Sheree Shown
Book Review #4: 7/11/0
Strong, William, Coaching Writing: The Power of Guided Practice
Heinemann, Portsmouth New Hampshire, 2001
I had expected a text on sentence combining alone, but I found in Coaching Writing much more: background on Strong himself, a well-researched justification of the practice of sentence combining, and a variety of other tips concerning the coaching [teaching] of writing.
The first part of the book dealt primarily with the coaching of syntax and usage. Here, of course, sentence combining works its wonders. Strong emphasized the aural nature of language and the need for students to participate by reading their combinations to the group. He stressed that the initial combinations were only the beginning. Through questioning, details to the story presented were achieved, and more formal writings were often produced in combination with these two exercises. Strong encourages teachers to make up their own sentence combining exercises from a variety of sources (literature read in class, nonfiction texts, current events, moral issues, etc.) and to use student kernels as well. He notes that fear often shuts down learning, but as "research teams" students in groups can alleviate fears. Sentence combining, after all, allows for mistakes to be made in a workshop-style environment.
In subsequent chapters, Strong talked about coaching style (adapting to the content and audience of a piece), and paragraphs. In the latter, he relied a great deal on the work of Rebekah Caplan and her book, Writers in Training. This was wonderful, as I use this book as one of my foundation practices in my own teaching. This chapter (5) was rich, describing how a teacher can add variety to daily workshops: showing, not telling; undoing cliches; encouraging brevity, developing vocab (through showing writing), developing reading comprehension, showing ideas through a single sentence, modeling paragraphs and styles, etc. It was gratifying to know that Strong appreciated Caplan’s work as much as I do.
The final chapters dealt with coaching voice (relying heavily on examining point of view and offering many outstanding examples), collaboration (cross-age writing was one example here), genre (the various modes — a nice chart here!), and assessment, ending with a chapter about the "Zen" of coaching itself (going beyond the classroom to encourage positive experiences and attitudes in response to writing).
Each chapter contains wonderful narratives written by Strong and other writers, as well as charts, examples and exercises that are very useful and instructive. I would encourage any teacher, regardless of experience, to take a look at this book. It goes far beyond instructing its readers in the art of sentence combing; it clearly illustrates the art of teaching at its best.