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

I went to a Kelly Gallagher training session about reading instruction over a year ago, and it was, far and away, the best professional development that I’ve ever been to. It was one creative, practical, and student-friendly idea after another. I immediately read two books by Gallagher about reading instruction (Deeper Reading and Readicide--both highly recommended) and have been incorporating his ideas into my classes ever since. It was my summer goal to take a look at what he had to offer with regard to writing instruction. As it happens, Write Like This was every bit as useful as the reading books were. He offers his general philosophy of writing instruction: (1) that students need to read real-world models and write for real-world purposes and (2) that the teacher--as the best writer in the classroom--should demonstrate the decisions that good writers make before the students. He then divides the book by the six general purposes of writing and offers multiple suggestions for approaches to teaching that kind of writing. It’s easy to see how students would find these assignments compelling, and it’s also easy to see how these strategies would help the students to be better writers. My only problem reading the book is not flaw of Gallagher’s. When I read it, I keep thinking, “This is what teaching should be like. Think how much my students would grow and improve if we could just do this stuff all year.” Of course, the sadness is that the district and state standards and the ridiculous testing my students will need to pass at the end of the year will mean that I’m forced to teach something of lesser quality and distorted purposes for at least a portion of the year. So it goes. I do think that every idea I pull from this book will make my class a better experience for my students.

This was the first book I had come across by Kelly Gallagher and the most comprehensive, easy to follow and informative professional piece I've ever read on teaching the writing process. Unlike so many books on the subject inundated with long anecdotes and analytical essays on the education system, Gallagher gets down to business quickly by immediately showing and guiding you through how he develops writing skills in his classroom. The brilliance lies in its structure. He breaks it up into 6 sections all targeted at building various approaches to writing and critical thinking skills. Within each chapter he briefly tells you how he applies these skills in his everyday adult life and how they are necessary for students to be successful in the classroom and as independent adults. The chapters carefully take you through his actual lessons alongside the articles, worksheets, graphic organizers and samples of his work (and work from his students) to demonstrate specifically ways to apply them. In a typical chapter you can expect to inspiration for at least 8 usable lessons (he provides an index in the back for you to make copies of all the material he references!). The lessons are scaffolded already, taking you from a basic warm up writing lesson to the more advanced pieces which require mentored texts, drafting, revision and editing. All my lesson planning is now done with one (or all) of Gallagher's books by my side. My students LOVE the writing activities and are always eager to share and revisit their writing pieces. Probably the greatest change was being inspired to teach lessons he calls "think alouds" where you draft authentically in front of your students to show them application of these writing strategies. The change in the quality of my student's writing after just doing that lesson once was remarkable. It would be easy to go on about the outstanding qualities of this book but without a doubt it has changed my teaching style and expectations of myself and my students. Any teacher who wants to improve their student's writing could not ask for a better piece of literature to guide them through the process.

This book has given me so many fantastic, engaging ideas for teaching my students to appreciate writing well! This book answers the question students are always asking: Why does this matter?! The rationale is so helpful to me as a teacher and the ideas are so simple, yet the effects are profound. I’m so pleased with this resource.

Kelly Gallagher has yet to let me down! He writes methodically, so teachers can understand his concepts. If I would have just read about the RADaR and SoW strategies I would have been content! I have been searching for a book that resembles Write Like This. Every writing example in this book applies to real life. I was elated when Gallagher closed this book with an argument explaining his resistance towards standardized testing. I start my second year of teaching in twenty five days. What I explored in this book may have taken me years to discover. Educators need to be training their students to be "productive thinkers." If you teach English you need to read this book. Thank you Kelly Gallagher.

Kelly Gallagher - need I say more? What a fantastic leader for teachers everywhere! As we all struggle to help our students meet Common Core, become independent thinkers, develop good writing skills, and learn to love reading and writing, any of the materials by Kelly Gallagher can serve as an incredible resource! Gallagher's books provide real-world instructions, ideas, samples, and practical implementation strategies for all teachers. I am so grateful for Gallagher's efforts in the teaching field! I have been using Gallagher's resources / books for years, and have consistently seen academic growth in my students, and improved teaching skills in myself.

This book is even better that "teaching adolescent writers", which is hard to believe, but it's true. I actually saw Gallagher speak at Promising Practices conference years ago, and the man spoke sense. He emphasizes critical thinking skills in this book, and pairs up fun activities that practice these skills. Gallagher has laid out his ideas so that it would be very easy to directly apply to the classroom. If you want to connect different types of essays (such as cause and effect, compare and contrast, persuasive, etc.) to each 'critical thinking skill' unit, that would be very easy to link. Although this book seems to be directed at high school students, I can easily adapt his ideas for my 8th graders. YEAY! I am so excited to rethink my units and the way I teach my kids. It is totally worth it to buy this book. Oh yes, it is an incredibly easy read. I think I ripped through it in about 2 days.

I found this book in my 19th year of teaching and it changed everything I do. In a sense, you don't even need to read this book. You just need to make up a list of "real-world" text types, find mentor texts for each one, and you're off. But apprenticing to Gallagher is a convenient way to get up to speed. The biggest thing that's happened to my teaching as a result of adopting Gallagher's framework for teaching writing is that my writing curriculum makes sense to both me and my students. In the past, I've had great ideas about my overall writing plan for a year, but these have been couched in terms that my students can't really uinderstand or get fired up about. Or, I've used traditional writing genres, which are discnnected from reality. Or I've used the abstracted reading and writing skills of the Common Core, the arbitrariness of which drove me to this book. The book is not complete. It could use more of a focus on stages of introducing the overall approach to students. The first writing type needs better mentor texts than the tattoo article. And how to lead students through revision is not nearly outlined in sufficient detail. But once you get the idea, you can do the work and fill in the blanks yourself.

I've only read the first two chapters, but have already implemented three or four ideas from these chapters and shared pieces of the text and its examples with my eighth graders. They have responded quite well! Gallagher is an inspiration because he's a real teacher who knows kids and how to teach them how to write. He presents ideas in ways that are straight-forward, yet pedagogically sound. If the rest of the book is as great as the first couple of chapters, it is more than worth the price.

Kelly Gallagher is a master teacher. "Write Like This: Teaching real-world through modeling & mentor texts" is an essential read for any educator who wishes to engage students and help them through the writing process. A must read. Each section offers practical and ready to use, no-nonsense examples of what works in a secondary high school. I attended a workshop given by Kelly and wondered how it could all be done in a regular school year. "Write Like This" is precise and gives wings to other ideas. Add the following to your library: Write Like This: Teaching real-world writing through modeling & mentor texts ; Readicide ; Teaching Adolescent Writers ;

I teach high school kids and this book gives me great ideas that are practical. I have already used this in the classroom and will continue to do so on a daily basis. It's not just a great read. It makes you want to do better when teaching writing in the classroom.

easy to read, like the author is speaking to you. Lots of great exemplars, practical, easy to implement strategies. strongly recommended to all middle, junior & high school teachers.