We owe a lot to Tom Newkirk. Actually, we owe almost everything to Tom Newkirk. This brilliant man has been a leader in our fields for decades, but one cold morning in Boston 2 1/2 years ago he spoke directly to Allison and me through a crowded room. And everything changed. We talk about this […]
We had so much fun talking to Anna E. Baldwin (@annaebaldwin), a professor at the University of Montana, about writing workshop, mentor texts, and our new project!
In January, I reviewed Dan Feigelson’s Reading Projects Reimagined, and I was on fire! I couldn’t wait to take the brilliant-yet-simple idea of inviting students to track an idea of personal interest throughout a book. No more prescribed annotations! No more end-of-chapter questions! No more herding students into tightly-constructed pens of thought built on what […]
Last week, we shared our four fundamental beliefs about teaching with mentor texts — beliefs that apply to any students in any classroom, from kindergarten to senior year. We believe that: Real writing is the result of studying real writing Students benefit from studying hot-off-the-presses mentor texts Students need to study multiple mentor texts in […]
Our bookshelves are jammed full with books meant for elementary and middle school teachers. Donald Graves, Nancie Atwell, Georgia Heard, Katie Wood Ray, Ralph Fletcher, the gals at Two Writing Teachers — these are the teachers who have taught us how to teach writing, who continually push us to reconsider what we think we know […]
Thursday is the day we begin our Tweet-a-thon, leading up to the publication of Writing With Mentors on September 3! (You can download a sample and pre-order on Heinemann’s site!) A little fuzzy on the rules of the game? Need a refresher? Here’s the deal: Rules of the Tweet-a-Thon: Between August 20 and September 3, tweet a link […]
Once upon a time, Allison and I fell in love with mentor texts. Once we taught our students how to use them, they answered every writing question, solved every writing problem. But we hated the hours and hours of time it took to find even one good one. So, we decided to share with each other. When […]
Friends, we are getting so excited to share Writing With Mentors with you on September 3. Do you remember Oprah’s Favorite Things episodes? Hysterical audience members would load up on exotic goodies gifted to them by Oprah. Invariably, by the end of the episode, the group would hear Oprah’s signature bombastic yawp: “You get a […]
As you saw two weeks ago with our post about using mentor texts for Notebook Time, mentor texts can be large or small. Even a tiny mentor text can have spectacular results for student writing. Mentor sentences can be a great way for both you and your students to wade into the waters of mentor text study! […]
We are sure that Flannery O’Connor would agree that like a good man, a good mentor text is hard to find. And, like you, we don’t have hours and hours to devote to the search. We need a short-hand, a fast protocol, some never-let-you-down sources. In Writing With Mentors, we devote all of chapter two to how […]
