Mentor Text: The Connect podcast featuring Jason Concepcion and Shea Serrano Techniques: Summary Introduction Highlighting Resonant Elements of a Text Criticism of a Text Exploring Connections Brainstorming Peer Conferencing Background – Like many of us, spring brought about a shift to remote learning. A regular habit of mine became looking for the silver lining in […]
Mentor Text – Bono’s Mash Notes to Songs He Loves Techniques: Expressing appreciation Audience Drafting Background – I’ve been using the phrase silver lining a lot lately. Mostly as a way to explain the moments I’ve enjoyed and appreciated as I figure out what it means to teach remotely during a pandemic. (To say nothing of […]
Mentor Text – The Unique Sadness of Mourning the Musicians Who Helped us Grieve by Hanif Abdurraqib Techniques: Personal Essay Background – In the last few years, the work and words of Hanif Abdurraqib have come to mean a lot to me. He’s a writer who writes from a place where he belongs, but writes […]
Mentor Texts: ‘The Afternoon The World Health Organization Declared the Pandemic’ by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer Techniques: Using Poetry to Write About the Tough Stuff Background – One of my favourite things about poetry is how it can be used to put complicated feelings into words. The poetry of protest is powerful, as are poems that are […]
Mentor Texts: ‘How To Play Night Baseball’ by Jonathan Holden Techniques: Imagery Writing Poetry Adding Flavour Background – So, often, I use this column as a chance to plan a lesson. Sometimes, I’m planning a lesson using a mentor text I know I’ll be using somewhere down the road, and other times, I’ve found a […]
Mentor Texts: “All of the Little Things That Made the Original ‘Lion King’ so Great” by Shea Serrano “The effanineeffable, deep and inscrutable, singular Cats” by Alissa Wilkinson Techniques: Developing an argument Pre-writing Writing Introductions Writing Listicles Background – I’ve been thinking, for a long time, about the listicle form. We all know that it’s a […]
Mentor Text: ‘The Day The Last Slaughterhouse Closes‘ from The Day It Finally Happens by Mike Pearl Techniques: Presenting Research Using Narrative as an Introduction Attribution Background – I realize that it’s almost stereotypical for an English teacher, and lifelong reader, to go on about the importance and impact of libraries. So, I won’t. Except […]
Mentor Text: ‘Canada Dry Ginger Ale and Lemonade’ by Elaine Szewczyk (PDF / Online) Techniques: Writing Memoir Writing Review Merging Forms Background – If you’re visiting Moving Writers, that likely means that like many of us, you’re online, perhaps looking for new ideas for your classroom. Welcome to Teacher Internet, where there are more ideas […]
Mentor Text: No Man’s Land – an album from Frank Turner Tales From No Man’s Land – a podcast series from Frank Turner Techniques: Presenting Research Non-fiction Narrative Podcasting Background – Looking through my Mentor Text Wednesday posts, or scanning my Twitter feed will no doubt reveal the fact that I’m a music fan. A […]
Mentor Text: Basketball (And Other Things) by Shea Serrano Techniques: Writing About Sports (or Pop Culture) Engaging Non-Fiction Writing Using Footnotes Background – Like many Canadians, I got caught up in the Toronto Raptors’ championship run this past spring. I haven’t watched basketball since high school, really, so it was neat rediscovering the game. At the […]
