In the article entitled “How to Teach Grammar, Analytical Thinking and Writing”, Lynn Sams (2003) expressed and suggested methods on how grammar and writing should be taught in class. This article was published in the English Journal by the National Council of Teachers of English. Sams based his research on his 16 years of experience as a high school teacher and the instructional approaches he used in his sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth grade classrooms. Sams refers to grammar as “the relationship between structure and meaning” (57). The information in this article demonstrates the processes of analyzing sentence structure and suggests that students cannot fully understand writing without first understanding basic concepts of grammar. Sams explained that both traditional and contextualized approaches to teaching grammar are unsuccessful because they “treat grammar as something that exists separately from and outside of the writing process itself” (57). Referring to grammar and writing, Sams suggests that “to study one is to study the other” (57). Sams explained that he first emphasized the drafting and revision process. Sams' instructions called for students to work together and share their ideas and feedback during the writing process. However, Sams realized that this process would not be successful without first teaching students how to revise. Sams then based instruction on the concept that students needed to organize their work in a reasonable order that could be understood by others. Sams explained that to organize ideas, students needed to be able to understand “how their ideas relate to each other” and how to separate “the main ideas and supporting details” (58). However, to separate the main ideas from… middle of the paper… Grammar Alive (2003) discusses the use of sentence diagrams to provide students with visual displays of the material. According to the authors of Grammar Alive, “many students actually find diagrams useful for seeing relationships between sentence elements” (75). Using questioning strategies in this process can ensure that students learn the content and can encourage critical thinking. Teachers should provide interesting and thought-provoking questions designed to engage students in reflection. Creating a classroom environment where thinking and analysis are valued is important to the success of all students. This process is definitely one I would use in my classroom to improve students' understanding of grammar and writing. As grammar and writing improve, students' written work will improve and evolve to a more professional level.