Books and videos by Jeff Anderson

Editing Invitations (DVD)

Editing Invitations takes you into Jeff Anderson's sixth-grade classroom in San Antonio, Texas as Jeff demonstrates how he naturally links grammar instruction to writer's craft through his "Invitations to Notice." The Invitations are a warm-up activity used at the beginning of writer's workshops to help students learn to pay close attention to mechanics, style, and craft. They can be used as an alternative to Daily Oral Language for those teachers who are looking for stronger connections between writer's craft and grammar instruction. >Watch Clips

Teaching Apostrophes (DVD)

This 15-minute video shows how Jeff Anderson uses playful strategies and mentor text to engage writers in grammar and editing. In the "Apostrophe-thon," Jeff's sixth-grade students in San Antonio, Texas search through a mentor text excerpt to find examples of apostrophes and then categorize them as possessives or contractions based on a wall chart the class has compiled. Using real text, the students never fail to come up with some interesting examples such as "O'clock" and the two meanings of "they'd." >Watch Clips

Everyday Editing
Inviting Students to Develop Skill and Craft in Writer's Workshop

Editing is often seen as one item on a list of steps in the writing process—usually put somewhere near the end, and often completely crowded out of writer's workshop. Too many times daily editing lessons happen in a vacuum, with no relationship to what students are writing. In Everyday Editing, Jeff Anderson asks teachers to reflect on what sort of message this approach sends to students. >More

The Craft of Grammar
Integrated Instruction in Writer's Workshop
Teachers are urged to integrate grammar instruction with lessons on writer's craft, but what does that look like in real classrooms with real kids? In The Craft of Grammar, Jeff Anderson shows how he brings grammar and craft together meaningfully for student writers. >More

Mechanically Inclined
Building Grammar, Usage, and Style into Writer's Workshop
Middle-school teacher, Jeff Anderson has discovered that nearly all teachers struggle to find ways of making the mechanics of English meaningful to kids and that many students are not grasping the basics that allow them to reach their potential as writers. Mechanically Inclined is the culmination of years of experimentation that merges the best of writer's workshop elements with relevant theory about how and why skills should be taught. It shifts the negative, rule-plagued emphasis of much grammar instruction into one which celebrates the power and beauty these tools have in shaping all forms of writing. >More