Over the next few weeks, we are preparing for the publication of our book, Writing with Mentors, by sharing our most popular mentor text-related posts over the last two years. This week, we are sharing “Questions to Help You Choose Mentor Texts”. Finding the right mentor texts can be daunting in a world full of words, but […]
Author: Rebekah O'Dell
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Moving Writers’ Summer Mentor Text Countdown – Week 1
School is winding down, and summer is upon us, but Allison & I are just getting started as we gear up for the September 3rd release of our first book with Heinemann, Writing with Mentors. We are working on some exciting things to share with you as we get closer to the official launch! In the meantime, […]
Our Top 3 Tips for Using Your Summer to Plan Next Year’s Writing Workshop
My summer to-do list is LONG. In addition to around-the-house projects that only get done during the summer, trips to take, friends to see, and books to read, I have planning to do for the upcoming school year. I bet you do, too. A lot of writing workshop can’t be planned for — we have […]
Writing Workshop Finals (or Wrapping Up a Year of Writing Workshop)
In our workshops, we want our students to learn to craft moving pieces of authentic writing. But we hope that this will extend far past our classroom — how do we do this? How do we assess and ensure the independence we hope we have instilled in students all year long? As a final project […]
Literary Analysis Week Wrap-up: Observations, Conclusions, & Lingering Questions
You might remember that this burning desire to meaningfully bring literary analysis into a real, thriving writing workshop began because I was trying to find a solution for the mutual malaise experienced by my students and me in my IB English class. There had to be something more — something better — than the by-rote […]
A Different Way to Teach Literary Analysis: A Literature-Based Analysis Study
This week, I gave my ninth graders this definition: Analysis: breaking something into its parts and pieces so that we can closely examine it and, ultimately, come to a better understanding of the whole. Literary analysis: when we do this with a piece of literature. In the traditional high school English classroom, literary analysis has […]
Literary Analysis Blog Blast Day #3: Character Analysis Writing Workshop
On Wednesday, I shared the rationale for analysis workshops centered on different analytical techniques, and I shared one technique-based analysis study in which students analyzed two texts side-by-side. Today, I want to share another technique-based analysis study with you — this time, a character analysis. The Assignment Without choice, there really is no writing workshop, […]
A Technique-Based Literary Analysis Workshop
But even if we want to, how can we teach literary analysis in writing studies throughout the school year using a workshop approach? Do we just repeat the same mini-lessons again and again until the students have mastered them? Do we teach the mini-lessons once at the beginning of the year and just bring out […]
Thinking About Mentor Texts for Literary Analysis
When we are choosing genres to teach in workshop, one consideration is always at the forefront: is this real writing? Is this writing real writers do? Can I find authentic examples of it out in the world? Generally, if the answer is “no”, we don’t teach it. With one notable exception: literary analysis. In our […]
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