In Write Like This: Teaching Real World Writing Through Modeling and Mentor Texts, author and teacher Kelly Gallagher recognizes that writing well starts with teaching students WHY they should write. He believes we need to move beyond the state standards by introducing young writers to real-world discourses and provide them with authentic texts to influence and develop life-long skills. Each chapter focuses on a specific writing purpose: Express and Reflect: View life experiences in reverse to move forward Inform and Explain: State a point and purpose with information to support it Evaluate and Judge: Focus' on the worth of an object, idea, or person and present' it as 'bad or 'good Inquire and Explore: Propose' a problem or question Analyze and Interpret: Examine phenomena that are difficult to understand or explain Take a Stand/Propose a Solution: Persuade audience to particular position and provide' justification' ' In teaching these lessons, Gallagher provides mentor texts (professional samples as well as models he has written in front of his students), student writing samples, and numerous assignments and strategies proven to elevate student writing. By helping teachers bring effective modeling practices into their classrooms, Write Like This enables students to become better adolescent writers. More important, the practices found in this book will help our students develop the writing skills they will need to become adult writers in the real world. '
Kelly, a baseballoholic and a self-described expert at negotiating airports, is in his 33rd year of teaching at the high school level. He currently teaches at Magnolia High School in Anaheim, California. He believes that there is no greater pleasure than teaching someone something. Teaching is artistic, it matters a great deal, and I can never get the job down perfectly. Kelly thinks that professional development should treat teachers as such - professionals. I know in the classroom that good things happen when my students have meaningful discussions. I know as a teacher myself that my craft sharpens when I am given the opportunity to have meaningful discussions with my peers. And let's have a laugh or two while we are at it. Writing his six books for Stenhouse was a solitary experience. Though I have written outlines prior to each of my books, I have yet to follow any of them step-by-step. That is why I find writing rewarding - because the act of writing itself generates new thinking, and new thinking is always exciting.
