Trigger Warning: this post opens with a possibly offensive rant. If you feel the need to skip said rant, I have inserted a subheading to indicate where it is safe to begin reading. When I first started this beat about starting over and about being more intentional with which practices we keep and which ones […]
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 […]
Now that the pandemic has struck, many of us feel like we are starting over as we navigate this fluid and nebulous teaching situation. What’s a teacher to do? If you’re anything like me, you stand on the shoulders of other teachers. Every Sunday since this all began, the Ohio Writing Project has hosted […]
One of my favorite things about being part of a community of English teachers both in my building and online (Hi Teacher Twitter Buddies!) is that every once in a while this really fun thing happens where a piece of writing gets published somewhere with really powerful voice or a really fun structure and all […]
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 […]
Allison & I are working (feverishly) on a new book — have we mentioned it? And we desperately want your voice to be in it! So, we’re hosting a little writing activity this month. It’s a great way to get your feet wet with mentor texts yourself, it’s a useful way to reflect mid-year about […]
Today’s Mentor Text Wednesday post is a guest post from Kristie Keener, a 9-12 teacher at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, New York! The lesson she shares today comes from a combined 11th and 12th grade course called Psychology in Literature. (How cool!) Do you have a mentor text that has worked well for […]
Happy December! Today, we have a request. Allison & I are hard at work on a new book with Heinemann, but we need your help. Actually, we need your voice. Literally. We want to know your burning questions about teaching with mentor texts. What do you just not quite get yet? What is standing between […]
One of my greatest NCTE joys have been the times members of the Moving Writers team have gotten to join forces at NCTE. I love these people — their deeply-felt philosophies about teaching writing to make a difference in children’s learning and lives, their practical, boots-on-the-ground, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that brilliance. Here are some of the resources from […]
