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10 Great Mentor Texts for Creative Narrative Writing

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Our last writing unit of the year is here! Hello Creative Narrative ! Our primary unit is space themed, but I like to incorporate creative narrative into our reading block as well with some great mentor texts!

Without further ado, here are my 10 favorite books to use while teaching about  dialogue, plot, and characters  during creative narrative writing:

Brainstorming: The Best Story

Planning/Writing Plot: The Plot Chickens

Dialogue: Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street

Fictional Events: The Night I Followed the Dog

Graphics Novels/Art as Creative Narrative: Page by Paige

Plan & Climax: The Wednesday Surprise

Descriptive Words: Mars Needs Moms

Fantasy Plot:  King Arthur’s Very Great Grandson

Dialogue & Plot: Jumanji 

Descriptive Words & Revision: Little Red Writing

Featured Resources in this Article

Complete Guide to Teaching Creative Narrative Writing Grades 4-5

You may also enjoy this article.

About the Author

April smith.

April began her career as a 5th grade teacher in 2008 and quickly developed a passion for creating engaging educational materials to share with fellow teachers. She now works with districts around the country, training their teachers and leaders on how to implement research-based strategies and differentiation techniques that meet the needs of diverse learners.

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Mentor Texts: Everything You Need to Know

When I first started teaching, mentor texts were something I might see mentioned in a textbook that I was never going to actually read. Now, when I attend conferences and professional development, using mentor texts and sentences seems like a prerequisite for every quality unit. In this post, I hope to answer any and all questions you might have about mentor texts. I’ll try to include plenty of examples, links, helpful resources, activities, and lesson ideas. 

This mentor text post covers:

What is a Mentor Text?

Why use mentor texts, types of mentor texts and how to use them.

• Lesson Ideas for Mentor Texts

Where to Find Mentor Texts

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products that I personally use and love, or think my readers will find useful.

A mentor text, sometimes referred to as an anchor text, is an exemplary piece of writing that students can study and then imitate in order to improve their own writing. 

I think conversations about mentor texts can easily become overly complicated. I know I have felt overwhelmed at every Penny Kittle training I’ve been to. 

But think of a mentor text as just a really good example. If you want your students to write using semicolons correctly, you might point out a semicolon in the class book you’re reading. That’s a mentor text. 

If you want your creative writing students to really think and construct engaging opening lines for their short stories, you might show them some famous opening lines. That’s using mentor texts. 

Mentor texts are just great examples of the writing craft. 

Writing to Study and Imitate

The trick with mentor texts is to keep them short. These should be pieces of writing that students can study and imitate. They should be digestible. 

For example, it’s a lot easier for students to play with text structure if they’re examining a poem or a short story. Expecting them to study the structure of a whole novel and then go and pay attention to their own story structure is too much for young writers too fast.

Mentor texts should be used for a very specific purpose. If you want students to study a few sentences and attempt the same writing move, those sentences better illustrate one specific technique. Throwing a bunch of great writing at students all at once isn’t going to inspire them–it’s going to overwhelm them.  

Professional Writing as Mentor Texts

Obviously, published writing is going to probably serve well as a mentor text. Using snippets of professional writing is a great way to get started with mentor texts. Published writing has already been through an editor. If it’s made its way into your classroom, it’s probably pretty solid writing. 

Don’t make it complicated. If you want your students to study how to punctuate dialogue, picking up a book from your classroom library and showing them a back-and-forth conversation is a great place to start. 

Student Writing as Mentor Texts

Another great type of mentor text, however, is student-generated. If you show students an excellent introductory essay from a previous class as inspiration, you’re using a student-created mentor text. 

Pulling student examples and showcasing them for students to study and imitate is powerful. Not only is it a great example, but it empowers students. It shows them that they don’t have to be a published author to create exemplary writing. If their peers can do it, so can they.

Alternatively, you can have students find and share mentor texts from professional writing. This is a great blend of both. Students get to study how professional writers shape their work, while also practicing reading as writers studying the craft. 

Alright, so you know what mentor texts are, but why use them? Why not just stick with a tried and true worksheet or presentation?

You can use mentor texts to strengthen the purpose behind almost every lesson. Students will always need good examples. Here are a few more specific ways that mentor texts can be used to strengthen your writing program. 

Show Students Exemplary Writing

I’ve already touched on this, but a primary reason to use mentor texts is just to show students exemplary examples of the writing craft. 

In teaching, examples are necessary. You can study every comma rule under the sun, but until you see commas being used in great writing, it’s not going to stick. A teacher can repeat show, don’t tell until they’re out of breath, but it won’t make any sense unless you see an example.

Mentor texts illustrate the lesson, idea, or technique that you want your students to understand. 

Encourage Students to Take Risks in Writing

Another reason to use mentor texts is that they act as writing scaffolding for young authors. 

Trying new things in writing can be scary, especially for students who don’t identify as writers, are not native English writers, or just generally struggle. They want to write “right.” They’re not necessarily looking to write artfully, creatively, or bravely. They certainly don’t want to fail in their writing ventures.

But we English teachers know the power of trying new writing techniques and being flexible in the way we put words on paper. We need to instill the delight of trying new writing into our students. 

If, for example, we want students to try using parallel structure, we can cover the term. We can explain its rhetorical power. But students will probably not feel comfortable attempting it, nor will they fully appreciate its persuasive power.  

If, however, we show them examples from Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech”, and students can see the power of parallel structure for themselves, they’ll be encouraged to try it in their next piece of persuasive writing. 

You could even scaffold this further. To continue with the above example, you could then have students write their own “I Have a Dream” speech. How would they use the structure “I have a dream….” to convey their own vision of the future?

As you can see, a simple mentor text can evolve from beyond a simple example into its own assignment. A quality mentor text can be studied and revisited over and over again. 

Show Students Why We Might Choose Certain Techniques

Perhaps the most powerful reason to use mentor texts is that they allow us to show students why we might do something in writing. 

We can tell students over and over to use sentence variety. We can diagram a hundred sentences to analyze various sentence structures. Students can complete hundreds of worksheets, task cards, and quizzes. 

You could have students highlight their own writing for sentence variety. Our students can even learn to use sentence variety regularly. 

But if they don’t understand why or how sentence variety strengthens writing, then we’ve failed them. 

When we show a mentor text that uses short, punchy sentences to convey the speed of an action scene, however, they get it . If they see long, romantic sentences meant to slow down the moment when two soul mates meet, they get it .

Mentor texts let us show not only the “how-to” of a writing technique but also the why–the effect it has on the reader. 

Have Students Determine Their Own Rules of Writing

Another way to encourage bravery and critical thinking using mentor texts is to give them to students and have the students themselves determine the quality, technique, or writing move that is exemplary. 

This is a common way to teach grammar. It’s actually the basis for the lessons in the classic Mechanically Inclined .

Check it out if you want some grab-and-go mentor texts and lessons, although I think they are aimed more at late elementary and middle than high school.

For example, if you want students to learn to use a comma after introductory elements in a sentence, you could group students and give them mentor texts that illustrate this grammatical move.

Then, ask the groups to create comma rules based on the mentor sentences.

Students will have to see the commonalities in each mentor example first, but then they’ll also have to describe it and put it into words. 

You could go on to create an anchor chart for the class based on what the students notice, or have each group create one and share out. 

You could do a similar lesson to examine non-grammatical aspects of writing. If, for example, you wanted students to study characterization, you could give them a few examples of great character-building passages. Then, students can study and define for themselves what they think is great about each example. 

You can teach or model pretty much any skill or technique using mentor texts. But some types of writing are better at illustrating certain lesson types than others. While this is far from a comprehensive list, hopefully, it will get you started and maybe inspire some new ideas.

Whole Poems

My first real foray into intentionally using mentor texts was with poetry. In my creative writing class, I did several lessons where we looked at a whole poem as a mentor text. 

This is great especially if you want students to study poetic structure because you have a start, middle, and end to examine. 

For example, in my Ode Writing Lesson , students read an ode first. Then, they annotate the techniques and tone used in the piece (perhaps even having a classroom discussion on the example). Only after analyzing this example poem do students begin to brainstorm for their own poem.

Whole poems can also be a great way to examine figurative language techniques. If you’d like some ready-for-you lessons that use poetry as mentor texts, I have these lessons for you:

• “Nicholas Was…” Writing Activity : Students read Neil Gaiman’s 100-word story before writing their own
• Writing Haiku Poems for High School: Students analyze a mentor poem which consists of combining several haikus before attempting their own haikus.
• Limerick Writing Lesson : Students read several example limericks before attempting to write their own.
• Letter Writing & Envelope Addressing Lesson : Students examine examples of formal letters (and addressed envelopes) before writing their own appreciation letter

Mentor Sentences

Using mentor sentences is probably the easiest way to start incorporating mentor texts in your classroom. A sentence is short and digestible. If you’d like, you can use a few to illustrate the same technique for your students. 

Mentor sentences, as mentioned above, can be taken from professional or student writing. If you’re desperate for just the right example, you could write a mentor sentence or two yourself to show off a specific writing technique. 

Mentor sentences work especially well for lessons around grammatical rules, sentence structure, showing (not telling details and emotions), or crafting dialogue. 

Lesson Ideas for Incorporating Mentor Texts in Class

I’ll walk through some simple steps for using mentor texts in your class, but if you want to deep dive into the “how”, I highly recommend Amanda Write Now .

Amanda Werner is the queen of workshop-style teaching, and she regularly incorporates mentor texts into her minilessons. She has a great breakdown of how to use mentor texts in this article but has other helpful blog posts AND podcast episodes. 

Workshop Model

The workshop model of teaching meshes with mentor texts very effectively. 

In a workshop model, the teacher begins class with a quick mini-lesson. This is where the mentor text would be introduced. 

For example, if you want students to introduce dialogue into the stories their working on, you would explain dialogue quickly, then show and discuss some mentor text examples. 

After the mini-lesson, students are given the majority of the class time to attempt to emulate the mentor texts in their own writing. 

For the above example, this would be when students then work on their own stories, adding, tweaking, and attempting dialogue as they write their scenes. 

Mini-Lessons

The mini-lesson concept is not limited to the workshop model, however. Mini-lessons can be effective and useful regardless of how you run your classroom.

A mini-lesson can be anywhere from ten to twenty minutes, although I think shorter is typically better. Any longer and you risk inundating students with too much information or losing their attention. 

You can incorporate mentor texts in pretty much any mini-lesson you might want to teach. 

For example, I try to do grammar lessons in small chunks. I could show students a few slides in a slideshow about colon uses, followed by examining some mentor texts that use colons effectively. 

Until they actually see those colons in action, it’s going to be hard to understand how to use them. 

Author Studies

A final way to use mentor texts is through an author study.

An author study is exactly what it sounds like–students are given or choose an author, and then they study that writer’s craft. 

In my Author Study Project , students choose a short story writer or poet. They do a little bit of background information on the person, but then they get to work reading. 

As they read, they watch for patterns in tone, imagery, and writing style. (I provide a graphic organizer worksheet for students to use as they make a note of these author moves.)

Then, they create their own original writing while imitating the moves that their studied author might make. 

It’s a much deeper examination of a writer’s style than typically occurs in class, but it’s the perfect project for a creative writing course. 

It requires much more independence and critical thinking on the student’s part, too. She’ll have to make a lot of choices and draw a lot of conclusions on her own, and that’s before she even begins her own writing. 

You can use this activity in your class , or create your own variation of an author study. 

Alright, so you’re ready to incorporate mentor texts into your classroom, but now comes probably the biggest hurdle: where do you find them? 

Every time I enter into a conversation about mentor texts or the workshop question with my colleagues, this is the question that comes up.

Where do you get mentor texts for the specific lesson or technique you need? I wish I could point you to some ultimate compendium of mentor texts for every possible purpose, but to my knowledge, there is no such thing. I can give you some tips though.

Know What You Need

Before you go throwing mentor texts up on your board, you need to know what you need.

What do you want to teach your students? What concepts or skills are they struggling with? Are there common errors in student writing that you’re seeing over and over again? Is there a technique you’d like to see your students grapple and play with?

By answering these questions, you’ll be better prepared to find and implement mentor texts. 

Don’t go hunting for mentor examples blindly. Have a list of skills, techniques, or structures you want to teach. Then, make a list or a spreadsheet to keep track of where your mentor texts come from.

DO NOT just type “mentor texts” into Google. This is a great way to lose focus and waste time.

Keep Track of Mentor Texts As You Read

As a writer and teacher yourself, no doubt you’re doing some reading of your own. I hope you’re at least reading with your students during independent reading . 

As you read, keep track of any beautiful writing you encounter. 

If you know what kind of lessons or techniques you want to showcase, you can pay special attention to these as you go. If you don’t, however, just keep track of beautiful writing–a need for those examples will appear. 

I tried keeping a detailed document of mentor texts and their possible uses, but I just couldn’t keep track of it. Now, I just put a sticky note or tab next to it. At least I have a hope of finding it if I can remember. 

For student examples, you can make copies of assignments and keep a folder from which you can pull. 

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Lists of Mentor Texts Online

There is no mega-compendium of mentor texts categorized by skill that I can find. But there are some helpful blog posts and lists out there on the interwebs. 

If you hit Google to find some mentor texts, be specific in your search. Use your grade level and the skill you want to highlight to narrow down your search.

You’ll still probably have to piecemeal blogs together, but specificity will certainly help with your hunt.

Ask Students for Examples

You could also make students do the work for you. If, for example, you’re covering semicolons in class, have the students seek out examples in their own reading. 

You could also have them keep track in writer’s notebooks of beautiful language they encounter during their independent reading. This would be great to discuss during reading conferences or as proof of their reading outside of class.

Students are resources themselves. Don’t forget to put them to work.

The New York Times Collection

The New York Times also has some mentor text resources for you. The NYT knows the power of mentor texts and has begun compiling them for educators’ use. 

You can read more about mentor texts and the paper’s collection here . 

You can also navigate to their mentor text hub , but there’s a lot there. Again, knowing what you need and being specific is going to be best for finding what you need. 

In conclusion, mentor texts are a great way to strengthen your writing instruction. At their core, mentor texts are just really great examples of writing. Our students can never get enough of these.

Seeing great examples of writing can guide our young writers. It provides scaffolding in writing that encourages riskier, braver writing. Being able to see greatness can allow us to aspire to it. 

You can use examples from professional writing or from the students themselves. Depending on what you want your students to learn, you may opt to use mentor sentences, a poem, or a passage–but remember to keep your mentor texts and your mini-lessons short. 

These examples should be studied before students are asked to imitate the techniques or structure used in the mentor writing. 

Mentor texts can be taken from everywhere–your own reading, online blogs, newspaper collections, or even gathered by students. 

If you’d like to take a tiny step into using a mentor text, but aren’t sure how to put a lesson together, I have a few in my Teachers Pay Teachers store . 

My free “I Am” Poem requires you to do some writing about yourself to use as a mentor text for your students. 

I also highly recommend my Author Study Project if you’re wanting students to study mentor texts deeply and over a longer period of time.

Bell Ringers

Short story mentor texts to teach narrative writing elements.

Raise your hand if teaching narrative writing has you feeling stressed or overwhelmed. I’ve been there. Every writing unit seems to bring its own challenges and narrative writing has a few unique ones. Unlike other types of writing, narrative writing is more flexible and involves more creativity. But that doesn’t mean it’s without “rules”! Getting students to master the narrative writing elements is what will take their stories to the next level.

Tips for Teaching Narrative Writing

I spoke about this on another blog about using mentor texts novels, but I am a big fan of using mentor texts to teach narrative writing. Mentor texts allow you to model the skills and narrative writing elements for students, so they aren’t trying to guess at exactly how their writing should look and sound.

Using mentor texts can be as simple as giving students a sentence or excerpt from a text and talking through how it’s a great example of a specific skill. A lot of times, I will pull these mentor texts from novels that the class is reading because students already understand the story.

However, I know there isn’t always time to squeeze in a novel. When you’re in a bind or short on time, using a narrative short story as a mentor text will accomplish the same task as the novel! I recommend reading this short story before or during your writing unit.

Teaching Narrative Writing Elements with Short Stories

Just like you ease students into a narrative writing unit, I don’t want to throw you into the deep end with mentor texts either. I want to walk you through what it looks like to use short stories to teach the narrative writing elements. I’ll give you a few mentor text examples below and show you how I’d use them in the classroom.

Develop a Point of View

A lot of times, the conversation about point of view is simply, what is the point of view? First-person or third-person? But it goes deeper than that. Developing a point of view means giving the reader intimate knowledge of the character’s experience. It can allow the reader to experience the same sadness or anger that the character feels.

For this narrative writing element, dig deep into the short story you’ve chosen. Find an example from the text where the point of view allows the reader a peek into a character’s mind or feelings.

I like this example from “The Scholarship Jacket”: “I was almost back at my classroom door when I heard voices raised in anger as if in some sort of argument. I stopped. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I just hesitated, not knowing what to do. I needed those shorts and I was going to be late, but I didn’t want to interrupt an argument between my teachers.”

After looking at your mentor text example, dig into what the reader experiences here. Look at what knowledge the reader gains about the character. For example, this mentor text from “The Scholarship Jacket” is a feeling people can relate to. Overhearing an argument and wondering if you pretend you didn’t hear – or you acknowledge that you overhead.

Establish Context

Another narrative writing element is establishing context for the story. Context means putting the topic into perspective for someone who knows nothing about the story. It also means providing the background information that is needed to grasp the story.

When looking through your short story, identify an excerpt where the reader gains necessary information about a character, setting, or event. This is the kind of information that if removed the story could change how the reader understands it.

Here’s an example from “Masque of Red Death”: “But Prospero, the ruler of that land, was happy and strong and wise. When half the people of his land had died, he called to him a thousand healthy, happy friends, and with them went far away to live in one of his palaces. This was a large and beautiful stone building he had planned himself. A strong, high wall circled it.”

This narrative short story excerpt gives the reader key information. It lets us know who the character Prospero is and why he is bringing people to his palace. This sets the stage for later plot points. After reading your chosen excerpt with students, ask them: What key information did this text provide? How does it help you better understand the story?

Develop Character Motives

Character motives can be really fun to uncover. With character motives, the reader understands the reason behind the character’s actions.

To find an excerpt for this narrative writing element, think about a pivotal moment in the story. Then, think about the actions and motivations that led to that moment. Try to locate a sentence or passage that showcases those motives.

This is a great example of character motives from “Story of an Hour”: “She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.”

In this short story, the character is expected to mourn for her dead husband. Instead, she finds joy in it (which is later shown through her whispering, “Free!”) This gives us a glimpse at her motives. When examining a text for character motives, ask students: What action does the character engage in later? What is their reason for that action?

If you want students to be stronger writers, they need to see examples of what good writing looks like. That’s the power of using mentor texts when teaching narrative writing. They’ll know what context looks like or motives sound like, and they can emulate it in their own writing!

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My Favorite Narrative Writing Mentor Texts

August 30, 2023 | Leave a Comment

I love teaching narrative writing using mentor texts. Students are always engaged with the stories and remember them throughout our writing unit. Here are a list of my favorites.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Bookshop.org is an online bookstore that helps local, independent bookstores.

What is a narrative writing mentor text?

Mentor texts are books that are chosen to be an example of what students are expected to learn. Having a mentor text can provide a great model for students to understand these expectations. 

Narrative writing mentor texts can help teach students about word choice, illustrations, and how to tell engaging stories rich with descriptions. The National Writing Project says, “Mentor texts help students to take risks and be different writers tomorrow than they are today. It helps them to try out new strategies and formats.”

Choosing A Narrative Writing Mentor Text

When choosing a mentor text the first step is to pick a book you will enjoy reading. Mentor texts are often read multiple times and I usually read excerpts repeatedly for students to hear the rich descriptions.

Next, you should look for texts that exemplify the type of writing elements you want to teach. For example, if you are doing lessons on adding details to pictures you should look for a book with lots of details in the pictures that help add to the story.

Grumpycorn by Sara McIntyre is a great book to launch writer’s workshop or a narrative writing unit. Grumpycorn struggles throughout the book with coming up with ideas for his story he wants to write. 

Narrative Writing Tip: Use this story to teach students about brainstorming. This story would also be great to teach the writing process.

Ralph Tells a Story

Ralph Tells a Story by Abby Hanlon is the perfect book to talk about personal narratives. Poor Ralph thinks he doesn’t have any stories to tell until his classmates start asking him questions about what happened with an inchworm he saw.

Narrative Writing Tip:  This book is perfect for showcasing that personal narratives are all about stories that happen to us (big or small).  Another great lesson would be about how to add details to your story through asking questions about what happened next.

Bigmama’s by Donald Crews is one of my favorite books to share during our narrative writing unit. This mentor text is a great book that is rich in storytelling about siblings visiting Bigmama for the summer.

Narrative Writing Tip: This narrative writing mentor text is a wonderful way to teach students how to make a text to self connection and write about a memory.

A Chair for My Mother

A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams tells the story about a girl and her mother who are saving up to purchase a chair for their house after a fire destroys everything they own.

Narrative Writing Tip: This book is a classic for showing students how to write colorful descriptions in their stories. It is often a great mentor text for teaching about small moments in storytelling. 

Roxaboxen 

Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran is a wonderful book showcasing children using their imagination to play and create the town of Roxaboxen.

Narrative Writing Tip: Use this book to show how a story can focus on one idea. Then use this book again to discuss the illustrations and all the details in the story.

Roller Coaster

Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee is another superb book that zooms in on the small moment of a roller coaster and all the feelings that come with it.

Narrative Writing Tip: Use this book for a perfect introduction to teaching plot. Plot is often like a roller coaster to keep the events exciting for the reader. This book can also be used to teach small moments.

Shortcut by Donald Crews is another favorite narrative writing mentor text. Donald Crews is masterful in creating short, engaging stories that draw in my students. Shortcut keeps the suspense coming when a group of students decide to take the shortcut through the train tracks.

Narrative Writing Tip: Use this book to teach students about adding suspense in their stories.

The Relatives Came

The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant is a fantastic book about a family visiting their relatives in the summertime. This book is rich in details both in the illustrations and the words making it a great mentor text.

Narrative Writing Tip: Use this book to teach about adding details to a story through the illustrations. 

Which narrative writing mentor text will you choose?

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100+ Children’s Book Mentor Texts

What is a mentor text.

Mentor texts are books that model for students what good readers and writers do — the craft and skills involved in reading and writing.

Mentor texts give children authentic, real-world examples of different kinds of writing from which they can learn. Or they can provide examples of reading structures and skills.

Teachers focus on any specific craft moves in writing or any specific strategies and skills in reading.

Mentor texts can be almost any piece of writing  including picture books, chapter books, articles, nonfiction books, magazines, and poems.

The experts at the National Writing Project say, “ Mentor texts are pieces of literature that you — both teacher and student — can return to and reread for many different purposes.  They are texts to be studied and imitated… Mentor texts help students to take risks and be different writers tomorrow than they are today. It helps them to try out new strategies and formats. They should be [texts] that students can relate to and can even read independently or with some support. “

Get more information on using mentor texts here.

When we ask children to read published books and articles, it gives them examples they can learn from. When we read critically / metacognitively, we can notice how other writers write and the specific craft techniques that writers use.

I’m continuing to make lists for teachers and homeschoolers to use for different topics.

How to Use Mentor Texts in the Classroom

How To Use Mentor Texts in the Classroom

Read mentor texts to study things like genre or text structure such as problem and solution as well as practice reading strategies and skills such as inference.

Most authors will tell you that the NUMBER ONE thing you can do to become a better writer is  to be a READER. What’s even more powerful is LEARNING TO READ LIKE A WRITER. That’s where mentor texts benefit our students.

We can use picture books, chapter books, nonfiction, middle-grade books, and so forth to show growing writers examples of writing craft.

First, we find exceptionally written children’s books that are  mentor texts for a writing concept. You might want to teach thinking of interesting IDEAS, describing with VIVID VERBS, writing with SENSORY DETAILS, or concluding with SATISFYING endings. You’ll read the book, notice the craft strategy, and label where you see it. Explicitly.  (Where are the vivid verbs, for example?)

And finally, you will help kids apply the strategies from the mentor text to their own writing.

Mentor Text Book Lists for Elementary Classrooms

Each list focuses on one important text structure, craft move, literacy strategy, or reading skill.

Cause and Effect

Character Arc

Character Traits

Compare and Contrast

Description (Sensory Details)

How-To / Procedural Writing

Letter Writing

Onomatopoeia

Perspective

Personal Narrative

Personification

Point of View

Problem / Solution

Positive Character Traits

Reading Workshop Launch

Sequencing (Beginning, Middle, End)

Similes & Metaphors (Figurative Language)

Small Moments

Vivid Verbs

Word Choice

Writing a Story (Ideas, Plot, Setting, Characters, Drafting, etc.)

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Our Favorite Mentor Texts for How-To or Procedural Writing

The right mentor texts can be gold.

If you teach “how to” or procedural writing, whether as a standalone unit or as one aspect of a study of informational writing, great mentor texts are gold. The right models can help take your students’ writing from “blah” to “wow.” Good trade book examples of this type of writing can be hard to find, so we hunted down these top choices to make your life easier:

1. How to Be a Cat by Nikki McClure (Gr. K-1)

This is a helpful option for classrooms in which some students might only write a word or two for each step in their How To books.

2. Printable Recipes from Teeny Tiny Foodie (Gr. K-2)

SOURCE:  http://teenytinyfoodie.com/lets-make-a-quesadilla-toddler-recipe/

This site includes over a dozen FREE printable, illustrated recipes—plus a “Let’s Wash Our Hands” title—that are the perfect simple how-to examples. Teachers of fluent writers could use these as working texts for mini lessons about clarifying or adding to directions.

3. How to Make Slime by Lori Shores (Gr. K-2)

This one, like the other titles in the “Hands-On Science Fun” series, begins with a classic example of written project directions. The steps aren’t numbered, but they are sequential and clearly illustrated. The second half of the book includes extensions and snippets of additional information that are good examples of how to make a text more interesting.

4. How to Bake a Cake by Anastasia Suen (Gr. K-3)

Part of the “Step By Step Project” series, this title has enough features to revisit again and again. It has a clear structure that includes an introduction, materials list, and step-by-step directions, and extras like reader tips and a photo glossary.

5. How to Read a Story by Kate Messner (Gr. K-3)

The numbered steps and closely-matched illustrations make this a nice addition to your collection of how-to examples. Plus, the content reinforces all the great reading strategies you’re teaching.

6. If Your Monster Won’t Go To Bed by Denise Vega (Gr. K-3)

After getting overwhelmed by all the “don’ts” for putting a monster to bed, a young girl writes a set of specific and helpful directions for what to do. This book is an excellent example of how a conversational tone and descriptive language can improve writing. Just ”Pour your monster a nice big glass of calming, crunchy, oozy bug juice slimed with ooey-gooey snail trails” and get to work.

7. How to Find a Fox by Nilah Magruder (Gr. K-3)

This text definitely isn’t an informational text, but it does clearly demonstrate writing in the second person. There are individual features worth highlighting, like the specific, bite-sized directions, energetic language and punctuation, and congratulatory statement at the end.

8. How to Find an Elephant by Kate Banks (Gr. K-3)

Again, this is not an actual nonfiction text, but it does have good examples of how to give directions and tips in an engaging way. It could be rewritten in a more standard How To format as a shared writing exercise. Kids will enjoy the fun illustrations and the ending.

9. How to Babysit a Grandma by Jean Reagan (Gr. K-3)

This is a sweet read aloud in its own right with lots of discussion possibilities. Sections like “What To Do at the Park” or “How to Play With a Grandma” can be used as shorter how-to examples, especially to demonstrate how to include tips and reminders for readers.

10. How To Make Friends With a Ghost by Rebecca Green (Gr. K-4)

There are a lot of stylistic features in this imaginative text that make it worth sharing. Show students how the author divided the book into logical sections (“Ghost Basics,” “Ghost Care,” and “Growing Together”) and included helpful features like multiple labeled illustrations for each direction and a list of do’s and don’ts.

11. How to Wash a Wooly Mammoth by Michelle Robinson (Gr. K-3)

Yes, the topic is obscure, but this title has all the elements you’d hope for in a procedural writing mentor text: a catchy introduction, numbered steps, and informative illustrations. “Fig. 4: Heavy-duty crane” is priceless.

12. Caring for Your Lion by Tammi Sauer (Gr. K-3)

“We know you ordered a kitten, but we ran out of those. Luckily a lion is practically the same thing!” Well, thank goodness for this comprehensive guide! The illustrated diagrams, with helpful details like sound effects, arrows and Xs over actions not to take, can help students make more use of the illustrations in their own procedural writing books.

13. How to Survive as a Shark by Kristen Foote (Gr. 2-5)

Warning: this isn’t a kindergarten shark book. It opens with a description of how Great White sharks can eat each other! It is a great title, however, to show your students how to inject humor into informational text and write directions from a creative perspective.

14. Plant! Cook! Eat!: A Children’s Cookbook by Joe Archer and Caroline Craig (Gr. 2-5)

Use this text to study how related procedural writing pieces can be combined into a collection. In addition to being a cookbook, this volume also includes directions for planting and harvesting vegetables.

15. How To Be a Scientist by Steve Mould (Gr 2-5)

Study one set of project instructions to focus exclusively on writing directions, or look at the book as a whole as an example of how to weave procedural writing into an informational book. Support your science curriculum, too!

16. Mossby’s Magic Carpet Handbook: A Flyer’s Guide to Mossby’s Model D3 Extra-Small Magic Carpet (Especially for Young or Vertically Challenged People) by Ilona Bray (Gr. 3-5)

Use this with older students ready to explore moves like varying the format of procedural writing, incorporating additional information, and speaking effectively to readers by using precise vocabulary. This title could inspire “handbooks” on a wide variety of topics.

What are your tried-and-true mentor texts for proceudral writing? Let us know in the comments!

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Master Writing Conventions with Mentor Texts

Covering writing conventions with mentor texts can save teachers time and increase student engagement. Add young adult literature to bring engagement. 

Teaching Writing Conventions with Mentor Texts

Teaching writing conventions to young adults can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. By using mentor texts, you can make the process of learning these important skills engaging and fun.

In this blog, we will explore what writing conventions are and why young adult literature demonstrates them so well. We will then dive into some effective mentor texts that you can use to teach these conventions.

Lastly, we will talk about how mentor texts can help meet educational standards and align with the curriculum. I have taught with mentor texts (also called mentor sentences or paragraphs) for years.

So, if you’re looking for new ways to engage with your students while teaching them important skills for good writing, keep reading!

Understanding Writing Conventions

Teaching writing conventions, which include grammar , punctuation, and usage, is crucial for developing students’ writing skills. Understanding these conventions helps students communicate effectively, conveying meaning and clarity in their own writing. It’s essential for effective written communication, aiding successful writers at every grade level.

Young writers will become bored if their own learning tools are drill and kill worksheets. And—task cards and grammar sorts work well too. However, using mentor texts to teach writing conventions will provide a high level of interest.

What are Writing Conventions?

Before I cover a specific mentor text to teach writing conventions, let’s talk about the process.

You teach writing conventions even if you don’t use that term! They encompass essential elements such as punctuation , capitalization, grammar, and spelling. With older students, I provide direct instruction when I see areas of confusion in their writings. With younger students, I give direct information when introducing concepts (according to the standards).

By understanding and applying writing conventions, young writers can ensure clarity, coherence, consistency, and structure in their written work.

They’ll see those examples in whatever mentor text to teach writing conventions you use.

Importance of Writing Conventions in Young Adult Literature

Now, ideas for choosing sample writings. In young adult literature , writing conventions are on display in several ways. As:

• Interesting parts of the story like suspense, conflict, rising action
• Dialogue, especially famous lines that students repeat
• “Broken” grammar rules like fragments for effect
• Elements of different genres

The carefully crafted use of writing conventions in young adult literature can serve as a powerful mentor text for teaching students about the importance and impact of these conventions in their own writing.

When students encounter suspenseful moments, conflicts, and rising action in a story, they are not only captivated by the plot but also exposed to the effective use of grammar, punctuation, and usage. You might have to call their attentions to these examples! By analyzing how these elements contribute to the overall storytelling experience, students can develop a deeper understanding of how writing conventions enhance their own narratives.

Best Mentor Texts to Teach Conventions in Writing

Hands down, most students love The Hunger Games . Since young readers enjoy the trilogy, you can implement sections while studying it. Not only will students understand the story on a deep level, but they will also retain the grammatical and writing concepts in a deep way.

That suggestion works across lessons: Whatever topic you are covering, find examples in a novel. Use those examples as mentor texts.

If you are not specifically teaching a novel but want to experiment with mentor sentences, choose some modern short stories . Ray Bradbury, Toni Cade Bambara, and Eugenia W. Collier have high-engagement stories that teens enjoy. Study pieces of their stories regarding conventions.

Finally, another approach with young adult literature is using a variety of stories to teach a topic like sentence structure. Gather a group of young adult literature novels and pull high-interest sections that help you to meet standards.

Benefits of Using Young Adult Literature as Mentor Texts

Enhancing student writing conventions with mentor texts from young adult literature aids in developing their craft effectively. Using young adult literature as mentor texts for teaching writing conventions engages students and supports independent work.

Why Choose Young Adult Literature for Mentor Texts?

Utilize the power of young adult literature to effectively teach writing conventions. Young readers and writers enjoy texts with which they can relate. For example, in my winter-themed mentor sentences , students use descriptions of winter to study:

• Sentence structure
• Ambiguous pronouns
• Suspense, setting, dialogue
• Punctuation

When we incorporate relevant and impactful young adult literature mentor texts into writing lessons, we are also discussing literature with students and encouraging them to read.

Impact of Young Adult Literature on Student Engagement

Utilizing mentor texts from young adult literature contributes significantly to student engagement in writing conventions. These texts engage young writers effectively, influencing their involvement in writing conventions and ultimately enhancing their skills. By incorporating mentor texts based on young adult literature, educators can successfully support student engagement in writing conventions.

This approach provides a compelling and impactful way to enhance student writers’ participation and interest, ultimately leading to more successful writers in the classroom. Since young adult lit deals with situations our students face, the content interests them.

Enhancing Vocabulary and Dialogue through Young Adult Literature

Young adult literature mentor texts play a crucial role in enriching students’ vocabulary and dialogue skills, offering an effective way to support vocabulary development through engaging narratives. These mentor texts not only enhance writing conventions but also inspire students to use techniques from mentor texts creatively in their own writing—especially narrative writing where students use dialogue!

By incorporating mentor texts from young adult literature, educators can provide support and examples for both reluctant and successful writers at every grade level, aligning with educational standards and fostering a love for reading and writing.

What about Classical Literature for Writing Conventions?

I too use a piece or two of classical literature as a mentor text to teach writing conventions. Often, pieces from The Great Gatsby and A Raisin in the Sun work well. You can read my post about mentor texts from classical literature .

Meeting Writing and Language Standards with Mentor Texts

You can find great tools in whatever you and your students enjoy, from nonfiction books, picture books, and classic novels. Time and time again, though, the best books for modeling is young adult literature.

The next time you are reading a great book, ask yourself why it is so great. Then, mark out a few text features. Note sentence fluency and word choice. Take an excerpt and discuss it with your classes and suddenly, you’ll have a mentor text for writing conventions.

Upper-grades’ language standards ask for students to understand different aspects of language, not to merely memorize and use components. For instance, in their writing, students must choose purposeful words, certain sentence structure, and effective punctuation. By modeling author’s choices, students understand the application to their writing.

In conclusion, young adult literature provides ample choice in choosing a mentor text to teach writing conventions. They provide students with engaging examples of how to effectively use grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.

By incorporating mentor texts into your lessons, you can engage students in meaningful discussions about the craft of writing and help them develop a deeper understanding of language standards. Additionally, using young adult literature as mentor texts has the added benefit of capturing student interest and enhancing vocabulary and dialogue.

So, whether you are a teacher looking to enhance your writing instruction or a parent wanting to support your child’s literacy development, consider incorporating mentor texts into your teaching toolkit. They are sure to make a positive impact on your writers’ abilities.

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Preparing for VCE English and EAL Unit 3/4: Creating texts

This is the second post in a short series for VCE English teachers preparing for the new VCE English and EAL Study Design. This post covers Unit 3 Creating Texts

Creating Texts is the biggest new addition to the VCE English and EAL Study Design, and possibly the one which has generated the most discussion in its Unit 1 equivalent, Crafting Texts. The new creative writing unit was introduced partly as a way to address the imbalance of writing types int he previous Study Design, which essentially had three analytical responses in the examination. It’s also there to give students the opportunity to experiment with a range of texts.

Like the previous post, I’ll be going through the Key Knowledge and identifying a few ways to assess this outcome, which requires two creative pieces and a reflection.

At the end of this post I’ve also got a favour to ask: I’m looking for some feedback on a new idea to help English teachers, and also as a way to declutter your inboxes if you’re getting too many emails from me about my other passion: Generative AI in education . Chances are if you’re reading this post I’ve already connected with you in some way either through VATE, professional learning, or my books . I always appreciate the direct feedback from English teachers.

Unit 3 Area of Study 2: Creating Texts

The most important factors in this Area of Study are the introduction of mentor texts and the Framework of Ideas. I’ve written about both aspects before with regards to the Unit 1/2 Study Design, so if you want to focus on those elements check out some of these posts:

• Crafting Texts: Using Mentor Texts
• Choosing Mentor Texts
• VCE English Crafting Texts Mentor Collection
• VCE English 2023: Mentor Texts and Ideas
• Crafting Texts: Ideas

The obvious difference is that the Framework of Ideas and mentor texts for Unit 3/4 must be selected from the VCAA Text List .

Creating Texts links directly to Section B of the new examination, though it’s important to note that we don’t know exactly what that looks like yet.

Mentor texts

Like the previous post, I’ll spend some time on the first Key Knowledge as it’s one of the most important aspects and different to any previous version of the study design.

the role of mentor texts as models of effective and cohesive writing VCAA Study Design

The first of the Key Knowledge is centred on the mentor texts. Note that the VCAA doesn’t expect you to use the mentor texts to discuss the Framework of Ideas, but as models of quality writing. This is the biggest factor that differentiates this new Area of Study from the old Context topic, where students had to use a prompt to explore a text related to a specific idea.

In Creating Texts, the purpose of the mentor texts is to demonstrate aspects of language use, word choice, style, voice and so on. The Framework simply provides a boundary for selecting texts which are linked to help with both the text selection and the overall understanding. 

In fact, what you’re looking for is made explicit in the second Key Knowledge: vocabulary, text structures and language features used in effective and cohesive writing. This is where I would target close reading activities, annotations, and group discussions of the mentor texts.

Purpose, audience, and ideas

Several of the Key Knowledge relate to purpose, audience, and ideas. These are focused on how the elements shape writing. For example, how is the writing in the mentor texts affected by the purpose, be it persuasive, imaginative, expository, or a hybrid? What is the impact of the context and mode. How is a blog post different in register and word choice to a piece of creative nonfiction in a newspaper? What kind of figurative language might an author select for a poem that would be out of place – or perhaps used to great effect – in a formal speech? Compare the audience, purpose, and context of various mentor texts and discuss the impact on the language.

Finally, bring in some discussion of the idea but don’t let it dominate. The authors’ interpretations of the idea is not the point here. It doesn’t really matter what Tim Winton makes of Play , but rather what the students can do with the Framework and the influence of Winton’s writing style. 

Writing processes

Given we’ve written an entire book about the value of the writing process, it’s safe to say we’re on board with VCAA’s decision to include “writing processes including drafting, refining and considering feedback” as one of the Key Knowledge. It’s also a reflection of changes to the Study Design and the VCAA Administrative Handbook, both of which include more leeway for teachers to provide feedback on draft writing. In this Area of Study, you have to value the entire process from exploring the mentor texts, to developing ideas to write about, drafting, collaborating with peers, and editing. 

Another of the Key Knowledge, “collaboration and discussion”, speaks to the importance of working together of any piece of writing. Most published texts go through some form of editorial process, and your students’ writing should be the same.

This blog post accompanies resources in the VCE Hub. If you’re already a member, new video content will be added soon that covers each Area of Study in detail. If you haven’t yet joined the VCE Hub, then you can check it out here.

Assessing Creating Texts

When it comes to assessing this Area of Study, there are a number of approaches you could take. The VCAA Advice for Teachers pages also offer stimulus materials as a way to anchor student writing for the SACs. The stimulus materials were a relatively late addition to the Advice, and don’t feature in the Study Design itself, so many teachers missed the update which came via the VCAA Bulletin. Make sure you go to the Advice for Teachers pages and read up on them.

According to the Advice pages, the stimulus materials can be seen or unseen prompts. In the Unit 1 pages, there is a visual stimulus (a photo). For Unit 3, there are passages of text of varying lengths, such as this example for the Framework Writing About Play:

Play is, by definition, a safety space. If a designer or artist can make safe spaces that allow the negotiation of real-world concepts, issues, and ideas, then a game can be successful in facilitating the exploration of innovative solutions for apparently intractable problems. Mary Flanagan, Critical Play: Radical Game Design

The stimulus should be “explicitly incorporated” but not necessarily quoted verbatim. In my opinion, this is what will happen on the examination. I think that there will be a selection of stimuli – probably two – for each of the Frameworks, and the student must use their chosen stimulus in the writing. This will help mitigate the risk of students arriving with totally pre-prepared responses. Again, that’s only my opinion at this stage. We’ll see if I’m right after the VCE Examination and the release of the sample exam.

As for the assessment itself, there are a few options:

Example 1 Students maintain a writing journal for three or more mentor texts during the teaching and learning program for this outcome in which they develop their ideas, explore text structures, language features, vocabulary and conventions and draft their written texts. Teacher provides a set of seen/unseen stimulus materials based on the idea selected from the Framework of Ideas. Students determine the context, the audience and the purpose of their written piece and construct it over two supervised lessons. Example 2 Students maintain a writing journal for three or more mentor texts during the teaching and learning program for this outcome in which they develop their ideas, explore text structures, language features, vocabulary and conventions and draft their written texts. Teacher provides a set of unseen stimulus materials based on the idea selected from the Framework of Ideas and determines the audience and context for which the written text is constructed. Students develop a written text within those parameters but determine their own purpose. Example 3 Students maintain a writing journal for three or more mentor texts during the teaching and learning program for this outcome in which they develop their ideas, explore text structures, language features, vocabulary and conventions and draft their written texts. As a class, students develop set of stimulus materials based on the idea selected from the Framework of Ideas. These stimulus materials are shared with all members of the class. Students select from the stimulus materials and produce a written text incorporating their chosen stimulus, in consideration of an audience, a context and a purpose. Teachers determine an appropriate process of authentication for the submitted text. https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/english-and-eal/Pages/Assessment.aspx

Of those, number 3 is my preferred option. It provides a lot of student choice, and doesn’t need to be completed under examination conditions. It really values the whole process of writing.

In terms of timing, I’d suggest you run the first of the two creative responses mid-late term, provide feedback, and allow a week or two for the next piece. That way, students can reflect on your feedback between pieces and comment in their reflection on what they did to address the feedback. The reflection itself can be written about both texts, and should be a few hundred words focused on the student’s authorial choices.

The performance descriptors provided on the Advice for Teachers page provides criteria for both the creative outcomes and the reflection.

English Matters

I’ve been an English teacher for over 15 years. I’m out of the classroom now, but my PhD research is working with English teachers and digital texts, and I’ve recently rejoined the VATE council to continue supporting teachers across the state.

Some of my work with Generative AI, like my PhD, overlaps with writing. Some, like the broader ethical concerns of GAI and my work on school and organisational policy extends beyond English.

I also work with great English teachers, leaders, and consultants and want to extend that beyond my own blog. With all that in mind, I’d love quick some feedback on an idea I’ve been sitting on for a while to spin off my English work into its own separate venture. Before I go any further I’m getting as much feedback as possible from the English teachers I’ve worked with, particularly this year in my first year of business outside of the classroom.

If you have a minute, please consider filling out this feedback form and letting me know what you think of these ideas.

If you’d like to get in touch about anything else, then let me know via the form below:

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Teaching the Writer’s Craft With Micro Mentor Texts

Penny Kittle shares a lesson plan that uses very short mentor texts to foster students’ love of writing and confidence in their work.

In many classrooms, students labor over writing. They groan when we give assignments. They procrastinate. They lack confidence. Where’s the joy? We know it matters. Joy suspends time. When students have it, they will work past the bell.

We teachers have the power to ignite joy as a regular practice through the study of authors’ craft moves. Students will discover the potential of intentionally arranging sentences (in a list, perhaps), or in shaping an image (to show a creepy setting or define a character), or in creating authentic dialogue. Studying passages from great books not only hones writing skills but also generates curiosity.

What is this author doing to make this book so good? I can’t stop reading it! How can I replicate those craft moves to give my writing this kind of life and power? Does the author do this in all his books?

The answer to these questions lies in the frequent study and imitation of micro mentor texts .

A micro mentor text is a few sentences, a paragraph, or a scene. It is short enough to analyze with students in a mini-lesson but packed with writer’s craft that we can teach students how to identify and imitate. The power of this practice lies in its simplicity and its infinite variations. It’s a simple idea that I’ve used with great success in my teaching and literacy coaching, grade two to college, for decades. My students, however,  do most of the work, collecting passages to study during independent reading and book clubs. When we unite our students’ reading with the study of the writer’s craft, we save time and inspire wise young writers.

There is never enough time in teaching, but one important and lasting understanding is that books hold lessons for writers. Let’s help our students learn how to discover them.

A few tools and techniques can change your entire approach to teaching writing. I’ll share a sample micro mentor text lesson.

BEGIN: Excite your students about the selected text

I begin with a book talk, holding up Refugee , by Alan Gratz . I summarize the story in a few sentences from the author’s website:

Three different kids. One mission in common: ESCAPE. Three young people will go on harrowing journeys in search of refuge. All will face unimaginable dangers—from drownings to bombings to betrayals. But for each of them, there is always hope of tomorrow. And although Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are separated by continents and decades, surprising connections will tie their stories together in the end. 

“ This book,” I tell students, “has won so many awards, I can’t list them all. It not only was voted Best Fiction for Young Adults in 2018, but also became a New York Times best seller.” I end this book talk, as I do all book talks, with these words: “If this sounds like a book you might want to read next, add it to your list at the back of your writer’s notebook.” 

We must support the ongoing reading lives of all our students. Daily book talks remind students of all the great books available to them.

NOTICE: Passage study engages students through peer discussion

In the following short passage from Refugee , Gratz establishes the setting with artful intention. I encourage students to talk with a partner, not only about what is happening here, but also about what Gratz is doing to create this moment, sentence by sentence. 

It was like they were invisible.

Josef and his sister followed their mother through the crowd at the Lehrter Bahnhof, Berlin’s main railway station. Josef and Ruth each carried a suitcase, and their mother carried two more—one for herself, and one for Josef’s father. No porters rushed to help them with their bags. No station agents stopped to ask if they needed help finding their train. The bright yellow Star of David armbands the Landaus wore were like magical talismans that made them disappear. Yet no one bumped into them, Joseph noticed. All the station attendants and other passengers gave them a wide berth, flowing around them like water around a stone.

The people chose not to see them. 

I wander the room and take notes on what students notice. Below are a few observations that I heard when conducting this passage study:

• The claim “like they were invisible” is supported by details of what that means.
• The repetition of “no porters, no station agents” to show what was not happening but should have been happening. 
• The use of a simile (“like magical talismans… like water around a stone”) to help the reader imagine what the crowd is seeing and how it is moving.

When we come back together as a class, I share students’ observations and add them to an anchor chart (an ongoing, cumulative list) of craft moves we notice. Each book, we soon learn, is a treasure chest of craft moves.

IMITATE: Teacher modeling helps students visualize the use of craft moves in writing

We pull out our writing notebooks, and I model how I might imitate Gratz’s craft moves based on my own topic. My goal is to encourage students to use their observations as they write. I say, “I imagine myself at morning basketball practice in the gym of my middle school. There was only one team at the school, so my best friend and I tried out for the boys’ team. I want to describe that setting for readers.” I write a few sentences (either on the board or under a document camera, depending on what tools are available) and explain that I’m focusing on details that describe, inspired by Gratz’s writing.

The cement wall was cold against my head and neck and my legs crossed, uncrossed, stretched, and bunched up. I pulled my long blond hair back into a ponytail. I waited. I hated this part. More than the cold lima beans on my plate at dinner or scraping wax off of our hardwood floors at home, I hated this choosing teams thing. Just once, I wanted to be captain.

THEIR TURN: Drafting and sharing their own written work boosts students’ confidence

I ask students to choose their own topics and try imitating Gratz as I continue writing. They do. Pencils fly. Some students go back to the passage to look at it more closely, and then continue writing. Other students read what I’m writing before continuing.

I imitate a sentence pattern from the passage. I return to the passage and highlight the “no” sentences,  and then I write my own sentences:

No girls were chosen to be captains in the morning scrimmage. No coach stepped up to make it fair. 

Students work in pairs, sharing their creations for a minute or two as I listen in. Sometimes we share our writing as a class. Student confidence blossoms. After all, they are standing next to the craft of expert authors, so they write with confidence. When students share, they discover the many ways that craft moves can be made across experiences and experiments from all the writers in the room. All things seem possible.

PRACTICE: Students learn How to read like writers independently

When students enter independent reading, I see 25 heads bent over 25 books. No matter the novel or nonfiction book each student has chosen, intentional craft moves are at work in it. We read like writers. As I confer with students, I hear what they’ve noticed. 

In book clubs, students share passages they’ve collected to spur discussion. But they share more than passages. They share the joy of discovery. One student says to another, “Where did you find that?” and suddenly they begin to study the passage together. 

This is teacher joy—when we watch students learning from each other. We need more of it. As Decoteau J. Irby says in The Blog of Harvard Education Publishing , “Joy at school and in learning is a foundation from which students gain the confidence that academic struggle is temporary and worthwhile.” Let’s bring joy back to the teaching of writing. It’s there—right there—in the books we love.