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 […]
As is our habit, we are taking the summer away from the blog to read, write, and recharge. We’ll be back in late August with new content, but for the summer, let’s take a journey down memory lane as we visit our ten most-read posts from the previous school year! Mentor Text: The Truth From […]
Mentor Text: The Breakfast Club’s letter from The Breakfast Club Techniques: Self-expression Choosing Form Collaboration Background: This time around, I have something different for you. In our English department, we teach thematically. Each course has an overarching theme which connects the things we do. It’s a wonderful way to organize a course, and has paid numerous dividends over […]
Mentor Text: My Honest Poem by Rudy Francisco Techniques: Writing About Oneself Writing Poetry Background: In a recent planning session, I mentioned that I lean on poetry pretty hard in Grade 10. My colleague Rachelle replied that I lean pretty hard on poetry in all my courses. I can’t help it. There’s something about the expression […]
