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Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling & Mentor Texts
By Kelly Gallagher
, 2011, 256 pp.
Teacher Book Club Dates: Feb. 21-23, 2012

In his acclaimed Readicide (2009), high school English teacher Kelly Gallagher offered a provocative explanation for young people鈥檚 lack of interest in reading: A big part of the problem, he argued, could be traced to the 鈥渋nane, mind-numbing鈥� ways that reading is taught in many schools. Now, in Write Like This, he turns his attention to writing instruction, which he believes is in a similar鈥攊f not more dire鈥攕tate of crisis.

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At a time when strong writing skills are a virtual prerequisite for meaningful employment, Gallagher says, writing as a subject of study 鈥渟eems to have gotten lost in many of our schools.鈥� It has been 鈥渂uried in a avalanche of standards, curricular pacing guides, huge class sizes, worksheets, over-the-top testing, and, yes, even more testing. 鈥�" When writing is taught at all, he continues, it is often subject to 鈥減rescribed school discourses鈥� that limit students鈥� development and fail to capture their imagination. For Gallagher, it鈥檚 no wonder that, by one estimate, as many as 70 percent of students graduate from high school with inadequate writing skills.

So how can teachers bring new life to the proverbial second 鈥淩鈥�? Gallagher, a 25-year teaching veteran, argues that writing instruction needs to be reoriented around two interlocking premises. First, teachers should emphasize the 鈥渞eal-world鈥� purposes of writing by giving students prompts and assignments that engage their intellects and demonstrate the value and function of thoughtful composition. Second, they need to provide students with authentic modeling of how this kind of writing is done.

Much of Gallagher鈥檚 book consists, in turn, of detailed descriptions of how he teaches his students to write in six different real-life discourses, including 鈥淓xpress and Reflect,鈥� 鈥淓valuate and Judge,鈥� and 鈥淭ake a Stand/Propose a Solution.鈥� By his account, he generally begins by giving his students a graphing or brainstorming activity to get them familiar with the discourse in question. (When teaching 鈥淓valuate and Judge,鈥� for example, he has them create product-comparison charts.) Then he provides a series of ever-deepening writing prompts designed to show the students how writing in these various modalities can help them express themselves and develop their thoughts in ways that are distinctly pertinent to their interests.

As a reader, it鈥檚 hard not to be impressed by the cleverness and variety of Gallagher鈥檚 short-writing prompts. In the 鈥淓xpress and Reflect鈥� section alone, he has students writing 鈥渞everse poems鈥� about their core beliefs, exploring 鈥渨atermark events鈥� in their lives, and reflecting on their personality types under Jungian psychology. You get the feeling that students could have fun with these assignments鈥攚hich of course is a big part of Gallagher鈥檚 point.

To provide a foundation for the assignments, meanwhile, Gallagher furnishes sample pieces by professional writers鈥攚hat he calls 鈥渕entor texts鈥濃�攖hat the students are asked to reflect on, pull apart, and even imitate. And perhaps more unusually, he does the writing assignments himself in class, using an overhead projector or document camera to demonstrate his compositional process. Gallagher believes this modeling is central to improving students鈥� conceptual grasp. 鈥淚 am the best writer in the room, and as such, I need to show them how I grapple with this mysterious process we call writing,鈥� he explains. 鈥淪tudents must see the process to understand the process.鈥�

If it sounds like Gallagher goes about teaching writing with a certain missionary zeal, that鈥檚 because he does believe that, as an English teacher, he plays an essential鈥攁nd embattled鈥攕ocietal role. At several points in the book, he emphasizes the value of writing development as a counterforce to a rampant consumer culture that devalues reflection and critical thinking. Teachers have an obligation, he suggests, to give young people the time and attention they need to understand and harness the power of individual expression.

That may mean sacrificing some state standards or diverting from prescribed curricula, Gallagher acknowledges. 鈥淚f my students grow into adults who cannot write,鈥� he asks, 鈥渨ill it really matter that they had good scores on a state test they took when they were thirteen years old?鈥�

鈥擜nthony Rebora

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