Finding mentor texts can be hard. And time consuming. This, we know. Even after years of making mentor texts the fulcrum on which the rest of my writing instruction pivots, finding the right set of texts for the students in front of me can be a challenge. In Writing With Mentors, Allison and I share […]
Engage students in analysis of demanding texts by connecting to other genres with genre hopping.
Mentor Text: Various Poems Writing Techniques: Writing poetry Writing around a theme or topic Building a writing community Background: Though it’s no longer something that I do, I have taught Art. It’s pretty clear in my classroom, as I do a lot of work that incorporates visual elements. I love having students express their learning […]
It is six o’clock on a Saturday night, and I am sitting at my desk in my classroom. The end of the semester is definitely near! While many of you might still have weeks of instruction left on the calendar, I am down to my last week before finals and commencement. My desk is a […]
Focused feedback equals focused writing and revision!
Students need chances to discuss their writing in conferences, but finding the time and stamina to keep them going can be challenging.
Mentor Text: Swindle magazine Icons issues The Time 100 Issues The Time: Person of the Year Issues Tributes to Merle Haggard from Rolling Stone magazine Excerpts from Brad Meltzer’s Heroes for my Son & Heroes for my Daughter Profile of Frederick Law Olmsted from Nick Offerman’s Gumption Writing Techniques: Writing biography Focusing presentation of research […]
Making their own burgers provides students with both direction and freedom in creative writing.
The beauty of Jay’s Mentor Text Wednesday posts is that they give us an instant idea — something to take back into our classrooms immediately, something to tinker with and fit to our students’ needs, and something to expand the way we think about mentor texts and the possibilities for our students’ writing. It’s easy […]
This weekend as so many teachers graduate from college and begin this wonderful, crazy, noble, life-changing career, Allison and I wrote about what we wish we had known when we started at the Education Week Teacher blog! We thought we knew everything when we left our teacher ed programs. We could plan a perfectly balanced […]
moving writers 