Author: Kelly Gallagher

There are a glut of books on education and while most of them have nuggets of ideas, or motivational boosts, it’s hard to find one you will reference and use as a mine of usefulness.

Gallagher did just that with this release.

At its core, this book is about teaching students to write in a way that is engaging, authentic and educational. It’s based on the teacher being the writing mentor, demonstrating how to write by doing it in front of their students. It’s brilliant because it takes away the mystique of the writing process itself and gives students an exemplar.

What makes this book really useful, however, are the endless exercises (with examples) Gallagher provides. Reading each one instilled excitement as I could see myself doing it with my own students while cursing I didn’t read this at the beginning of the year.

This book stays close to me as it’s now being referenced on almost a daily basis. If you’re a teacher and you teach writing in any capacity, this is worth picking up.