Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling and Mentor Texts

Kelly, a baseballoholic and a self-described expert at negotiating airports, is in his 33rd year of teaching at the high school level. He currently teaches at Magnolia High School in Anaheim, California. He believes that there is no greater pleasure than teaching someone something. Teaching is artistic, it matters a great deal, and I can never get the job down perfectly. Kelly thinks that professional development should treat teachers as such - professionals. I know in the classroom that good things happen when my students have meaningful discussions. I know as a teacher myself that my craft sharpens when I am given the opportunity to have meaningful discussions with my peers. And let's have a laugh or two while we are at it. Writing his six books for Stenhouse was a solitary experience. Though I have written outlines prior to each of my books, I have yet to follow any of them step-by-step. That is why I find writing rewarding - because the act of writing itself generates new thinking, and new thinking is always exciting.