Coaching Writing in Content Areas

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.

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