Author's Craft and Mentor Texts

There are all kinds of buzz words in education, aren’t there?  I mean, you hear about differentiation, rigorous learning, best practice, anchor charts, balanced literacy, mentor texts, collaborative learning, models, word walls, and so much more.  Sometimes it can be difficult to keep up with what exactly it all means.  Let’s dig a little deeper into mentor texts and how they can be used to truly enhance reading and writing in your classroom. 

I cannot tell you how many teachers, from various grade levels, have told me that they don’t feel like they are good writing teachers because they don’t feel like they are good writers themselves.  I get it!  Not everyone enjoys curling up with a journal and getting lost in thought for hours on end.  But that does not mean you are not a good writer, nor does it mean that you are not a good writing teacher!  There are amazing writers out there who have already done the work of creating GREAT examples of writing and various writing skills for you!  Hallelujah!

So…what exactly IS a mentor text?  And why should we use it to support writing in the classroom? 

Mentor texts are written pieces that serve as powerful examples of good writing for your students.  Teachers select texts, read them to the students or have the students read them, and then use the texts to study and reinforce a specific skill the author achieved.   You are the one who selects the text, based on the reading/writing skills that you need to teach during your Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop mini-lessons. 

Now, before you go and just grab a book off of the shelf, there are a few things to consider:

LOVE IT- you have to love it!  If you don't love it, lose it!  This also needs to be a text that you can see yourself returning to over and over again for a variety of reasons. 

Now, let’s think about how Mentor Texts fit into our classroom instruction:

Before using a mentor text for a specific look at Author’s Craft, make sure your students are familiar with the skill (craft) that you are trying to point out in this chosen text. For example, your students will struggle to understand how the author’s use of sensory details helps them to visualize the setting if they are not familiar with what sensory details actually are.  So, it needs to be defined and discussed before leading students into the text. We typically will do this work in our Reader’s Workshop in Shared Reading opportunities.  

So, where do you even START to look for quality texts that could serve as mentor texts??  SURPRISE!

Here is a basic list of just a few books that serve as great mentor texts for narrative writing!   J 

Also included in this post is a form that could be used as an anchor chart and a potential record of mentor text work for students in their Reader's Notebooks! 

It may look like this in your classroom...

Happy reading AND happy writing!

Would You Rather?

I've been sharing an idea for the Writing Work Station for years! It's called WOULD YOU RATHER! You have a bunch of questions ready to go and students have to WRITE their answers- of course also taking into account the counter argument! THEN- when kids have mastered writing their answers- then they can write their OWN questions.

My favorite question ever written by kids was... "Would you rather cry Koolaid or sweat Nacho cheese?" Then the answer- and you can't make this stuff up- "I'd sweat Nacho cheese and just carry around a bag of chips so I'd never be hungry!"  Oh my!

Get your FREE copy of about 20 Would You Rather Questions here! Thanks to Ms. Matus and her students in Robinson Texas for writing these for all of us to use!

Cheers! Stay WARM out there Texas!

Melissa

TOP TEN Document for the New ELAR TEKS from Leach

At this point, you are all quite aware that Texas has adopted and is in full implementation of the new ELAR standards for the upcoming school year.  There will be oodles of trainings on the new standards, the way that they’re organized, what some of the key features are, etc.  If you are anything like any of the teachers I have worked with along the way, our brains are swimming by the time we are done with all of that learning. 

Leach’s Literacy Training can relate!  We are LEARNERS right along with you, having attended a training on the new standards this past spring.  Can you find us???

We worked hard that day, working through each of the strands, looking at the differences and similarities, key changes, and thinking about what would be most important for us to help our amazing Texas teachers navigate new waters.  It’s been a while since we have been on this journey, with new ELAR standards.  And Leach's Literacy Training is here to help!

First of all, there is a little booklet that we received at our training that really is a great tool.  It is a Vertical Alignment Book for the standards K-English IV.  Do you want one of these pretty books too? You can order one here from the Print Shop at ESC Region 12! They are only $5.00!  If ordering more than 101 they are only $3.50!  

I tabbed my book for easy reference and have written all over it.  There were so many great things that we noted during the training…and all of it fits into a Reader’s Workshop and Writer’s Workshop model!  HALLELUJAH!  Go Texas! And Go Texas Teachers who are going to be doing this kind of teaching for the first time this year!  Again, we are here to help! 

After leaving the training, we spent some time reading through the standards, looking at the alignment, and we have a Top 10 Document for you for easy reference on some key things to remember while getting familiar with these new standards.  Print this out, put it in your lesson plan book, post it next to your desk, you name it.  Use these to remind you of what the learning is meant to look like when working to plan amazing academic experiences for your students!  

What have you noticed about the new TEKS? Please share! 

Here’s to a great 19-20 school year, filled with rich, literacy-based learning designed for our Texas students!

Accountability for Independent Reading

So, we know that independent reading is MORE than just get out your books these days! It is part of a Reader's Workshop!

So starting as early as KINDERGARTEN students are self-selecting several texts, keeping those texts in their personal book bags or boxes and choosing a place to get comfortable in classrooms to READ independently for upwards of 15-20 minutes EVERY DAY for EVERY STUDENT! 

I promise you kids will get LOST during this time in books and you will come to love it as the best part of your day.  But, sometimes we want to have a little EXTRA accountability for students.  Why not consider having a student checklist that they could fill out daily/weekly?

These could be kept in student book boxes/bags and if you needed to ask a student for their self-checklist you could!  You would only ask for it though if you had something important to write on it.  Perhaps a not about a behavior that should give them a YES check or a NO check when they evaluate themselves?

It is uploaded here in a word doc for you or PDF to use as you see fit in your own classroom! If you like the idea and if you download, be sure to leave a comment! 

Happy INDEPENDENT READING!

Digital Work Board for Work Stations

Do you use a work board during Literacy Workstations? If you've been to our presentation on Work Stations you do!   

Lots of teachers use a pocket chart like this one below to help students become independent during rotation time.  A work board shows students they have work to do!  And it helps students who might be coming and going from your classroom during work stations get started independently.  With a work board, they don’t need your help to know where to go next or to know where they need to be!

If you want to use a pocket chart to organize, you can snag these FREE icons here.  There a set for K-2 AND 3-5.  (https://goo.gl/pL73nB) I still love the idea of a pocket chart.  It’s practical for most classrooms, but I do realize it is 2019!   Which means many of us do things that incorporate technology into our classrooms "these days".

Instead of a pocket chart, some teachers choose to display the rotations on their Smart Board each day. 

I suggest using google slides for this!  It’s just like a pocket chart but in digital form.  And if I need to tweak a station or two, I can access the document from anywhere! Let’s take a look at what a work board might look like in the digital world.

Notice it still has the student names at the top and two rotations.  Fountas and Pinnell say teachers should be pulling a MINIMUM of two guided reading groups a day - which is why you see two rotations on this chart.

Just like on the pocket chart, we still have our anchor stations with icons to help match students to the right station.  I like to change the background color to match the anchor stations for efficiency.  For example, at the word work station, I have a blue ‘word work’ label with the same icon to help students know where to sit around the room!  

Remember everyone's FIRST stop on your rotation is independent reading. The only time kids would not be independent reading every day is if you called them to the Guided Reading table!  That is reflected on the work board in the top row.  Need help organizing for independent reading like this? Check out this post! 

I’ve created this editable powerpoint for you to use if you want to try out displaying your work board next year! 

This is yours to use - so feel free to edit ‘student name’ to your own students!  You can also change out the graphics or tweak the anchor stations to fit your needs!

Click here to download.

Cheers!