Welcome
A Skeptical Press is offering complimentary copies of Grammar Today for classroom use.
First, an explanation and then contact information.
A general rule for textual errors in published work is that any mistake is one too many. Grammar Today contains mistakes. It’s a review copy, a draft of a potential finished product. Still, it’s a book about English for English language arts teachers and students, among others. Proofreaders themselves, English teachers sometimes take professional pride in finding mistakes in what they read, even more when the errors are made by other English teachers. Smugness turns to horror, however, when the mistakes are obvious, numerous, egregious. Inexcusable.
So it was with great embarrassment that I found the chapter headings of Chapter 9, “The Parts of Speech,” in Grammar Today misspelled. I could explain how that happened, but that won’t change the result. What that discovery did was make the book more a rough draft than ever. A draft that revision may save.
This is how I think the copies of Grammar Today can be put to good use: helping teachers by giving them teachable moments (the text) and helping students learn about language and grammar through their active participation. In fact, the books have already been used this way by a linguistics class at Valley City State University and a high school English class in Montpelier. Students in those classes read Grammar Today with the goal of evaluating the text. Then they talked and wrote about the book’s content, organization, layout and style. Students read critically.
Asked to make judgments about the book—instead of just accepting what it said without comment—students seemed to read with more attention, keeping in mind that they were asked to draw conclusions, make comparisons. Because students were assessed on their reading comprehension, perceptions and written evaluations, they were rewarded for their critical reading and thinking.
With this motivation students may have read more carefully, and they may have retained more information and gained more knowledge than they otherwise might have. They also found mistakes, and finding both surface errors and content lapses may have added to their feelings of empowerment. Students were able to criticize and have their criticism count.
What I would like to do, then, is to give English teachers and their students (probably at senior high level or above) the opportunity to do something similar with classroom copies of Grammar Today. Critical comments of the text and of the process when they have finished will be the only price. Can this be done by the end of the fall semester 2008, so that obvious mistakes will be corrected in the next edition of the book? Then, using suggestions from both teachers and students, the content of Grammar Today will be revised—retaining what works and dropping what does not—so its explanations of language use will be clear, consistent and understandable.    
Please let me know if you are interested in using Grammar Today.
If you have received copies of Grammar Today and wish to make suggestions about content or surface feature changes, please contact me at the addresss below or at  rbetting@ictc.com
Note: this is a change from the previous address listed on this site.
 
First edition copies are free to those willing to pay postage. To U.S. addresses only. Those who wish copies may request them in writing from the following address:

A Skeptical Press
Box 815
Valley City, ND 58072 
 
 
 Requests should include postage  (cash, check or money order) in the following amounts: 1 copy = $ 4.00; 2 copies = $ 7.00;  for each additional copy over two add $ 2.00.
Secondary English teachers and undergraduate English teachers may request up to twenty copies.  Make sure you include your complete mail delivery address.
Thank you for your interest in Grammar Today: The New American Language and Grammar Primer. 
 
 
 
WHO should read  GRAMMAR TODAY: The New American Language and Grammar Primer?
 
1.Elementary and secondary language arts teachers;
2.Language learners, including ESL students;
3.Parents and others interested in what / how English is taught, how language is used;
4.Administrators and curriculum coordinators;
5.Anyone interested in reading, writing, listening and speaking more effectively;
6.Those passionate about language;
7.Others ______________________  
 
GRAMMAR TODAY: The New American Language and Grammar Primer  will help readers
 
1.Understand and use language effectively and avoid being victims of language abuse;
2.Communicate more effectively in many situations, using a variety of styles;
3.Understand the basics of communication, language and grammar;
4.Realize that English grammar is sometimes taught poorly, that traditional
grammar handbooks don’t always provide accurate information about language;
5.Know where the English language came from--and when;
6.Recognize and be able to deal with some of the issues related to correctness
in English language use;
7.Understand some of the differences between grammar and usage and when to apply them;
8.Understand the psychological and sociological implications of langauge use;
9.Advocate for the teaching of accurate language and grammar information;
10.      Participate actively in the discussion of language issues;
11.      Others ______________________________________