Customer Reviews

Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling and Mentor Texts

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First, a few facts of life about English teachers: 1.) They're busy people. They endure one of the biggest paper burdens of any discipline, and they often have neither the time nor the patience for a professional development book pushed their way for consumption during the school year. 2.) If they DO bother reading a PD book, it had better be more practical than theoretical. Teachers are borrowers by nature. Activities and strategies thought out in advance and laid out logically in a book will attract them like honey draws bears.

Meaning? If it's your writing instruction that needs beefing up, WRITE LIKE THIS should find its way onto your to-be-read pile. It is as if Kelly Gallagher has lent you his "writing teacher" playbook -- a mix of writing plays he's either created or borrowed himself over his career. Gallagher first breaks writing instruction down into six categories, then devotes a chapter to each. They are "Express and Reflect," "Inform and Explain," "Evaluate and Judge," Inquire and Explore," "Analyze and Interpret," and "Take a Stand/Propose a Solution." These are followed with chapters containing helpful hints on revision and editing. You might consider writing for these purposes and these purposes only simplistic, but Gallagher acknowledges that they blend into each other all the time in real-world writing. Master them in isolation and students can eventually step up and combine these skills to good effect.

Once you wade into the Big Six chapters, you will find creative activities doable in a single period as well as assignments that might take a few days of writing. Gallagher sends wave after wave, activity after activity, with succinct instructions and humorous asides. Your job is simply to cherry pick (did I mention that English teachers, both busy and practical, like cherries?).

The foundation of all of these ideas is modeling. Gallagher believes the single most effective form of writing instruction is drafting in front of the class while you think aloud. That's right -- first draft, warts and all. You may not consider yourself a very good writer, but you're the strongest writer in the room. Also, Gallagher advocates the use of professional models for students to emulate. He provides authentic examples in each chapter (and in the appendix for copying and marking up).

If this doesn't sound attractive to the busy English teacher, I'm not sure what will. You can literally open it in the mail one day and have a ready-to-go writing lesson the next. Quibbles? Few of the strategies lead to full-length, more formal papers. If that's what you're after, you might consider many of these exercises more of the warm-up variety. And the book suffers from more typos than an English PD book has a right to, telling me, perhaps, that its publication date was moved forward too quickly. That said, the book is more than worth your investment in time and money. Young writers need these compelling, creative, and quick activities to hone their skills. Thus, analyzing a painting or a chart (two ideas) will serve as a gateway for instruction on literary analysis later on.

Bottom line? I recommend this book, especially if "busy" is one of your favorite words. Look at it this way: reading it and using it will actually make you LESS busy. It will also make your students happier with and stronger at their writing. What more could a teacher ask for? (Wait, don't answer that!)

Kelly Gallagher does it again! A practical book that gives logical reasons for the student to write has been needed for a long time. This book has ideas that students can connect with. I read part of the first chapter to my students because it shows how writing can affect their future. THIS ONE WILL NOT BE STASHED AWAY ON MY BOOKSHELF.

Our entire department is refining our philosophical and practical approach to teaching based on current research, including Gallagher (this book and Readicide) and Schmoker (Focus). Every time my colleages read a chapter, immediately, curriculum is changed. I cannot recommend this book enough. The school was going to buy me a copy, but I wanted a copy I want writer all over!

I loved Read-i-cide and this book is just as great! Breaking writing, revision, and editing into workable activities that are filled with wonderful information and activities!

Wow, what an eyeopener. Inspiration, totally inspirational!!! After 25 years of teaching writing finally a book that I love and my students are so keen to write again. Thanks

This is my favorite new book. I'm ordering 10 copies for friends today. This book is smart, practical, entertaining, and humbling. I wish Kelly had been my teacher in high school, or better yet, my son and daughter's. At the center of this work is the belief that YOU are the best teacher for your students, not Kelly. I love that.

It's an interesting read and the principals are sound, but the texts cited can be further differentiated to provide models for reluctant writers also.