This document provides an overview of a book study on the book "Write Like This" about teaching real-world writing. It discusses introducing students to different real-world writing purposes and having teachers model their own writing process. The plan is to have blog questions posted biweekly that relate to chapters in the book focusing on different writing purposes like expressing, informing, evaluating, inquiring, analyzing and taking a stand. The goal is for teachers to mentor students as writers by demonstrating their own writing struggles and thinking process.

1. Welco
me!
Write Like This
ELA Book Study

2. Do your students write well
enough to become police
officers?
California Highway Patrol
candidates take tests that

3. In each of the pairs, identify the
sentence that is most clearly
written:
A. Bullet fragments were gathered by
officers in envelopes.
B. Bullet fragments were gathered in
envelopes by officers.
A. The next time Mary was in town, she
agreed to have lunch with Sue.
B. Mary agreed to have lunch with Sue the
next time she was in town.

4. Choose the word or phrase that
most nearly has the same meaning
as the underlined word:
It was not a very pragmatic idea.
a. plausible b. serious c. practical d.
sensible
She was a ______________________ worker.
a. conscentious b. conscintious
Choose the correct spelling of the
missing word:

5. Sample Prompt
Events or situations in lives often produce
unexpected responses. We may find
ourselves reacting in better or worse ways
than we would have thought. Write about a
time when your reactions to an event or a
situation in life were not what you would
have expected. Describe the event and
explain how your response surprised you.
Scored 1 -6 on a scoring guide.
Effectively to the task, explores the issues, is

6. Writing in Today’s World
“Writing plays a critical role in gaining and
keeping
meaningful employment.” Gallagher
“People who cannot write and communicate
will not be hired, and if already working, are
unlikely to last long enough to be considered
for promotion.” National Commission on Writing 2004
“Writing well is not just an option for young
people- it’s a necessity… a predictor of

7. Two Premises for Building
Real-World Writers
1.Introduce Young Writers to
Real-World Discourses
2. Provide Students with
Extensive Teacher and Real-
World Models

8. Real-World Writing
Purposes
Make one
topic
become 18

9. Real-World Writing
Purposes
Gallagher proposes six
different purposes p. 10
Express and Reflect
Inform and Explain
Evaluate and Judge
Inquire and Explore
Analyze and Interpret
Take a Stand/Propose a Solution

10. Real-World Writing
PurposesStudents are able to pick a topic and write about
the same topic with different purposes.
p. 13 Danielle’s 1 Topic= 18 Topics Chart
Volleyball
Express and Reflect – How I came to love volleyball.
Inform and Explain- Explain the rules of the game.
Evaluate and Judge- The worst game I ever had.
Inquire and Explore- What is the history of volleyball?
Analyze and Interpret- Why did we lose that match again
Savanna HS?
Take a Stand/Propose a Solution- The referees need

11. Real-World Writing
Purposes
Be the mentor for your students as
writers.
Gallagher says “No strategy improves my
students’ writing more than having my
students watch and listen to me as I write
and think aloud. None.”
Elementary teachers are routinely the writing

12. The Formula
Teach your students real-world
writing purposes
+
Teacher who models his or her struggles
with the writing process
+

13. The Plan
Ch. 2 Express and Reflect – Blog Questions by
11/6/13
Ch. 3 Inform and Explain- Blog Questions by
12/4/13
Ch. 4 Evaluate and Judge- Blog Questions by
12/4/13
Ch. 5 Inquire and Explore- Blog Questions by
1/8/14
Ch. 6 Analyze and Interpret- Blog Questions by
1/8/14
Ch. 7 Take a Stand/Propose a Solution Blog

14. The Blog
http://gcswritelikethis13-
14.blogspot.com/
Questions will be ready at least
two weeks before the due
date.

15. The Blog
Thank you for coming
today.
I hope you will find this
book study a valuable