Mentor Text: Tucker, Ken. “Pharrell Williams: Just Exhilaratingly Happy”. 6 March 2014. npr.org. Technique: Using Figurative Language as Evidence Background: Ken Tucker read his review of Pharrell’s new album on Fresh Air as I drove home after work one Friday. “A MENTOR TEXT!” I screeched. (Literally.) And sometimes — the most wonderful times — we find mentor texts this […]
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A Lesson for Tomorrow: Sentence Study
Last week Rebekah blogged about teaching students how to find and use mentor texts to increase their independence and cure their writing blues. She posted a fantastic chart that uses a problem-solution or if-then approach to guiding students to and through mentor texts. As her chart indicates, sometimes a mentor text is just a sentence. […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: China’s Web Junkies Op-Doc
Mentor Text: “China’s Web Junkies,” an Op-Doc from The New York Times Skill: Using evidence to support a position Background: Every year it seems that more and more of my students are denouncing Facebook. They talk about it freely during passing time as they unpack their bags. “You’re still on? I’ve been off for a […]
Connecting Writers’ Struggles to Mentor Text Solutions
I have recently found myself reinforcing (and re-teaching) the fundamentals of how to use a mentor text with my ninth graders. After our most recent unit, I asked students how many of them went back and looked at the mentor texts I provided on their own after we had used them in a mini-lesson. 56% […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: Concrete Details
Mentor Texts: “Has Snowboarding Lots Its Edge” by Christopher Solomon. The New York Times, 16 January 2013. “A Sports Star’s ‘Crash,’ Then The Search For A New Normal” by Ian Buckwalter. NPR, 4 July 2013. “Snowboarding”. Essayforum.com. “The Power of Snowboarding” by Jordan. ThisIBelieve.org, 15 December 2010. Writing Technique: Using concrete details Background: I am experimenting […]
A Writer’s Secret Weapon
“I don’t know what to write about.” As a teacher and writer with “so many ideas and so little time,” I find this common student response troubling. But when I pause to reflect on why students might be uninspired or why they have difficulty finding ideas, I realize that, in some cases, it’s because they […]
Mentor Text Wednesdays: Infographics!
Mentor Text: See Learnist board Genre-Based Workshop: Infographics Technique-Based Workshop: Using visuals as evidence in writing Background: We usually study mentor texts in isolation, but sometimes it can be useful to show students a group, or cluster, of mentor texts all at once. Studying a group of genre-specific mentor texts helps students identify the traits […]
Writing Our Way Into Critical Thinking
Way back one month ago, I made some resolutions for my classes. Among them was a switch-up that would turn the Quick Write into a broader Notebook Time — giving my students lots of varied opportunities to play with words in different ways. In short, switching things up has been invigorating for my students. I […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: Ideas first, Genre Second
Mentor Texts: “Has Snowboarding Lots Its Edge” by Christopher Solomon. The New York Times, 16 January 2013. “A Sports Star’s ‘Crash,’ Then The Search For A New Normal” by Ian Buckwalter. NPR, 4 July 2013. “Snowboarding”. Essayforum.com. “The Power of Snowboarding” by Jordan. ThisIBelieve.org, 15 December 2010. Writing Technique: Choosing a form for an idea […]
Writers Have Plans: Using Next Lists to Build Writing Lives
Last night I tossed and turned, hunting for an idea for this week’s post. This morning at the breakfast table, a steaming cup of coffee beside me, I scan through a Google folder labeled “Blog To Do List.” Rebekah and I created this file months ago, preloading it with ideas for future entries. I feel […]
moving writers 