“Between the Commas, I believe, will make you a better writing teacher. Martin Brandt’s understanding of language, his work with teenagers, and his lucid writing will increase your skills and rhetorical awareness. What you learn will enable you to train your students to create powerful sentences with an eye toward development, both the students’ development as writers and your development as teacher.”—Tom Romano, Miami University, as reviewed in English Journal
“Making sentences is a profound human capacity, one that defines us as a species. Every intellectual move could happen within them. In this engaging, honest, and innovative book, Marty Brandt makes all that clear. So welcome with me, a new and original voice in writing instruction.”—Thomas Newkirk, from the Foreword
“What a special pleasure it is to celebrate Martin Brandt’s new book. He illustrates with great clarity and passion the difference between assigning and teaching writing. Here is a book filled with deep, practical wisdom we can all use to teach the craft of writing in ways that will make a difference.”—Jim Burke, author of The English Teacher's Companion, 4/e and The Six Academic Writing Assignments
“Marty Brandt has captured the tentativeness and problem solving that are inherent in teaching students to write well. He offers new frames for understanding sentence possibilities and new language to use in conferences. The lessons here will empower you to prepare all students well for college writing. You will love Brandt's own playful and interesting writing. I’m certain that this book will make me a better teacher.—Penny Kittle, author of Write Beside Them, Book Love, and 180 Days (coauthored with Kelly Gallagher)
“Frustrated with the pedestrian prose your students produce? Between the Commas describes a fresh approach that focuses on how artfully constructed sentences work both individually and in concert with one another. Brandt’s classroom practices will help your student writers develop both compositional confidence and prowess.”
—Carol Jago, author of numerous books including The Book in Question, and past president of NCTE
“By providing witty and innovative descriptions of how different sentence patterns help shape students’ essays, Marty addresses one of the great difficulties faced by beginning writers (and writing teachers). He guides teachers toward practices that can help students produce essays that are thoughtfully structured and a pleasure to read. And similarly, Marty’s own writing is compelling and high-spirited: a timely reminder that the best writing teachers practice what they preach.”
—Jonathan Lovell, Director of the San Jose Area Writing Project and Emeritus Professor of English at San Jose State University
“Marty Brandt writes with wry, self-deprecating humor, sharing classroom-tested strategies that help high school kids truly engage with language. This lucid, well-written book is a joy to read and a smart reminder that having fun with language helps prevent school from becoming a Life Sentence—for students and for us.”—Bill Strong, Founding Director of the Utah Writing Project and author of Coaching Writing
“If careful attention is a sign of respect, in this book Marty Brandt shows a deep and loving respect both for sentences and for students learning to write them. Brandt, a National Writing Project teacher consultant, draws on a history of focused writing instruction, his own rich classroom experiences, and his network of NWP teacher colleagues, creating a book that will make you laugh while showing you how to support students toward more mature and complex thinking and writing.”
—Tanya Baker, Director of National Programs, National Writing Project
“I have been struggling for years to find better ways to teach good writing. Today, I had my 10th graders look at the Krakauer paragraph, and every single student was able to write their own version! They usually groan about writing anything, and it was so wonderful to see them having fun and doing something they didn’t think they could do. Between the Commas is an innovative and practical way of approaching writing instruction.”—Leisha Cowart, English teacher, Nease High School, Ponte Vedra, Florida
