How can we help
students connect to—and make sense of—the wide variety of writing styles they
are exposed to in the course of the year?
Grade 6 teacher Chandra, posed that question to me, her AISI Instructional Coach. I examined potential solutions and brought forward one from author/teacher
Kelly Gallagher, a strategy called
Mentor Texts.
What are mentor
texts?
Mentor texts are
professional, published pieces of work that showcase the qualities toward which
we encourage our students to strive. These mentor
texts can be anything from a movie poster to an editorial; a Shakespearean
sonnet to a Robert Munsch storybook. Author
and high school teacher Kelly Gallagher, in his book Write Like This,
tells us that it is “of paramount importance to provide students
with mentor texts so they can see how other writers compose…I want them to
begin to recognize how a text is constructed.”
(P. 20)
How effective are
mentor texts?
Chandra has seen
the potency of mentor texts in her work with Grade 6 students, “The first time we started, (students were saying),
‘Oh, I don’t know how to write a really good narrative.’ So we watched (video
clips), we read (published pieces), and then they did it. So now they’re not so reluctant to
write.” After practicing with narrative mentor
texts, Chandra adds that students were able to approach writing a narrative and
say, “Oh yeah, it has to have this, this, and this. And these are the samples we found in the
video. And these samples we found in the written work, so this must be what
really good authors do when they write a narrative paragraph.”
Her students are also seeing the power of mentor
texts in their own work. One girl reports, “I know I
am a beter (sic) writer. The examples really help espeshily (sic) if
we talk and think about it for a while”.
Another student added, “I like watching the clips and reading the
examples because it helps me understand what the paragraphs are about and how I
should write them. They also help me
with details that are important and that I should include.” Students also report that
they see their own skills improving. One
student noted, “The mentor text affected my writing, reading in a positive way
+ I have a better nolage (sic) of writing + reading.” One young man adds, “it
is more easyer (sic) to write better paragraphs and it helps me to get better
topic sentences.”
How can you use mentor texts in
your class?
The following steps offer a
suggested format for use of mentor texts.
Personalize to fit your own students’ needs.
1. Source
excellent examples of the finished type of work you want students to strive
toward. Be critical that you choose clear, concise works that highlight the most essential features you want
in your students’ writing. These might be published stories, newspaper
articles, textbook entries, movie/book reviews, etc.
2. Copy/type
each onto a simple 2-column chart: left side is the mentor text—perhaps chunked
into boxes for ease of reading; right side is blank, titled ‘Tips and Tricks’.
Make copies for students (see Figure 1).
3. 1st Mentor
Text: Read through the entire piece- with the class, and
then ask them to notice what they like about the piece. Together:
4. 2nd Mentor
Text:
Once completed, have students repeat the process with a second example, this
time with increased independence, to see if the new author repeats similar tips
and tricks as the first. As well- does
this second mentor text offer any new insights?
5.
Once the two are completed,
the teacher can give proper names to particular features.
6.
If there are important features
students did not find on their analysis, the teacher can add them through this
discussion, explaining why these features stand out to him/her.
For additional ideas in this area, check out Kelly
Gallagher’s book, Write Like This (2011). If you try this strategy out, contact any of
our Instructional Coaches and share your thoughts!
By Steve Trueman steve.trueman@blackgold.ca
Grade 6 teacher Chandra, posed that question to me, her AISI Instructional Coach. I examined potential solutions and brought forward one from author/teacher
Kelly Gallagher, a strategy called
Mentor Texts.
What are mentor texts?
Mentor texts are
professional, published pieces of work that showcase the qualities toward which
we encourage our students to strive. These mentor
texts can be anything from a movie poster to an editorial; a Shakespearean
sonnet to a Robert Munsch storybook. Author
and high school teacher Kelly Gallagher, in his book Write Like This,
tells us that it is “of paramount importance to provide students
with mentor texts so they can see how other writers compose…I want them to
begin to recognize how a text is constructed.”
(P. 20)
How effective are mentor texts?
Chandra has seen
the potency of mentor texts in her work with Grade 6 students, “The first time we started, (students were saying),
‘Oh, I don’t know how to write a really good narrative.’ So we watched (video
clips), we read (published pieces), and then they did it. So now they’re not so reluctant to
write.” After practicing with narrative mentor
texts, Chandra adds that students were able to approach writing a narrative and
say, “Oh yeah, it has to have this, this, and this. And these are the samples we found in the
video. And these samples we found in the written work, so this must be what
really good authors do when they write a narrative paragraph.”
Her students are also seeing the power of mentor
texts in their own work. One girl reports, “I know I
am a beter (sic) writer. The examples really help espeshily (sic) if
we talk and think about it for a while”.
Another student added, “I like watching the clips and reading the
examples because it helps me understand what the paragraphs are about and how I
should write them. They also help me
with details that are important and that I should include.” Students also report that
they see their own skills improving. One
student noted, “The mentor text affected my writing, reading in a positive way
+ I have a better nolage (sic) of writing + reading.” One young man adds, “it
is more easyer (sic) to write better paragraphs and it helps me to get better
topic sentences.”
How can you use mentor texts in your class?
The following steps offer a
suggested format for use of mentor texts.
Personalize to fit your own students’ needs.
1. Source
excellent examples of the finished type of work you want students to strive
toward. Be critical that you choose clear, concise works that highlight the most essential features you want
in your students’ writing. These might be published stories, newspaper
articles, textbook entries, movie/book reviews, etc.
2. Copy/type
each onto a simple 2-column chart: left side is the mentor text—perhaps chunked
into boxes for ease of reading; right side is blank, titled ‘Tips and Tricks’.
Make copies for students (see Figure 1).
3. 1st Mentor
Text: Read through the entire piece- with the class, and
then ask them to notice what they like about the piece. Together:
a.
Students annotate the original text and
then add notes on the right column, noting interesting techniques the writer
used.
b.
Students share ideas with the class, teacher
records on a chart paper (to refer back to.)
4. 2nd Mentor
Text:
Once completed, have students repeat the process with a second example, this
time with increased independence, to see if the new author repeats similar tips
and tricks as the first. As well- does
this second mentor text offer any new insights?
5.
Once the two are completed,
the teacher can give proper names to particular features.
For example: “You
noted that ‘In addition’ was a strong
way to link ideas. This is an example of
a transition word; let’s write that
down beside that word. We will look for others.”
6.
If there are important features
students did not find on their analysis, the teacher can add them through this
discussion, explaining why these features stand out to him/her.
Following the analysis, students are better equipped
to practice writing pieces that mimic the world of professional mentor texts. One
of the Grade 6 students sums up the power of mentor texts, “I think I write much stronger paragraphs this year
than last year and Mentor Texts has lots to do with it and I like it a lot.”
For additional ideas in this area, check out Kelly
Gallagher’s book, Write Like This (2011). If you try this strategy out, contact any of
our Instructional Coaches and share your thoughts!
By Steve Trueman steve.trueman@blackgold.ca
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