Kelly Gallagher is my HERO, and he should be yours too!

  

                So before we even get started for the summer, I need to share one of my heroes with you.  Kelly Gallagher is a reading and writing EXPERT. Everything he says is gold. No lie. He has written several books. Below are a few that I have bought and implemented in my SS class for reading and writing strategies.  I love his books, because he doesn't just talk about the importance of reading and writing. He really breaks it down for you in a way that you and (more importantly) your kids can get behind. He also includes specific strategies, activities, and frameworks that you can bring into your classroom and weave into any content area class. 

The first book of Gallagher's that every teacher should read is called Readicide. 

Readicide explains what schools and teachers do to rob children of the joy and magic of reading. While you're reading it, you will have a ton of lightbulb moments about your own reading habits and the reading habits of your students. It also gives instruction on how to get students invested in reading again. 

The second book could definitely be used alongside this Readicide. It is called Reading Reasons: Motivational Mini-Lessons for Middle and High School. It has PRE-PLANNED mini-lessons (with handouts!!!) to help you motivate students to read. Who doesn't love a lesson that is planned FOR you? 

Number 3 is another book about reading, but also has a focus on writing and how writing deepens reading. We all know how hard it is to get students to go back and read a text deeper than they did the first time. This book shows you how to deepen comprehension AND how to improve writing at the same time. Gallagher convinces you that reading and writing can not be taught separately. They each improve the other. 

The last book I haven't read, but it comes highly recommended from another ELA teacher at my school who will be teaching at KIPP next year. It is called Write Like This and is apparently chocked full of writing strategies to help groom students into better writers who can make it in the real world.  

Hopefully Kelly Gallagher will become your hero at some point in your teaching career, whether you teach ELA or any other content area.