Episode # 409: Patty McGee
https://outofthetrenches.podbean.com/e/episode-409-patty-mcgee/
Patty McGee is a nationally recognized literacy consultant, speaker, and educator with a passion for transforming classrooms into spaces where language and learning come alive. With decades of experience as a teacher, coach, and advocate for delightful literacy practices, Patty has worked alongside educators across the country, partnering to unlock the full potential of their students through innovative and practical teaching strategies. Not Your Granny’s Grammar is her third book.
Most teachers learned grammar through worksheets and are teaching it the same way—but it doesn’t work. It doesn’t transfer to real writing, frustrates students, and turns teachers into “grammar police.”
I’ve spent two decades helping schools shift to Grammar Study, a collaborative, inquiry-based approach that actually sticks. I’m the author of Not Your Granny’s Grammar and a 2002 Milken Award recipient.
Trenches story: will focus on grammar. In her early years back in 90’s. Instructional practices were improving, then got to obligatory grammar lesson. It was challenging for her. She didn’t know any other way to teach grammar than how she was taught. It has taken her a few decades to crawl out of that trench. She’s worked 3 decades to find out what’s missing in grammar instruction.
Why traditional grammar fails and what works instead. Why are students not taught grammar anymore? When you learn a 2nd language, you learn 1st language’s grammar. Teachers avoid grammar instruction because they don’t know it, etc. WS/memorization approach doesn’t work for kids. Can talk about how vulnerable about how kids are when they write in school. As t’s, we give the most fdb on how kids write. A small % of teachers have learned grammar in the traditional fashion. A lot of us are ashamed we don’t know it as well as colleagues. Therefore we avoid it altogether. Science of Reading gave phonics the front row seat. One of the threads in Scarborough’s rope is syntax. The most effective approach is sentence structure & combining.
She often looks at things that are outside the classroom. Experimenting, getting curious. They gave her feedback, she played around w/ ideas. Inquiry approach- start by getting curious.
How to move from correctness policing to mentor teaching: correction isn’t always teaching. does the student understand the reason? AI to correct assignments- there are helpful uses for AI. She uses it for ideas on how to create something she’s started w/. Grammar’s like a painter using a paintbrush.
How can teachers teach grammar when it’s not explicitly taught? ELA teacher can build grammar know-how over time. At the end of learning, we co-create tools for transfer. The document can be shared w/ content-area colleague. No Red Ink f.ex.- kids get frustrated b/c there’s a speed factor. It can instill shame when not knowing it correctly. A tiny dose is better than too much. Learning together w/ a group while interacting is better.
Practical Monday-morning strategies: Short nuggets of teaching. Sometimes instructional moves, sometimes resources, connect back to grammar concepts we’ve been studying. Her approach to grammar is to give kids grammar experiences 10 m. 3-4 x’s week. Content & grammar manipulatives: Master Any Content Through The Power of Grammar (1).pdf We could pick out one of the 3 activities. “Fragments no more”: we’ve already labelled the fragment. They can turn the fragment into a sentence by adding words in L or R column. You can use any content you want. Each has a different content focus.
Talk about your book Not Your Granny’s Grammar (6/25): not a read cover-to-cover it’s an intro on how to revise grammar instruction. Different chapt. of mix, match. Co-author has a grammar refresher- all the things we may not know about and are afraid to ask. He explains grammar in a way that’s accessible. She was part of a district where many t’s chose to read it this year. Look at how grammar was taught & compare to today’s teaching in ch. 1. They jumped to ch. 8. Ch. 2- setting up. Ch. 3- following it day by day. It’s been adjusted w/ t’s feedback. The remaining ch. are “choose your own adventure”. Also a chapter on transfer. Ch. on assessment- we find out how much kids are retaining & relearning. She has a matrix.
Speaking engagements: will be at LitCon early Feb (virtual), Plain Talk conference (NOLA in March), CTE, Keynote St. Mary’s College Virtual conference.
Out of everything: it’s not necessary to feel shame around not knowing grammar.
Where can ppl find you? Connect with Patty at www.pattymcgee.org LinkedIn & IG: @pmgmcgee
View this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ddh6FtTTcR8