Coaching Writing in Content Areas: Write-for-Insight Strategies, Grades 6-12 - Paperback

by William Strong (Author)

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.

Back Jacket

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 (c) 2006 by the International Reading Association)

Author Biography

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.