Mentor Texts: I used excerpts from the following reviews: “With Poetic Intensity, Kevin Powers Tackles the Terror of War” (book of poetry) “Modern Family: A Hard Jay’s Night” (television episode) “Pharrell Williams: Just Exhilaratingly Happy” (album) Note: Read Rebekah’s post about how she uses this mentor text to teach figurative language “Titanfall Supplants Its Ancestors […]
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“Writing Workshop Made Me a Writer”: A Student Spotlight
Writing workshop aims to foster independence and growth in the writing process. We teach and draft and revise and confer in the hopes that our students will end up in a different writing space by the end of the school year. To be honest, we can typically measure that growth in coffeespoons. That isn’t to […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: Moving Past Summary in Film Analysis
Mentor Text: “Captain America on the Potomac” by Linda Holmes for NPR. April 1, 2014. Skill Taught: Moving past summary in film analysis Background: My English 9s are working on an essay on the theme of a Pixar short film of their choosing as an entry point into the world of analytical, academic writing. The films are […]
Offering Choice During Mini-Lessons
In April, in Creative Writing, we’ve taken a detour from technique-driven units of study. Students are participating in a National Novel Writing Month-inspired challenge, choosing from one of the following writing projects: 30 poems in 30 days, a novel (10,000 words minimum), a screenplay (45 pages minimum). As the weather turns from winter to spring, […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: Restaurant Review PLUS Interview with Writer
Mentor Text: Wells, Pete. “Fred and Barney Would Feel Right at Home.” The New York Times. The New York Times Co. 28 Jan. 2014. Web. 7 April 2014. Author Information: “At the Critics’ Table.” The New York Times. The New York Times Co. 3 Sept. 2013. Web. 7 April 2014. Background: Driving to work this week, […]
The Power of Flash Drafting: Less Thinking, More Writing
I am very late to the flash draft party. It’s not a new concept. Ralph Fletcher mentions it in What a Writer Needs, and he attributes the concept to another teacher entirely. But I hadn’t heard about it until a Twitter chat last month when a group of elementary writing teachers raved about its power […]
Coming to Terms with the P-Word
My friends don’t understand why I love bikram yoga–the heat (105 degrees), the humidity (40%), the predictability (26 postures repeated twice). “Don’t you get bored?” they persist. No. In fact, the predictability of the class is one of the aspects that makes the yoga so enjoyable. Most people learn the 26 postures quickly–it just takes […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: Teaching Students to Write Meaningful Comparisons & Contrasts
Mentor Text: Bowman, Donna. “On the Eve of Its Finale, It’s Time to Compare How I Met Your Mother to Itself.” The A.V. Club. 30 March 2014. Skill: Teaching Students to Write Meaningful Comparions & Contrasts Background: My IB seniors are barreling toward their Big Exam. Truthfully, they have done so much heavy mental lifting in this course […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: Inspiring Mentor Texts
Mentor Texts: “Repetition” by Phil Kaye “In Childhood” by Sarah A. Chavez Skill: Seeking inspiration from outside sources Most discussions about writer’s workshop usually center around two components: mini lessons and conferring. They are the favorite children of workshop. But lately Rebekah and I have been turning our attention to mentor texts. When students leave […]
Moving Students from Idea to Draft: a Sticky-Note Structure
Structure seems to be something young writers innately sense … or don’t. Those who don’t tend to have explosive bursts of thought, leaving word shrapnel all over the paper. To try to combat this, one of my first mini-lessons of the year is on brainstorming — hoping that if students write their ideas down somewhere, […]
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