Coaching Writing in Content Areas

Description

From one of America’s most respected writing professors–practical, motivating strategies for making writing a tool for learning, and for integrating it into content area instruction. This resource helps new and veteran teachers work smarter, not harder. Prompted by a “near-total neglect of writing” in content areas outside English, and drawing on the work of expert teachers, Bill Strong shows how write-for-insight coaching strategies enhance content learning. The clear, personal voice of the book–coupled with its rich examples–has made the first edition a “thumbs-up” favorite with National Writing Project sites across the nation. Early chapters of the book show how expressive writing can spark active learning; the later chapters demonstrate how public writing can extend student knowledge, preparing students for future success in academic and employment arenas. Written by a masterful teacher of teachers, the book’s friendly, thought-provoking style is appropriate for both in-service and pre-service teachers in diverse disciplines.•Practical, classroom-tested strategies help learners make personal learning connections in all content areas. •End-of-chapter “Write for Insight Activities” offer tools for instructors and workshop leaders to use in pre- and in-service courses. •Model prompts and rubrics help teachers develop imaginative tasks and rubrics tied to each content area. •Research-proven strategies for coaching struggling readers and writers are discussed and demonstrated. •Expressive writing activities like note-taking, drawing, summarizing, brainstorming, and metaphor-building are illustrated in content area contexts •Strategies for managing student groups and coaching students to take pride in revision are offered in later chapters. •Alternative formats to the traditional research paper–and strategies for avoiding Internet plagiarism–are included. •A “Coaching and Judging Writing” chapter helps content area teachers avoid the “Red Pencil Blues.”

This practical resource is designed to help new and veteran teachers work smarter, not harder. Written by one of America’s most respected writing professors, Coaching Writing in Content Areas is packed with Write-for-Insight strategies. These motivating, ready-to-use strategies help make writing a tool for learning, integrating it into content area instruction.

 

In this coaching guide, Bill Strong draws on the work of expert content teachers. Early chapters show how expressive writing can spark active learning; the later chapters demonstrate how public writing can extend students’ knowledge, preparing them for future success in academic and employment arenas.

 

The clear, personal voice of the book coupled with its rich examples made the first edition a “thumbs-up” favorite with writing project sites across the nation. Now the second edition has been updated to include:

• A new chapter, “Writing in a Digital World” (Ch. 10).
• Profiles of expert content-area teachers in real-life settings, including examples in the areas of health, science, mathematics, social studies, and language arts.
• New samples of writing prompts, rubrics, and student writing.
• Fresh examples of “flexible teaming,” “wall text,” and “cubing” strategies.
• A simplified and streamlined framework of discourse categories in the Preface.
• A new overview of 11 research-based strategies for teaching writing to adolescents in the Epilogue.
• Updated references and a reorganized Table of Contents.

Praise for the first edition:

“Bill Strong presents a clear and compelling case for using writing to learn as a tool across the curriculum. The author’s anecdotes and his rich, descriptive writing draw the reader into this thought-provoking text and the wealth of practical strategies and activities presented give content area teachers concrete ideas to implement in their classrooms.”

—Carol Booth Olson, UCI Writing Project, University of California, Irvine

 

“William Strong’s …book…is easily the freshest, smartest, and most readable addition to the secondary Writing Across the Curriculum literature in recent years. Beautifully written and intellectually engaging, Write for Insight’s 10 chapters lay out processes and procedures to guide content teachers interested in integrating writing into their curricula but unsure how to proceed.”

–Kathleen Dudden Rowlands, “A Review of Write for Insight: Empowering Content Area Learning, Grades 6—12,” The WAC Journal

 

“Write for Insight is a gift from one of the elders of the literacy tribe. This…book by William Strong is loaded with ideas and strategies for all teachers to use writing ‘as a tool for learning (or refining) content knowledge’ (p. 8; emphasis in the original).”

–Tom Romano, “Professional Materials: Write for Insight: Empowering Content Area Learning, Grades 6—12,” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy (Copyright © 2006 by the International Reading Association)

Foreword by Dan Kirby

About the Author

PREFACE Introducing Insight

New to This Edition

Now a Small Confession

Writing and Skiing

Learning Together

Why Writing Matters

Good News from NAEP

Writing on the Home Front

Mapping the Chapters

Acknowledgments

Write for Insight Activity

1 Writing from the Inside Out

Remembered Writing

Narration as Knowledge

Prompting Narrative

Literacy Autobiographies

Reflecting on Narrative

Content Area Examples

Narrative Insights

Write for Insight Activity

2 Challenging the Hidden Curriculum

Teacher as Writer

Resistance to Writing

The Hidden Curriculum of Writing

Roots of the Hidden Curriculum

Writing without Grades

Note-Taking and Note-Making

Resisting the Hidden Curriculum

Making Learning Personal

Writing-to-Learn Samples

Thinking Outside the Box

Write for Insight Activity

3 Exploring Expressive Writing

Windows to the Heart

Opening Expressive Windows

Quotation Prompts

Guided Imagery

Dramatic Scenarios (Cases)

Role-Playing

Dialogue Writing

A Reader/Writer Dialogue

Write for Insight Activity

4 Tapping the Power of Metaphor

Valentine’s Day

The Power of Metaphor

Exercising Metaphor

More about Metaphor

Using Semantic Charts

Using Pattern Poems

Metaphors in Prose

Metaphors of Teaching

Write for Insight Activity

5 Helping Basic Writers Succeed

Basics of Good Teaching

Wall Text Basics

Back to Human Basics

Developing Transcribing Skill

Using Content-Based Dictation

Summarizing and Paraphrasing

Teaching Basics Strategically

Sentence-Combining Basics

Workshop-Style Teaching

A Bridge to Literacy

Write for Insight Activity

6 Designing Assignments and Rubrics

Darth Vader in Action

Assignments by Design

Assignments to Motivate

Ten Design Principles

Context + RAFT = CRAFT

Case Study of an Assignment

Content Area Writing Tasks

Darth Vader Revisited

Write for Insight Activity

7 Managing the Writing Process

Coaching Writing

Visualizing the Writing Process

Understanding the Model

Guiding Cycle 1 Activities (Prewriting)

Guiding Cycle 2 Activities (Revising)

Prompting Self-Assessment

Bumps in Process Teaching

Managing Collaborative Writing

Write for Insight Activity

8 Coaching and Judging Writing

Responding to Writing

Thinking about Assessment

Coaching versus Judging

Getting Ready to Coach

Up-Front Coaching

Coaching as Response

Audiotape Coaching

Getting Ready to Judge

Judging Portfolios

Coaching as a Lifetime Sport

Write for Insight Activity

9 Researching Outside the Box

A Research Story

Personalized Research

The Saturation Report

A Student Saturation Report

The I-Search Paper

Multigenre Research Project

Challenging Advanced Students

Traditional Guided Research

The Problem of Fakery

Write for Insight Activity

10 Writing in a Digital World

Cultural Divide

iPod Inspiration

WebQuest Nation

PowerPoint Pedagogy

A Gift of Glogs

Guerrilla Journalism

Classroom Demonstration

Blogging Basics

Exploratory First Steps

Write for Insight Activity

EPILOGUE

Revisiting Insight

Listening to Students

Coaching with Insight

Leveling with Students

The “Writing Next” Report

Listening to Research

Write for Insight Activity

APPENDIX A Literacy Autobiography Case Study

APPENDIX B Bob Tierney’s Concept-Trigger Words

APPENDIX C Macie Wolfe’s Cubing Activity

APPENDIX D Generic Graphic Organizers

APPENDIX E Content Area Writing Assignments

References

Index

•NEW! “Writing in a Digital World,” (Ch. 10) showcases how some content teachers now use technology to engage tech-savvy students. •NEW! Profiles of expert content-area teachers illustrate write-for-insight coaching in real-life settings. Examples in the areas of health, science, mathematics, social studies, and language arts are included. •NEW! New samples of writing prompts, rubrics, and student writing broaden the range of coaching illustrations. •NEW! “Flexible teaming” and “wall text” are introduced as coaching strategies, and an extended vignette illustrates these strategies in action. •NEW! A simplified and streamlined framework of discourse categories is provided in the Preface, making the material more accessible for content teachers. •NEW! A new Epilogue overviews 11 research-based strategies for teaching writing to adolescents. •NEW! Updated references and a reorganized Table of Contents are included.

William Strong has worked in middle school and high school literacy instruction for over four decades. Besides presenting hundreds of workshops and many conference talks, he has authored a dozen books and teacher resources, including Coaching Writing: The Power of Guided Practice (Heinemann, 2001). Bill was the consulting author in composition for the Writer’s Choice textbooks (Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2001) and the series consultant for English Matters! (Grolier, 2000), and he served for ten years on the National Writing Project Advisory Board. In addition, Bill founded the Utah Writing Project at Utah State University and directed it for 25 years while also teaching courses in content area literacy, English education, and writing. Both his teaching and research have received college-level awards, and professional groups have honored him for his statewide leadership in pre-service and in-service teacher education. He enjoys downhill skiing, motorcycle touring, and working with school districts and National Writing Project sites. Readers can contact the author at Bill.Strong@usu.edu or wcstrong@msn.com.

Coaching Writing in Content Areas: Write-for-Insight Strategies, Grades 6—12, Second Edition, is packed with practical, motivating strategies for making writing a tool for learning, and for integrating it into content area instruction. Designed to help new and veteran teachers work smarter, not harder, the book is written by William Strong, one of America’s most respected writing instructors. The clear, personal voice of the book and its illustrative examples drawn from the work of expert teachers made the first edition a “thumbs-up” favorite with National Writing Project sites across the nation. This new edition expands these features, covers new strategies, and includes new samples of assignments, rubrics, and student writing throughout.

Additional information

Dimensions	19.68 × 271.65 × 350.39 in
Imprint	Pearson
Format	gen
ISBN-13	09780132690041
ISBN-10	0132690047
Author	William Strong
BISAC	EDU046000
Subjects	higher education, EDU046000, Vocational / Professional Studies, Teacher Education, Literacy TED, Content Area Reading / Literacy (K-12)