REVIEWSJOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER 20062Write for Insight:Empowering Content AreaLearning, Grades 6–12Reviewed by Tom Romano, Miami University, Oxford,Ohio, USA.Write for Insight is a gift from one of the elders ofthe literacy tribe. This latest book by WilliamStrong is loaded with ideas and strategies for allteachers to use writing “as a tool for learning (orrefining content knowledge” (p. 8; emphasis inthe original). For more than 40 years, Strong hasworked in and thought about middle school andhigh school literacy instruction, most of thoseyears at Utah State University, where he taughtwriting, English education, and content area liter-acy. He also founded and then directed the UtahWriting Project for 25 years. His voice is vivid,reasonable, and persuasive.Strong places his pedagogical faith in writ-ing, that act in which we systematically engage themagical tool of language. And it is magical, albeitmagic in reverse. Instead of “now you see it, nowyou don’t,” language works as “now you don’t seeit, now you do.” Through writing, students leavepassivity and bring their personal ways of know-ing and communicating to develop insight oncontent they are studying. Insight, as Strong de-fines it, is “a sudden ‘seeing from within’” (p. 1).For those who write, insight is common asmud. We start writing words, and our innate ca-pacity with language completes a sentence. Webegin with only an image, and the language weconjure leads to new ideas. We choose words todescribe something, and those very words createclarity, depth, and nuance we did not perceive be-fore we wrote.All the ideas in Write for Insight are class-room tested, and most apply to any subject area.One chapter, for example, is titled “Tapping thePower of Metaphor.” Strong knows that whenstudents extend metaphors, they enter “an atten-tive state of mind” (p. 79) that connects, associ-ates, and learns. How does photosynthesisoperate like a factory? How does air pollution be-have like a monster? How is war similar to an ava-lanche? In addition to writing-as-thinkingstrategies that fit any subject, Strong also address-es ideas to specific content areas. He provides anappendix of writing assignments and the rubricsto assess them for the subjects of health, English,music, mathematics, history, and biology.The quality of imagination suffuses Writefor Insight. Certainly when students play withmetaphors to think about a concept, imaginationis at work. Imagination is also at work whenStrong asks teachers to invite students to createpertinent dialogue. What would Walt Whitmanand Emily Dickinson say to each other aboutwriting poetry? What would Galileo andCopernicus say about the structure of the uni-verse? How would the numerator and the de-nominator discuss their functions? (Would theirconversation be fractious?) The goal of suchimaginative forays is to get students to thinkabout content. But as a writer, Strong also knowsthat imagination is crucial to the basic work thatserious writers do: imagining an audience, a pur-pose, a genre.Years ago, I would say to content area teach-ers, “It isn’t that I want you to teach writing. I justProfessional materialsMaterials for review should be sent to Rebecca Stewart,Reviews Editor, at the International Reading Association, 800 Barksdale Road, Newark, DE 19711-3269, USA.want you to use writing to help students learn.”Strong has made me rethink that stance. We wantstudents to become smart about writing. We wantthem to write with voice, substance, and clarity.All teachers—not just English teachers—can helpstudents achieve this. Strong offers sound adviceabout teaching writing for content area teachersnot necessarily schooled in teaching writing. Hehas chapters titled “Designing Assignments andRubrics,”“Managing the Writing Process,”“Coaching and Judging Writing,” and “HelpingBasic Writers Succeed.”The bane of many content teachers is the re-search paper. Strong has a chapter on that, too. In“Researching Outside the Box” he offers alterna-tives to the traditional research paper, which is sooften mind numbing for students to write andteachers to read. Strong recommends TheSaturation Report, The I-Search Paper, and TheMultigenre Project, all of which produce researchthat is personalized and “isn’t constrained byrigid exposition formats and the dry voice of aca-demic detachment” (p. 145).Write for Insight can transform teachers’pedagogy and enhance their students’ learning.But it has something else, too. It’s a teacher edu-cation book with attitude, “a clear call to armsthat targets fakery as education’s Public EnemyNumber One” (p. 3).What is fakery? Here are examples: studentsgetting grades without learning; teachers domi-nating classrooms with talk instead of letting stu-dents experiment, assigning writing as a timefiller or punishment; students seeking the mini-mum or padding for the maximum; assumingthat good writing uses a stilted, artificial voiceand a formula (i.e., the five-paragraph essay); en-gaging in intellectual dishonesty by downloadingreports and research papers from the Internet; orthinking that the teaching and learning enterprisecannot be engaging, fun, and also rigorous.Fakery is easy. Writing, on the other hand, ishard, interesting work. “[I]n the difficulty,” Strongpoints out, “lies both the attraction and the joy”(p. 167).At a recent professional conference, a friendsaid to me about Write for Insight, “This might beBill’s best book.” Her claim was impressive, be-cause Strong has published more than a dozenbooks and teacher resources during a long andproductive academic career. I am inclined toagree with my friend, only I would replace “mightbe” with “is.”William Strong. 2005. Boston: Pearson/Allyn &Bacon. 196 pp. US$28.99.REVIEWSJOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT & ADULT LITERACY 50:3 NOVEMBER 2006