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 […]
Mentor Text: The City of Lost Love by Kaitlyn Greenidge Techniques: Writing About Places Memoir Imagery Background – As I often proclaim in this space, my Twitter feed yields such a rich supply of resources and inspiration. It is often the place that the pieces I share here are found. Such is the case this […]
Mentor Text: When Did Will Smith Stop Being Cool? by Shea Serrano Techniques: Analysis Multi-media writing Background- Oh, it’s a busy time of year. Semester two began this week, which meant exams last week, and there are reports to finish up. Not to make excuses, but when it came time to write this installment of Mentor […]
Mentor Text: Ode to my Kitchen by Jacqueline Woodson Techniques: Tone Memoir Merging Narratives Delivering a Message Background- The internet is kind of a perilous thing for teachers isn’t it? I find myself alternating between excitement at how many resources it flings at me, and being overwhelmed by that very same thing. It can feel […]
Mentor Text: Tournament of Hearts by The Weakerthans Techniques: Extended Metaphor Background- Last weekend was a real treat. Amid the madness of kids’ activities, Christmas concerts, staff parties, and, well, the seeming sustained chaos that is normal life, my wife and I snuck out for a date. One of our favorite songwriters, John K. Samson, […]
Mentor Text: Just a Girl by Elizabeth Ditty Techniques: Writing memoir Organization Creative Transitioning Background- I’ve pretty openly expressed my love for Memoir Mixtapes here. As their header states, they’re “The ultimate mashup of the two things we all love to talk about: ourselves & music.” This makes them such a lovely source to mine […]
