Choice Lit Topic: Mentor Texts
It’s all about the right book at the right time, given to the right student or used in the right lesson . . .
Here is where we gather all those suggestions from our contributors for using mentor texts, including lesson protocols and scores of video examples.
Results
Mentor Texts and Important Reminders
Sometimes when I am working with students, we delve into a mentor text and find so many elements to admire that it becomes overwhelming instead of inspiring. As with so...
Building Relationships with Authors
The whole concept of mentorship is based on people and the learning relationships between them, so the only authentic way to approach the idea of mentorship with children is to...
Get in the Pool: Teachers Who Write
I always wanted to be a writer. As a little girl, I kept notebooks and folders filled with loose-leaf pages of my latest novel. I wrote a lot of haunted-house...
Using Paired Texts with Beginning Readers
“Have you seen my cat?” read Chloe, a kindergartner, purposefully pointing to each word as she read it. “Wow!” said Bridget, Chloe’s surprised teacher. “How did you know what that...
Replicating or Deepening?
I remember well during my first year of teaching middle school when an experienced (and intimidating) colleague reprimanded me for “stealing” a popular poem he claimed was “his” to teach....
Opening the Year with Optimism
It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see. Henry David Thoreau In early August I invited my students from last year to meet up with...
Using Mentor Texts to Craft Leads
“Hook the reader” is a phrase that we hear often during writing instruction when students are crafting their leads or introductions for their writing pieces, and it is, essentially, one...
From Mentor Texts to Mentors in First Grade
This summer I’ve become hooked on podcasts, from writers such as Elizabeth Gilbert, who hosts the podcast Magic Lessons, and Tricia Bobeda and Greta Johnson, who host the Nerdette podcast...
Mentors for Process and Habits
If you are familiar with David Shannon’s book David Goes to School, it is clear that...
Mentor Texts for Crafting Nonfiction
Melanie Meehan talks with a third-grade teacher about how she introduces craft elements in nonfiction mentor texts.
Modeling Nonfiction Writing for English Language Learners
Stella Villalba models nonfiction writing for her first- and second-grade English language learners, and in the process integrates vocabulary instruction into her lesson. This is the first video in a...
From Compliments to Challenges: The Conferring Card
Melanie Meehan uses a conferring card in her writing conference with Cara to ensure she has a record of the strengths and revision possibilities they discussed.
Extended Inquiry with Article of the Week
I have been using Kelly Gallagher’s “Article of the Week” strategy in my classroom for some time now. On Mondays, I introduce an interesting or pertinent article to my students...
Getting Mentor Texts in Students’ Hands
Ever since I learned about the value of mentor texts to help students’ writing, I have tried to use them as often as possible. I thought I was doing a...
Understanding Character Traits: Part 2
Jason DiCarlo leads a lesson in a third-grade classroom about understanding character traits. He continues the lesson with a read-aloud of the book Henry's Freedom Box. This is the second...
Mentor Texts and Memoir Writing
Writing is only reading turned inside out. John Updike One of the things that I struggle with at times in my writing is where and how to begin. I...
Resources for Quick-Writes
Last summer I stumbled across Linda Rief’s book, 100 Quickwrites: Fast and Effective Freewriting Exercises That Build Students’ Confidence, Develop Their Fluency, and Bring Out the Writer in Every Student....
Moving Beyond Bed-to-Bed Stories in First Grade
First I went on the play structure and then I went on the swings and then I saw a butterfly and then I saw my friends and then we drove...
Ralph Fletcher on Mentor Texts (PODCAST)
Ralph Fletcher's status as a writer and teacher is legendary in elementary schools. He is the author of many books for teachers and children. In this podcast, Ralph and Franki...
Launching a Punctuation Study in Second Grade
Linda Karamatic begins a punctuation study with her second graders, sharing mentor texts, starting an anchor chart, and engaging students in punctuation inquiry partnerships.
Using Picture Books to Foster Resilience
Each year as we work to build a strong classroom community, my fourth graders and I read several picture books focused on learning and working with others. Many focus on...
