families, spelling, and morphology.

-Engagement: Build students’ confidence by encouraging meaningful use of new words, both in and out of the classroom.

-Energy: Enliven your workshop and increase participation with a variety of word games, puzzles, projects, and cooperative learning activities.

Each chapter provides practical examples and scenarios to help you apply the model to your own classroom. The appendices include a variety of strategies for organizing reading-writing workshops, a thorough introduction to academic word lists and their role in vocabulary instruction, and an analysis of forty Latin and Greek word roots for mini-lessons.

Learn how to make vocabulary instruction more effective by making better use of mini-lessons and word study time to achieve durable learning about words and how they work. In this essential new book, literacy expert Amy Benjamin presents her 4E model (Exposure, Exploration, Engagement, Energy) for teaching vocabulary so that students gain deep understanding, improving their overall language and literacy skills. Benjamin guides you through bringing these 4Es to life in your K-8 reading-writing workshop.

-Exposure: Enrich your teacher talk with sophisticated words and phrases to facilitate natural language acquisition and application of new words.

-Exploration: Promote consistent vocabulary growth with a multifaceted instructional approach that incorporates etymology, word associations, word families, spelling, and morphology.

-Engagement: Build students’ confidence by encouraging meaningful use of new words, both in and out of the classroom.

-Energy: Enliven your workshop and increase participation with a variety of word games, puzzles, projects, and cooperative learning activities.

Each chapter provides practical examples and scenarios to help you apply the model to your own classroom. The appendices include a variety of strategies for organizing reading-writing workshops, a thorough introduction to academic word lists and their role in vocabulary instruction, and an analysis of forty Latin and Greek word roots for mini-lessons.

Help your students improve their language skills and become stronger readers and writers. In this timely book, literacy experts Amy Benjamin and Barbara Golub offer best practices for fortifying the writer’s workshop model with meaningful, relevant instruction in grammar.

The book answers questions such as…

In each chapter, you’ll find out exactly what teaching the targeted concept looks like in a workshop classroom. Examples are provided for different grade levels and can be adapted as necessary to meet your needs.

This book is a No-Worksheet Zone. You’ll learnhow to present grammar using authentic text and talk, leading to more durable learning.

Help your students improve their language skills and become stronger readers and writers. In this timely book, literacy experts Amy Benjamin and Barbara Golub offer best practices for fortifying the writer’s workshop model with meaningful, relevant instruction in grammar.

The book answers questions such as…

In each chapter, you’ll find out exactly what teaching the targeted concept looks like in a workshop classroom. Examples are provided for different grade levels and can be adapted as necessary to meet your needs.

This book is a No-Worksheet Zone. You’ll learnhow to present grammar using authentic text and talk, leading to more durable learning.

As schools shift to the Common Core, many English language arts teachers are left with questions about how their classrooms should look. Is fiction out? Can I still do strategy instruction? Does close reading mean deliberating on each word? Finally, there’s a resource with all of these answers and more. In Focus on Text, bestselling author Amy Benjamin provides practical guidance on how to realistically implement the Common Core reading standards. Part I of the book examines misconceptions about the standards and what’s really required. It also takes you inside classrooms to see how teachers are modifying their instruction. Part II tackles each reading standard for grades 4-8. You’ll learn how to teach the standards with literary and informational texts and how to use them as a springboard for instruction in writing, language, speaking, and listening.

Topics include…• Defining close reading and how is it different from word-by-word reading. When and how do students need to go over a text meticulously?• How to use scaffolding through background knowledge to help students with challenging texts• The best instructional practices to help students increase their range of reading and level of text complexity• Ideas for teaching key concepts such as text structure, point of view, theme, stated and implied meanings, and the progression of ideas and characters• Tweaking your assessments to better align with the Common Core--how to create reading check quizzes, unit tests, and cold reading tests to see if students are growing as readers. • And much, much more!

Throughout the book, you’ll find teaching tips and practical resources to use with students, such as question starters and sentence stems. You’ll also get a wide variety of classroom examples at different grade levels and with different texts. Whether you’re experienced with the Common Core or just getting started, this book will give you exciting new ideas for making them work in your own classroom so your students grow as readers!

As schools shift to the Common Core, many English language arts teachers are left with questions about how their classrooms should look. Is fiction out? Can I still do strategy instruction? Does close reading mean deliberating on each word? Finally, there’s a resource with all of these answers and more. In Focus on Text, bestselling author Amy Benjamin provides practical guidance on how to realistically implement the Common Core reading standards. Part I of the book examines misconceptions about the standards and what’s really required. It also takes you inside classrooms to see how teachers are modifying their instruction. Part II tackles each reading standard for grades 4-8. You’ll learn how to teach the standards with literary and informational texts and how to use them as a springboard for instruction in writing, language, speaking, and listening.

Topics include…• Defining close reading and how is it different from word-by-word reading. When and how do students need to go over a text meticulously?• How to use scaffolding through background knowledge to help students with challenging texts• The best instructional practices to help students increase their range of reading and level of text complexity• Ideas for teaching key concepts such as text structure, point of view, theme, stated and implied meanings, and the progression of ideas and characters• Tweaking your assessments to better align with the Common Core--how to create reading check quizzes, unit tests, and cold reading tests to see if students are growing as readers. • And much, much more!

Throughout the book, you’ll find teaching tips and practical resources to use with students, such as question starters and sentence stems. You’ll also get a wide variety of classroom examples at different grade levels and with different texts. Whether you’re experienced with the Common Core or just getting started, this book will give you exciting new ideas for making them work in your own classroom so your students grow as readers!