A Non-Workbook, Non-Textbook Approach to Teaching Language Arts: Grades 4 Through 8 and Up

THIS IS THE LANGUAGE ARTS BOOK FOR YOU IF: You find textbooks and workbooks a bore to your students (and you)—or less effective than you’d like. You need effective, creative (and structured) ideas on how to teach paragraphing and larger compositions. You want to get your students on the road to doing research—like the professionals do. You want some creative ideas for student public speaking. You want lists, forms, and charts to aid you in your teaching. You want two free games—each worth more than the price of this book

Author Jim Charnock does not do much educational philosophizing—although you will see and feel the soundness of his techniques throughout the book. After his short, but compelling, introduction, you are in the thick of learning. One chapter after another tells how to best, in his opinion, go about teaching the language arts of several types of writing, public speaking, researching, book reporting, interviewing, dramatizing, and more.

What he writes in his synoptic Table of Contents about one particular chapter can be said about this entire small but practical volume: "This is not one of those ‘you ought to do this, but I’m not going to lead you by the hand,’" books.

Mr. Charnock’s clarity, energetic style, and practical approaches will make this book a worthy addition to your teaching library, and the ideas an asset to your teaching repertoire. You will be impressed with the simplicity of learning and teaching what others have so onerously complicated. And, after reading and experiencing his ideas, you may, like those in his seminars, feel the urge to stand up and clap.