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Mentor Texts For Writing SuccessSamantha Bartrom Writing Specialist Coastal AcademyNovember 5, 2015
Nobody but a reader ever became a
writer. -Richard Peck
What Are Mentor Texts?
● A mentor text is any piece of writing that can be used to teach a writer about some aspect of writer’s craft.
● The best mentor texts are those that can be used numerous times throughout the school year to demonstrate many different characteristics of a text.
What can be a mentor text?
Books (Picture & Chapter) Writing samples Newspaper articles
Song lyrics Other mentor text ideas:
● Your own writing!● Cartoons ● Speeches ● Poems
● Instruction manuals
● Recipes● Magazines
Why Use Mentor Texts?
● Helps students envision possibilities for their own writing.● Provides a model of what great writing looks like. ● Helps students to grow as it gives them something to emulate.● Encourages students to take risks in their writing and try something new. ● Mentor texts inspire and ignite writers. ● Mentor texts help us to “show” not just “tell” our students what great writing
looks like. ● Real life application: This is how REAL writers work-- they look to other writers
for ideas and ways to craft and structure their writing.
Research Supports the Use Of Mentor Texts...
MentorTexts
Mentor Texts
Steal Like an Artist
“Nobody is born with a style or voice. We don’t come out of the womb knowing who we are. In the beginning, we learn by pretending to be our heroes.
We learn by copying.
We’re talking about practice here, not plagarism- plagarism is trying to pass someone else’s work off as your own. Copying is about reverse-engineering. It
It’s like a mechanic taking apart a car to see how it works.”
-Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
“With a room full of authors to help us teach, teaching writing doesn’t have to be so lonely.”
-Katie Wood Ray, Wondrous Words
Mentor Texts & the Homeschooling Family…
● “I don’t feel qualified to teach writing to my student.” ● Allows for the flexibility to select mentor texts individualized to student
interests. ● Personalizes education by selecting topics which address areas of focus or
improvement for your student. ● Mentor texts can be used with the entire family. ● Can be used and taught anywhere.
Mentor texts offer instant support to parent educators by providing a framework to follow and structure to lean on.
Ways To Use Mentor Texts: Idea: the text inspires the writer to create an original idea based on one from the text. (Examples: memoirs, specific ideas, juicy details, etc).
Structure: the text presents on organizational structure that the writer tries to emulate using original ideas. (Example: Beginning, middle, end).
Written Craft: the author’s writing style, ways with words or sentence structures inspires the writer to try out the techniques. (Examples: figurative language, sensory details, sentence structure, etc).
Kelly Gallagher ● Reading, writing, listening and speaking teacher with
30+ years of experience. ● Today, he is an author/consultant working with
school districts around the world. ● Considered one of the leading voices in literacy
education.
Steps to Using Mentor Texts
Select a text to emulate and reread-one that inspires an idea, models a structure, or demonstrates an author’s craft worth trying.
1. Read it (Read like a reader)2. Analyze it (Read like a writer)3. Emulate it (Write like the writer)
-adapted from Kelly Gallagher
Read Like a Writer What does it mean?
● Read to identify the choices the author made so you can better understand how these choices might arise in your own writing.
● Reading to learn about writing.
When You Read Like A Writer...
● Word choice● Sentence structure● Organization ● And....
What questions would you ask as a writer?
By: Steve Peha
When You Read Like A Writer You Annotate and Read Closely:
● Read with a pen or highlighter in hand.
● Make comments in the margins. ● Write yourself notes and
summaries. ● Look for patterns.
Underline and highlights the passage in the text itself and ask yourself:
❏ What is the technique the author is using here?
❏ Is this technique effective? ❏ What would be the advantages
and disadvantages if I tried this same technique in my own writing?
Let’s try this together!
Practice Makes Progress!
Topic of the mini lesson
Mentor
Text
Is this mentor text lesson focusing on assisting students with idea, structure or written craft?
Directions:
“As I read this story to you, I want you to be carefully listening to places where the author uses sensory details to paint a picture in our mind with her words. Who can remind me of an example of a sensory detail?”
“When you hear an example of a sensory detail I want you to write it under where did the author do something special.”
ANALYZE THE TEXT
EmulatePretend you are going to the movie theatre with your family. Write a short story (1 paragraph) that describes your experience at the movie theatre. Your paragraph should use sensory details that paint a picture in my mind.
Student Samples
Another Approach To Mentor Texts...
● Mentor texts can be used to help students compare and contrast two different things: writing genres, two or more topics (cross curricular), etc.
● For now, let’s focus on using mentor texts two compare two writing genres: narrative and expository.
Why should students know how to compare and contrast the various writing genres? Why does it matter?
Teach: Qualities of Narrative vs. Expository Writing
Steps To This Mentor-Text Lesson:
1. Identify qualities of a narrative2. Read narrative mentor text3. Have students find evidence in
the mentor text. 4. Identify qualities of expository
writing. 5. Read expository mentor text.6. Have students find evidence in
the mentor text.7. Discussion: Compare/contrast
Considerations When Choosing a Mentor Text
● Quality vs. Quantity● Having the end in
mind● You have to love it● Student interest ● Worthy of rereading!
Other Questions To Consider...
● Does the book provide examples of the kind of writing you want from your students?
● Can it be revisited multiple times for a number of purposes?● Do you have a variety of genres? ● Do they address diversity?
Looking Ahead...
● How can I implement mentor texts at my site? What is necessary to successfully train teachers & parent educators?
● Let go of black and white thinking… ● How can I assess whether or not my use of mentor texts is successful? ● Begin to gather mentor texts for the three categories (idea, craft, structure).● Think of out of the box ways to provide mentor texts to families… (video
recording, audio, eBooks, etc) ● How is your school site encouraging collaboration and the sharing of ideas?
We MUST teach our parent educators!
If you hired a teacher with no formal education or training would you expect them to be successful?
Ways To Teach and Empower Parent Educators:
❏ Parent Professional Development Opportunities (subject based, brain based learning, support groups, etc).
❏ Meaningful parent conferences with credentialed teachers (how often?)
❏ Home visits ❏ Online support (wikis, websites, etc). ❏ Invite parents to observe teachers’ writing
instruction (live or recorded) ❏ Coffee Chats (w/ area specialist or admin.) ❏ Teacher Tube (www.teachertube.com) ❏ Follow Up and CONSISTENCY is KEY!
Online Mentor Text Resources
● Mentor Text for the Traits of Writing http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/mentor-texts-traits-writing
● Corbitt Harrison http://corbettharrison.com/mentortext.html● Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/nwilli/teaching-with-mentor-text/● Writing Mentor Texts http://www.mauryk12.org/Literacy/writing%20mentor%
20texts.htm● More Mentor Text Ideas
http://www.mauryk12.org/Literacy/writing%20mentor%20texts.htm
Mentor Text Resources (Books)
Questions? Comments? Ideas?
Thank You For Attending! My contact information:
Samantha Bartrom Writing Specialist/ Director of ASBCoastal Academy [email protected]
**Email me to schedule an observation of a live writing lesson. :)
