John T. Crow

Unleashing Your Language Wizards: A Brain-Based Approach to Writing and Editing, First Edition

Unleashing Your Language Wizards breaks new ground by presenting a research-based, active-learning approach to teaching lasting sentence management skills that taps into students' natural learning abilities. To guide teachers in grades 3-12 to effective teach editing and writing, this book introduces the basic principles, specific examples, and sample activities--all of which teach the most important language concepts from a variety of different angles and approaches--to help students conquer their written language issues. It focuses on three areas of knowledge-referred to as Wizards-that all students must possess to communicate effectively: Grammar Wizards, Sentence Wizards, and Rhetorical Wizards.

[The book] positively shines, as it helps to frame issues that are so important to address in the grammar/writing classroom but that are difficult to explain without clear pathways laid out...the more ways to get students physically engaged and mentally engaged in grammar learning, the better-the activities here seem designed well to engage students and provide them with good practice in the concepts...the author lays [everything] out in a methodical way that gets to the heart of [learning grammar]. - Jennifer Powers, Green Mountain College

The content and process to teaching grammar explicitly from a brain-based approach is without exception, timely, in light of the recent recognition of the type of students who make up the achievement gap in the Untied States...This is excellent information to consider pedagogically. [The book] will generate much discussion on how teachers can make...[grammar] strategies more interesting and engaging...for English learners. - Catherine Elise Barrett, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

John T. Crow is a professional development consultant focused on applied linguistics and ESL. His thirty years classroom experience give him a unique perspective on teaching language and composition that he shares with educators across the country.