May 29, 2026
Mark interviews grammar educator Patty McGee about her new book NOT YOUR GRANNY'S GRAMMAR as well as how grammar should be approachable rather than feared.
Prior to the interview Mark comments from recent episodes and related Stark Reflections content, a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor.
This episode is sponsored by an affiliate link to Manuscript Report. Use code MARK10 at checkout and save 10% off your own personalized report.
In the interview, Mark and Patty talk about:
Talk about:
- Patty's background as a teacher and how she tried to make the experience as rich as possible for students
- The challenge of when she first approached teaching grammar
- Looking for a new time of entry point for grammar learning
- Grammar being more than just the traditional basics, including sentence construction and sentences types that can make our writing more fluid and better express what we want readers to experience in our writing
- How identifying parts of speech in grammar has often become a kind of gatekeeping element in how to use grammar
- Patty being a literary consultant but preferring to call herself a "traveling teacher"
- How a lot of adults carry a lot of baggage about grammar
- Removing the punitive nature of the way grammar is approached and taught
- Patty's use of grammatical manipulatives and being allowed to play with them
- Certain long-time rules such as the "comma splice" rule that might be going away due to common modern use
- How handwriting is one of the most useful ways of remembering and building skills by firing more neurons than typing does
- Things to remember about the discomfort and fear of grammar such as "grammar isn't rules, grammar is art" and "grammar isn't rules, grammar is style"
- And more...
After the interview Mark reflects on a few things about the conversation and also interjects with something from his personal update that he forgot.
Links of Interest:
- Patty McGee's Website
- Article: Survival Dance: How Humans Waltzed Through the Ice Age
- Article: With This Pen, I Thee Connect
- Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link - use MARK10 to save 10%)
- Buy Mark a Coffee
- Patreon for Stark Reflections
- Mark's YouTube channel
- ElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation - Affiliate link)
- Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)
- An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
- The Relaxed Author
- Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
- An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
- Wide for the Win
- Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
- The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
- Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
- Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
- I Think It's A Sign That The Pun Also Rises
Patty McGee is a nationally recognized literacy consultant, speaker, and educator passionate about transforming classrooms into spaces where language and learning come alive. With decades of experience as a teacher, coach, and advocate for delightful literacy practices, Patty has worked alongside educators across the country, partnering to unlock the full potential of their students through innovative and practical teaching strategies. Not Your Granny’s Grammar is her third book. Connect with Patty at www.pattymcgee.org.
The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0