Write Like this: Teaching Real-world Writing Through Modeling & Mentor Texts by Kelly Gallagher

Chapter 1 Notes:

 Purpose: “Writing has become foundational to finding meaningful employment across much of
the workforce.”

 Writing is such an integral skill that is being largely neglected.

 Students need to be reminded of the importance of writing and why they should write.
Grounding this skill in an applicable real world context for students will motivate them to view
writing as more than just something that is done during their time in school.

 7 out of 10 students are leaving school without adequate writing skills.

 Two premises at the center of this book- Move writing beyond the core standards, introduce
students to real world discourses. Students must be taught to write through authentic modeling
from teachers and texts.

 Helping students understand the real world application of writing can help them see the value in
it.

 Different reasons for painting- painting to reveal beauty, painting to challenge viewers, painting
to make a statement. I really liked this idea, and I like how it communicates the importance of
understanding the purposes behind writing.

 The section about modeling behaviour is really important. I think the example about modeling
classroom management techniques for his student teacher was really interesting and made me
reflect on my own practicum experiences. When I was struggling with classroom management, I
found it really helpful when my teacher associate would model certain techniques I could
implement as opposed to just describing them.

 I think the idea of watching and listening to the teacher write and think out loud is a very
important technique. I would like to implement the idea of walking through the process of
writing with my future students. All of my high school teachers just told our class to write, but
we were never able to observe their own writing process which I think would have been very
beneficial. I can relate to how it may be nerve wracking to put yourself out there in front of your
students, although I enjoy writing the thought of sharing my own writing can be daunting and
scary. However, at the same time I think opening them up to your process and struggles may
give them confidence in their own writing. It lets them know that the writing process in itself is
imperfect, and that the struggles they may be being are perfectly normal.

 I would also want to implement the quick write activity as a teaching strategy in my classroom. I
liked the idea of approaching one topic through multiple different angles (express and reflect,
inform and explain, evaluate and judge, inquire and explore, analyze and interpret, take a
stand/propose a solution).

 Showing students real world examples- Very valuable! As a fifth year university student I still
really appreciate having strong examples to look at as a frame of reference for writing and
assignment expectations.
 The Formula: Teach student’s real world writing purposes + teacher who models their struggle
with the writing process + real world mentor texts + give students the time to stretch as writers.

 Chapter 2 Notes:

 The story at the opening of this section was very moving, and discussed how writing can be used
as a tool to help come to terms with the tragic events and hurdles that we must overcome
throughout our lives. This section reminded me of the “Good and Bad Things about Being
Human” prompt we wrote for our writing circles that asked us to reflect on the highs and lows
of life itself. This can help students understand the power of reflective writing and how it can be
used to express emotions and healing in a healthy way.

 The power of expressive writing to help students tackle the challenges they may be facing in
their personal lives.

 Expressive writing- Writing about feelings towards a parental divorce (personal writing).

 Reflective writing- Writing about having gone through the ordeal of a parental divorce (moves
beyond recounting an experience and into an exploration of how that experience shaped who
we are).

 Moving Students into Expressive and Reflective Writing:

 I really loved all of these listed writing activities and would love to implement them in my own
classroom one day. In my own high school experience, I almost never was given the opportunity
to practice writing through activities such as this. The activities and writing prompts we practice
at the beginning of our curriculum and instruction course are really valuable because it allows us
to practice the writing prompts we may one day be using in our own classrooms. In my personal
experience, the demand of being in university has taken away from my time and ability to
engage and creative writing, so being able to dive back into it through our curriculum and
instruction class has been a great experience.

 I like that the following activities start students off with small pieces that gradually build into
larger and more sophisticated writing.

 Six-Word memoir: Great activity for classroom implementation.

 140 character Twitter memoirs: I like that this relates to a social media platform students may
use to increase engagement.

 Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life: Such a unique and creative writing idea.

 Favourite Mistakes

 “You have to play a lot of bad piano before you can play the piano well”

 Bucket List- A great activity to get students excited about something they would like to
accomplish one day.
 The Neighbourhood Spot- A brainstorm of spots in your neighbourhood you will always
remember. This can help bring students to a certain place that they know well and can visualize,
which will make writing about it come more naturally.

 Sentence Starters- This activity is nice because it gives students a starting point to work off of
and expand on.

 The Road Not Taken- Reflect on a point in your life when you decided to take “the road less
traveled”

 Forgive My Guilt- Have students write about something they regret.

 Reverse Poems- Reading the poem forward gives a depressing picture, but reading it backwards
gives a glimmer of hope.

 What My Childhood Tastes Like- Have students record their favourite childhood food then
choose one from their list to write about and why they enjoyed it so much. I would have loved
this activity in high school!

 Childhood Games- Brainstorm a list of your favourite childhood games and reflect on one that
taught you something beyond the game itself.

 A Hard Moment- Write about a moment of hardship you have had to face in your life and what
the experience taught you. I really like that the author gave this as an optional assignment for
students to complete if they wanted to. While for some writing about hard moments can be
very therapeutic, others may not feel as comfortable completing a task like this.

 A Watermark Event- Students reflect on an event that left a mark on them.

 Your Personality Type- Agree or Disagree?- Students take an online personality test and reflect
where they agree and disagree with the survey.

 A Family Photo- Have each student bring in a family photo and have them consider what the
photos mean to them and why they are important.

 A Treasure Object- Students are asked to bring a treasured object to class (students are given
the option to bring a picture of it instead). They are asked to reflect on what makes this object
so special to them.

 What are your dreams? Great way to have students explore identifying goals and steps that
need to be taken in order to achieve them

 Top 10 Lists- Students create their own top 10 list

 The “So What” Paper?- Students recall and incident in their lives and address the “so what?”
question.

 Birth-Order Essay- Students research ideas surrounding birth order and decide which points are
true or accurate and which are not.
 Why Should I Care?- Have students examine new stories, essays, blogs and editorials, and pick a
topic

 Memory Minutes- Students think back over the school year and write about a key moment for
them

 I liked how Gallagher’s described how his reflection journal has improved his teaching craft and
ability to reflect on lessons and certain approaches. This is a strategy I would want to employ
within my own teaching practice.

 Chapter 3 Notes:

 All different kinds of jobs require the ability to communicate ideas through writing.

 Scientists, police officers, court reporters, technical writers, secretaries, librarians, advertisers,
marketers, insurance agents, Web site developers, real estate agents, nurses, teachers, school
board members, researchers, and civic leaders.

 Even if you don’t have one of these jobs, you may one day need to write a letter to your credit
card company, auto insurance company, or other instances.

 Moving past traditional “How To” papers

 Writing assignments to help students inform and explain:

 My Favourite Word- Have your students choose a favorite word and conduct some research on
it.

 I Was a Witness- Writing firsthand accounts of history being made. Ask students to recall a
history they may have witnessed.

 Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover- Ask students to recall a time when they may have misjudged
someone.

 Sometimes You Can Judge a Book by Its Cover- Have students explain how something that
belongs to them describes who they are. I really enjoy this activity because it allows students to
make a personal connection, and find ways to describe and explore their identity through an
object that is meaningful to them.

 Facebook- Students answer a variety of questions regarding their own Facebook profile page
and what it says about them. While this is also a great activity to get students to reflect on their
identity, it is also a great way to bring up the topic of internet safety. It will possibly help the
students remain cognizant of how what they post online can shape opinions and perceptions.
Also, this activity is socially relevant to students as a large number of them are probably
Facebook users themselves.

 Black Sheep- Students recall people they have encountered who may fit the definition of a
“Black Sheep”. Once again, I really appreciated that the author makes this assignment an
optional one due to its potential to arouse emotional challenging content.
 Square Peg, Round Hole- Brings up the discussion of societal expectations, and highlights
characters in literature who do not represent what their societies expect them to be. This idea is
then applied to people they know, or people in the news, who may fit into this category.

 Unwritten Rules- Students write about the unofficial and unwritten rules that may govern their
lives.

 How Does ____ Work?- Brainstorm possible answers to this sentence.

 My ____ History- Encourages students to explore various “histories” of their lives.

 A Leads to B- Have your students identify a major change, and have them explain how this
change came about.

 Job Hunting- Have students research future jobs of interest to them and produce a two part
paper. I think this assignment is very valuable because it gets students thinking about their
future, and gives them the opportunity to explore different career paths they may choose to
take. In my own high school English class, my teacher conducted a very similar exercise that my
classmates and I found very helpful. The process helps provide valuable insight that can help
students frame future goals and achievements.

 College Collage- Have students research colleges they may be interested in attending. This is
another activity that was also conducted in my own high school English class. This activity
provides students with the opportunity to frame ideas of what is important to them for their
future education. Additionally, students are able to reflect on what qualities they are looking for
in their ideal post-secondary institution.

 What is the Perfect ____?- Have students define their perfect version of something, whether it
be a teacher, pet, sport, friend, boyfriend, or vacation.

 How to Survive ___. – Students write about their own survival advice for tackling a variety of
situations from algebra to babysitting. Allows students to apply knowledge of their own lived
experiences.

 Look Closely- Extremely close photographs are taken and students are made to guess what the
object in the picture is. This is a great way to get students minds turning and creative thoughts
flowing. Additionally, it could potentially could be used to branch off into a discussion of
perspective, and how sometimes we need to look at the bigger picture to gain a well-rounded
perspective of certain things or events.

 “You Should Know” Biographical Paper- Prompts students to recognize that there are a number
of interesting people in their lives who have achieved great things. Encourage students to find
someone in their life who has an interesting story that we should know more about.

 Share Your Expertise- Students reflect on their growth, achievement, and experiences
throughout their first year of high school. Students then write a letter to the younger students
who will be entering their grade next year. These letters are filled with tips and tricks to having a
successful and fun year. These letters are then distributed to the next class the following year. I
really loved reading about this activity and I think it would be a great activity to include in my
 own teaching. It’s a really personal activity that can help students leaving the grade reflect on
their growth, goals, and achievements, while possibly settling some nerves and answering
questions for the students coming into high school.

 Chapter wraps up by explaining that while not all students will need to analyze pieces of
literature in the future, writing is applicable in a lot of day to day applications, highlighting the
relevance of these previously listed activities. Literacy is an integral component of schooling that
will follow students throughout the remainder of their lives.

 Chapter 4- Notes

 Writing in front of your students on days when your writing is or isn’t flowing can be valuable.

 Students are now growing up under the influence of consumerism

 Spending time on websites such as SmartMoney, Amazon, and Autosite and looking at reviews
can help students develop critical lenses.

 Builds critical evaluation skills that can be applied to real life situations

 Record and listen to new and ask students to differentiate between real news and fluff pieces.

 Teaches students how to accurately access and assess quality information as opposed to
entertainment in the news.

 Developing student’s abilities to evaluate and judge helps them development real skills that
they will be using throughout the remainder of their lives. (Applying for college, where they will
live, voting, car purchases)

 Activities to help improve students abilities to evaluate and judge:

 Evaluate a Print Ad- Recognizing propaganda techniques and evaluating resources for their
legitimacy. I really like this idea and think it would be a great activity to incorporate into a unit of
study based on government control or dystopian societies such as Animal Farm, 1984, Brave
New World, or The Hunger Games.

 Television Commercial- Analyze various aspects of one commercial by looking at the imagery,
the print, the spoken words, the music, and the propaganda techniques used.

 YouTube Study- Evaluate the effectiveness of various YouTube videos

 Website Evaluation- How to critically read websites.

 The Ballot Box- Students watch political commercials, then transition to political speeches. As
future voters, this activity is incredibly important as it gives students the opportunity to analyze
and evaluate candidates to make an informed decision about voting.

 Gallagher claims that students aren’t spending enough time learning how to critically judge and
analyze material they will be working with for the rest of their lives such as websites,
newspapers, commercials, elections, and politicians.

 This links back to teaching students content with real life application and purpose.
 Chapter 5 Notes:

 The National Commission on Writing highlights how writing is shortchanged within classrooms,
and suggests doubling the amount of writing across content areas.

 Two major reasons- we have students write because we want to know what they know, and the
act of writing creates new thinking.

 Writing is generative and leads to new ideas.

 Not all writing creates equal thinking, different kinds of writing allow students to focus on
different information

 In order to move students beyond that checks surface level understanding, inquiry and
exploration must be explored

 Students need to be given time to process their thinking and organize their thoughts in order to
participate in meaningful discussions.

 Exploratory writing- the kind of writing you do without a specific end in mind. Used as a vehicle
to learn and think.

 I really liked the “What women really do in the bathroom” essay break down and accompanying
questions. The questions were really great, and I think it would be an engaging and interesting
exercise to implement in the classroom.

 Why Activity- Statements from newspapers and magazines are collected and students are asked
to consider possible reasons for the statements. I would be interested in incorporating this
activity in my classroom as a sponge activity

 I’d like to know more about- Students read through various newspapers and note stories that
peak their interest. Based on these articles, they think of other questions pertaining to it that
they would like to know. Allows students to become informed on important events while
engaging in inquiry

 Idiom Explorations- Students guess the etymology of selected idioms. Exploring the origin of
words. They then write multiple choices questions to exchange with one another.

 Where did ____ come from?- Have students consider the origin of other things in their lives.
Prompts students to engage with prior knowledge and conduct research to learn more.

 Burning Questions- Brain storm a series of burning questions and pick one to develop on in
journals. Another version asks students to brainstorm burning questions about literature they
are engaging with. Either process allows students to explore their thinking.

 Rumor has it- Introducing students to urban myths. Exercise includes picking out true
statements. Research into particular myths and the history behind them. I really love this
activity idea, I think working with urban myths in a classroom would be fascinating. I think a
really great introduction to this activity/lesson would be to have the students participate in a
“Two truths and a lie” warm up activity to get them thinking about the content of the lesson and
activate prior knowledge.
 What the future holds- Can be used for dystopian novels to get the students thinking about
what their future world will be like. The text uses the example Fahernheit 451, but the exercise
could also work well with similar texts such as 1984 and Brave New World.

 How does ____ influence people’s behaviour?- Students examine different factors that can
influence people’s behaviour such as weather, school rules, fear, love, parenting, and the death
of a friend or loved one.

 That is disturbing- Students recall certain pet peeves that set their teeth on edge such as nails on
a chalk board or cotton balls rubbing together. The activity asks students to look through
newspapers to find certain events that they find disturbing and conduct some research on the
topic to gain a well-rounded view on the topic.

 “The day our students lose touch with the joy of inquiry and their sense of intellectual curiosity
is the day I want to stop teaching”.

 Chapter 6 Notes:

 Chapter opens with information on the Columbine massacre that happened at a Colorado high
school

 Analyzes why the tragedy happened.

 How writing can move beyond simply summarizing and into areas that sharpen the writers
ability to think and the readers ability to understand.

 Nursery Rhyme Activity- Create a plausible interpretation to explain the nursery rhyme. Gets
students to start thinking about and analyzing why things happen. Once students come up with
their own interpretations, read the actual interpretation and historical context of them.

 Asking the right questions- How to move students into deeper levels of cognition, must teach
students how to analyze content. Analyzing a picture in multiple steps, realizing more
information every time you look closer and deeper. I really liked this activity described in the
chapter, and it mirrors an activity I included within my unit plan in which students are too
closely analyze a poster and pick out important characteristics and details to try and piece the
story together. I like the idea of taking a five second look, describing what you see, and then
taking a deeper look to analyze more details that make up the picture.

 Comparing and contrasting is a good way to allow students to sharpen their analytical skills.

 Who is to blame? Pick out a major problem and ask students to analyze who is to blame, and
must justify why they are to blame.

 Table topics- Book club edition. Students each draw a card and respond to the question in their
journal. They must provide an answer and justify it.

 Imaginiff- Creating analogies inspired by the board game. Have students draw cards and
respond about themselves.
 Practice with Aphorisms-“an embodying general truth, or astute observation.” Write an
aphorism on the front of the board for students to view as they walk into class. During
attendance, student will write it down and begin to interpret it.

 What’s the connection?- Students find connections between events that explain why they may
have happened. Overcrowding of seagulls on school property due to students not throwing their
garbage away.

 What will happen when ___?- Predictions are only worth listening to when they are supported
by interesting analysis. Students choose from a list of questions and make predictions supported
by specific reasons.

 What would have happened if ___?- Explores how things might have turned out different if one
small detail had been altered. Students then create their own questions, speculating what life
would have been like if one thing had not happened.

 On second thought- An exercise that helps students draw connections between two different
books. Connections can also be made between two seemingly unalike movies artists, politicians,
sports, songs, animals, historical events and television shows. This strategy helps students
analyze content to create deeper meaning and find connections between texts

 Connect the dots-Choose an event in your life and connect the dots that explain how that event
came to be.

 Why do ___ behave that way?- Students explore why sisters, sports fans, coaches, neighbour’s,
and other people in our lives behave in certain ways.

 Jump the Shark- “a defining moment when something in pop culture has reached its peak. That
instant when you know from now on… it will never be the same”. Ask students to pick a tv show
they once enjoyed, but now believe has jumped the shark Students must explain the reason and
exact moment they believe the show lost its creative integrity. This is such a great activity
because it asks students to relate their learning to something they can all relate to.

 Interpreting Song Lyrics- Students choose songs to interpret, and are asked to consider the text
and background details that may have lead them to that conclusion.

 Teaching students how to analyze and interpret literature should be seen as a starting point.

 Chapter 7 Notes:

 How a “would you rather game” can get students thinking about taking a stand.

 In order to take a stand, you must have thoroughly familiarized yourself with both sides of the
argument or issue.

 “The point of the essay is to change things”- Edward Tufte. This quote highlights the importance
of educating yourself on topics and taking a stand.

 Move students beyond the point of simply taking a stand, and shift into a form of writing that
proposes a solution.
 Writing as calls for action that can convince the reader to do something

 Five things you can do to improve your writing- read more, write more, don’t fall in love with
your first draft, get feedback, and notice what other writers are doing.

 Recognizing Problems: Small to Large- Strategies to use to help students awareness of the
problems that might surround them.

 Newspaper hunt. Students are put in groups and given a copy of the day’s newspaper and chart
the issues that come up into a series of columns.

 Twenty-Four-Hour Observation- Students make not of any potential problems they encounter,
see, or hear about in the span of one day.

 Ranking Problems- Ask students to prioritize problems from highest to lowest

 Drafting the Problem-Solution paper- Select one problem to be addressed in a problem solution
paper.

 It is the responsibility of teachers to help prepare their students for the complex nature of the
world that lives ahead of them.

 Chapter 8 Notes:

 First drafting writing is typically lousy, regardless as to who writes it (students or professional
writers)

 How do we motivate students to edit first drafts to make them better?

 How to move past a “one and done” mentality?

 Revision and editing do not mean the same thing

 “Re” means again

 “Vision” means to see

 Revision means to look at your paper again in a new light

 Revision refers to an improvement on the substance of the writing itself, not small grammatical
details.

 Editing will happen in the later stages.

 I really liked how Gallagher displays a visual representation of first and second drafts through
pictures of houses on his street. The house before remodeling is the first draft, and the finished
product of the house after remodeling has taken place is the second draft. I would love to
implement this in my classroom to visualizing show students the purpose and importance of
crafting multiple drafts.

 RADAR- replace, add, delete, and reorder.

 Bring in own samples of writing to model the revision process for students.
 Shows students how the first draft will look almost entirely different from the first, and that is a
good thing.

 How papers “move”.

 When students are being taught specific skills, they need both integrated and simulated
practice. (Students need separate exercises to practice the skill being taught.

 Worksheets alone are ineffective.

 More effective schools used blended kinds of instruction.

 Sentence of the Week- strategy for teaching editing. Three sentences are chosen with a
common editing feature. Students must record what they notice about these three sentences. I
think this exercise is a great way to teach editing in the classroom in small and consistent doses
that serve as good reminds but don’t get too overwhelming for students.

 Revising (making better)

 Editing (making correct)

 Chapter 9 Notes:

 The importance of core beliefs in reference to teaching writing.

 The need to re-energize writing instruction.

 Core Beliefs about Teaching Writing:

 Core Belief #1: The Wizard of Oz would have been a lousy writing teacher

 Lacking leadership skills. Presents a false sense of expertise and hides behind a curtain. He uses
intimidation tactics, and talks at the citizens instead of to them. His initial style fools the citizens
into believing he is a great leader, but he is not. I think this is a very powerful comparison that
Gallagher is making about the importance of being an authentic teacher.

 Highlights the hard work that goes into planning lessons, specifically about Shakespeare, and the
countless hours of preparation that is put into the planning. Since this all happens behind the
curtains, it gives students a false impression of just how much time and effort it has taken to
acquire so much knowledge on the subject.

 In order to show students what it takes to become such a good reader, we must step out from
behind the curtains and demonstrate the preparation that goes into understanding and
comprehending these texts.

 It is implausible to present students with perfectly polished drafts and ask them to replicate
them.

 This section highlights the importance of implementing an “I go, then they go” approach in the
classroom to model the difficult steps writers have to go through to achieve high levels of
writing.
 Core Belief #2: Teachers Should Scaffold Lessons that Help Stretch Young Writers

 Having students emulate others writing is a very important stage. This reminds me of the “Why I
Write” activity we performed in the classroom a few weeks ago, and the class discussion we had
on the value of modeling great writers. After reading a poem entitled “Why I Write”, we were
asked to write our own piece of why we write.

 Three steps students should take when looking at models: Read, Analyze, Emulate.

 Adopting the “I go, then they go” approach takes young writers through zones of development.

 Providing models of writing through teachers or professional writers is an important form of

 Core Belief #3: Background Knowledge Plays a Large Role in Learning How to Write Better

 Lack of domain specific knowledge can impact student’s ability to comprehend certain
sentences.

 Lack of background knowledge can interfere with a student’s ability to write.

 Providing readers with an opportunity to be exposed to a variety of readings can help fill in
some of these gaps

 Core Belief #4: Teachers Should Emphasize the Value of Second and Third Wave Thinking

 Important to realize that your first idea if not always your best idea Rich thinking evolves over
time as students interact more with the idea. I have found this especially true in my own writing.
I like to brainstorm essay ideas or topics, leave them for a while, then return back to them and
continue to brainstorm and elaborate more on my ideas.

 Teaching students to wait for the second, fifth, or fourteenth wave.

 Core Belief #5: There is No Such Thing as a Five Paragraph Essay

 In the real world, five paragraph essays are not actually common.

 Students do need structure in an essay- a beginning, middle, and end.

 Beginning, middle, end, thesis, clear purpose, and recognized audience is far more important.

 Five paragraph essays can restrict a student’s ability to grow in their writing.

 Core Belief #6: Students Need More Time to Write, and They Need More Time to be Coached
How to Write

 In order to become an expert at anything, one must practice

 Deliberate practicing that focuses on a task that is beyond your competence and comfort level.

 Students are not being given enough time to deliberately practice their writing

 Core Belief #7: Students Should Not Lose the Skill of Writing by Hand
 Writing by hand can often produce a different, and richer level of thinking than typing words out
on a keyboard. This is a really interesting fact to learn, especially with recent debates over the
importance of hand writing in schools in such a technologically driven world. With this fact in
mind, I will take more care to ensure that writing and keyboard tasks are given equal weight in
my future classrooms.

 Writing by hand can improve idea composition and expression, and can aid in fine motor skill
development.

 Students who wrote by hand had neural activity that was more advanced and similar to that of
an adults.

 Core Belief #8: Model What is Right, Not What is Wrong

 It is important to not be constantly picking out what is wrong with student writing. If you want
students to write good essays, provide them with good models to emulate. Rather than fixating
on what is considered wrong in essay writing, model what is right for your students.

 Focus on what good writers do, not on mistakes writers make.

 Core Belief #9: There are Other Purposes for Writing Than Those Emphasized in This Book

 There are countless other real world purposes for writing other than the categories listed in the
book (Express and reflect, Inform and explain, Evaluate and judge, Inquire and explore, Analyze
and interpret, Take a stand/propose a solution.

 Core Belief #10: Purposes for Writing Should be Blended

 Writing in the real world is considered messy, and different forms of writing may need to be
blended together.

 Keeping these core beliefs in mind can help you move writing to the forefront of your classroom
experience.