Sometimes we need to scaffold the thinking that goes into writing more than we need to scaffold where a topic sentence goes in a paragraph. Mentor texts can help with that!
Category: analysis
Teaching Each Instead of All
My journey (so far) with differentiating writing instruction to meet each learner’s needs.
March (Madness) to Determine Significance
March Madness March is still two months away, but that didn’t stop my students from facing off March Madness style as we reviewed Lord of the Flies last week. One of the challenges students often face when writing literary analysis is that writing literary analysis asks students to demonstrate two important but distinctly different things: […]
From Good to Great with Mentor Text Study
Several years ago, I taught The House on Mango Street and I did what a lot of English teachers do while teaching The House on Mango Street — I assigned my students a vignette writing assignment using Sandra Cisnero’s work as the writing model. And I remember that assignment being good. My students worked hard […]
The Syntax of Things: Lesson Ideas for Syntax Study
Mentor Texts: First few paragraphs of “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe Various photographs of your choice “After I Was Thrown Into the River and Before I Drown” by Dave Eggers Big Idea: Writers use syntax purposefully to create meaning and a desired effect. What’s ahead in this post: A 3-day lesson series […]
Voice Lessons: Helping Students Find Their Writerly Voices
Lessons to help students explore their unique and original voices in writing.
“Getting to Know You”: Introductions Inspired by Broadway
My last post mentioned Pippin, and now I’m quoting Rodgers & Hammerstein; I had musical theater on my mind this summer because I knew my break would end with a “bucket list” vacation to Broadway, the four-plays-in-four-days kind of trip my Tony Awards-watching teenage self had always dreamed about. The trip was an absolute treat, […]
HAMILTON, the Mentor Text
A challenging, fun, and engaging activity using Hamilton as a mentor text for character and theme analysis.
Mapping: Analyzing a Weird Text
Creating maps allows students to turn their prewriting into a visual representation of their ideas.
The Narrative of Learning Essay: Personal Narrative Meets Literary Analysis
Students have a story to tell. So why not let them tell it as a way in to literature — to walk an idea around to see how far it will go and where else it might lead them.
moving writers 