Had a wonderful conversation with Simon Lewis on his podcast "If I Were the Minister of Education." For those of us from the US that would be "If I Were the US Secretary of Education." This felt extra special talking to someone in Ireland, where my son lives!
I have to remind myself of these things. Every single day. 💛
That every teacher who handed out grammar worksheets was doing exactly what they were taught. It was never their fault.
That unlearning is hard. And it takes grace — for our students and for ourselves.
That when reaching for the worksheet feels easier — there IS a better way.
And that grammar instruction is supposed to feel like coaching. Not policing. Not punishing.
Coaching. ✨
That's the shift. That's Not Your Granny's Grammar. That's why I show up here every single day.
You deserve better tools. Your students deserve better instruction. And it is never too late to find both. 📖💛
👇 What do YOU have to remind yourself of as a literacy educator? Drop it below — this thread is going to be everything. 💛
#notyourgrannysgrammar #grammarinstruction #grammarteacher #writingteacher #elatteacher #teachersofinstagram #teachertok #instagramreels #literacycoach #scienceofreading #writinginstruction #grammarstudy #teacherpd #edutainment #selfreflection
What if grammar instruction was something we could actually enjoy? 😮
I know how that sounds. But stay with me.
When grammar lives inside real books and real writing — not worksheets, not drills, not fill-in-the-blank exercises — something shifts. Students lean in. Teachers breathe. The whole classroom feels completely different.
That's what Grammar Study does.
It moves us from grammar police to writing coach. From dread to discovery. From circling nouns to noticing how authors actually use language intentionally — and then trying those same moves in our own writing. ✨
Grammar instruction CAN be joyful. For teachers AND for students. At every grade level. For every learner.
Not Your Granny's Grammar was written to prove it. And thirty years of classrooms tell me it's true. 📖
🔗 Link in bio to grab your copy and learn about the online course!
👇 What would it mean for YOUR classroom if grammar felt joyful instead of painful? Tell me in the comments.
#notyourgrannysgrammar #grammarinstruction #grammarteacher #writingteacher #elatteacher #teachersofinstagram #teachertok #instagramreels #literacycoach #scienceofreading #writinginstruction #grammarstudy #teacherpd #edutainment #bookrecommendation
Grammar instruction is also reading instruction. There. I said it.
When students understand how sentences are built, they don't just write better. They read better. They access meaning that would otherwise stay locked inside a complicated sentence.
One of my favorite ways to build that understanding? Sentences from a Sentence. Cut apart a rich, complex sentence — every word, every punctuation mark, separate. Partners build as many new sentences as they can. Pieces never run out. Then they visit another pair just to admire the work.
Grammar. Reading. Scissors. That's it.
Full how-to in my TikTok. Link in bio for the book.
#grammarinstruction #literacyteacher #readinginstruction #middleschoolela #elatiktok #notyourgrannysgrammar #sentencework
What Grammar Learning Actually Looks Like. 👀 Swipe through — and save this one for your team. 🔖
Most grammar instruction we inherited looks like worksheets, drills, and Daily Oral Language. And research tells us consistently that it doesn't transfer to student writing.
Grammar Study is different. It's a three-phase inquiry-based framework that keeps grammar connected to real reading and real writing at every step:
🌊 Phase 1 — Immersion: Students read like writers. They notice how authors use language intentionally and ask why. Grammar becomes something to notice.
🔍 Phase 2 — Focus Areas: Students study a specific grammar concept in the context of real texts. Not on a worksheet. Grammar becomes something to understand.
✍️ Phase 3 — Transfer: Students use what they've learned in their own writing. They experiment, try the move, and make it theirs. Grammar becomes something to own.
When grammar lives inside reading and writing it transfers, it sticks, and it builds confidence for ALL learners — including multilingual students and students with IEPs.
That's Grammar Study. That's Not Your Granny's Grammar. 📖✨
🔗 Link in bio to grab your copy
👇 Which phase is missing most from grammar instruction in your school? Tell me in the comments.
#notyourgrannysgrammar #grammarstudy #grammarinstruction #writingteacher #elatteacher #teachersofinstagram #teachertok #literacycoach #scienceofreading #writinginstruction #inquirybasedlearning #multilinguallearners #bookrecommendation #teacherpd #edutainment
Episode 78:Homeschool Grammar Made Simple: Patty McGee on Fun Literacy Activities, Writing Skills, and Teaching Grammar Without Worksheets
Comment Podcast and I'll send you the link!
The myth that started it all. The reason I wrote a book. 📖
"Grammar has to be taught in isolation to be learned."
Worksheets.
Drills.
Daily Oral Language.
Fill in the blank.
Circle the noun.
It's in every curriculum. Every pacing guide. Every morning routine in almost every classroom in America. We inherited it. We trusted it. We taught it faithfully for years.
And study after study — and every writing teacher's lived experience — tells us the same thing:
It. Does. Not. Transfer.
Students can ace every single worksheet and still write exactly the same way they always have. Because isolated grammar instruction doesn't connect to real writing. It never did. It just felt productive. It looked like teaching. But the results weren't there. 😤
Here's what actually works: grammar learned IN the context of real reading and writing. When students notice how authors use language intentionally. When they try those same moves in their own writing. When grammar becomes a tool in their hands instead of a test on their desk.
That's Grammar Study.
That's inquiry-based instruction.
That's Not Your Granny's Grammar. 📖✨
If this series made you think, the book will change how you teach. I promise.
Thank you for being here all week. You showed up every single day for your students without even being in the classroom. That's who you are. 🥹
🔗 Link in bio to grab your copy!
👇 Which myth hit hardest this week? Drop it below — I genuinely want to know.
#notyourgrannysgrammar #grammarinstruction #grammarmyths #writingteacher #elatteacher #teachersofinstagram #teachertok #instagramreels #literacycoach #scienceofreading #writinginstruction #bookrecommendation #teacherpd #edutainment #episode5
The grammar myth that literally silences kids' voices on the page. 💔
"Don't use 'I' in your writing."
This one is personal for me.
Because this rule doesn't just limit writing — it tells kids their voice doesn't belong on the page. That their perspective is a grammatical error. That who they ARE is something to be corrected.
Here's the truth: "Don't use I" was designed for very specific formal academic writing contexts. And somehow it got overgeneralized to ALL writing, for ALL students, at ALL grade levels.
Memoir needs I.
Personal narrative needs I.
Opinion writing needs I.
Persuasive writing needs I.
We cannot build confident writers by teaching them their voice is wrong. 😤
And here's what breaks my heart — our multilingual learners, our most vulnerable writers, are often the ones who internalize this rule the hardest. The ones who were already navigating messages that their language doesn't fully belong. And then we confirmed it in writing too. 💔
That's not grammar instruction. That's erasure.
Missed Myths #1, #2, and #3? They're all on my page — go catch up! 👆
Tomorrow is Myth #5 — the big one. The reason I wrote this book. Don't miss it. 👀
🔗 Link in bio to grab your copy of Not Your Granny's Grammar!
👇 How many of your students right now are afraid to use "I" in their writing? Tell me in the comments.
#notyourgrannysgrammar #grammarinstruction #grammarmyths #writingteacher #elatteacher #teachersofinstagram #teachertok #instagramreels #literacycoach #scienceofreading #writinginstruction #multilinguallearners #bookrecommendation #teacherpd #edutainment #episode4
The grammar myth we didn't just teach — we GRADED kids on. 😬
"A paragraph must have 5 sentences."
It was on our rubrics. It was in our feedback. We said it with full confidence like it was carved into stone somewhere.
It wasn't.
There is no style guide, no writing handbook, no research base anywhere that says a paragraph must have 5 sentences. Not one. It was just passed down — teacher to teacher, rubric to rubric — until it became "the rule."
Here's what's actually true: paragraph length is a craft decision. Some of the most powerful paragraphs ever written are one sentence.
Sometimes one word.
Paragraphs break when the IDEA breaks. That's the real rule. And when we grade kids on hitting a number instead of developing an idea, we're not teaching writing — we're teaching padding. 😤
Missed Myths #1 and #2? They're on my page — go catch up! 👆
Tomorrow's myth is the one that's been silencing student voices on the page for decades. 💔 See you then.
🔗 Link in bio to grab your copy of Not Your Granny's Grammar!
👇 Hand up if you taught the 5-sentence paragraph. No judgment — we ALL did. 🙋
#notyourgrannysgrammar #grammarinstruction #grammarmyths #writingteacher #elatteacher #teachersofinstagram #teachertok #instagramreels #literacycoach #scienceofreading #writinginstruction #bookrecommendation #teacherpd #edutainment #episode3
The rule that made teachers twist sentences into pretzels. 🥨
"Never end a sentence with a preposition."
Every teacher I know was taught this one — and has been torturing perfectly good sentences ever since.
Here's the wild part: this "rule" came from 17th century Latin grammar being incorrectly applied to the English language. That's it. That's the whole story.
Winston Churchill said it best when someone tried to correct him:
"This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put." 😂
English has ALWAYS ended sentences with prepositions. Our students' writing suffers every time we pretend otherwise.
Missed Myth #1? Go check it out on my page. 👆
Come back tomorrow for Myth #3 — the one teachers are most defensive about. You've been warned. 😅
👇 Did YOU ever get corrected for this one? Tell me everything.
#notyourgrannysgrammar #grammarmyths #grammarinstruction #writingteacher #elatteacher #teachersoftiktok #teachertok #literacycoach #teacherlife #learnontiktok #edutok #scienceofreading #writinginstruction #episode2
The grammar rule that was never actually a rule. 🧵
"Never start a sentence with And or But."
Every teacher I know was taught this. It's in no style guide. No handbook. No linguistic standard anywhere. It was just… passed down. Teacher to teacher. Generation to generation.
And we've been marking kids DOWN for writing the way published authors write every single day. 😤
This is why Not Your Granny's Grammar exists. We deserve better information. Our students deserve better instruction. 📖
Come back tomorrow for Myth #2. It's even worse. 😬
👇 What grammar rule were YOU taught that turned out to be total fiction?
#notyourgrannysgrammar #grammarmyths #grammarinstruction #writingteacher #elatteacher #teachersoftiktok #teachertok #literacycoach #teacherlife #learnontiktok #edutok #scienceofreading #writinginstruction #episode1
