This is a unit I created with two other graduate students to launch a writer’s notebook in a hypothetical small group, third grade class. Included below are a rationale, standards, mentor texts, Your Turn lessons, and examples of my own modeled writing. This is a detailed, fully laid out plan that can be adapted for any classroom, teacher, or group of students.
- Introduction: Importance/Rationale of the Unit
Teaching writing is something that is consistently put on the back burner so to say, as reading and spelling (and standardized tests) pushes it out of focus altogether. Why is writing important? Should we still focus on writing instruction in schools? Why does it matter? In order to answer these questions, one must first define writing and examine its importance throughout the classroom and students’ futures.
Reading the National Council of Teachers of English Position Statements is truly wonderful. I have never found such a clear, well-written philosophy or creed on the topic of writing. Writing- its definition and connotations- has been elusive and vague for teachers and students alike for years. How do you teach writing? What even is writing? “‘Writing’ refers to the act of creating composed knowledge” (NCTE, 2018). What a simple yet profound statement. Writing is communication, art, science – and generally hard for students to get on board with.
“Writing is social and rhetorical. When writers compose—texts to friends, Instagram posts, fan fiction, blogs, or any one of a myriad of sites where they can create identities—they are writing. However, writers increasingly do not recognize these acts as writing, seeing them as distinct from what they are asked to do in school (Lenhart et al). There, analyses have shown that when writing is taught, it is often linked to standards or expectations that writers perceive to be slightly removed or even quite distinct from their experiences, identities, and interests.” (NCTE, 2018)
Many students only see writing as sitting down however long a day in class, getting out their writing notebooks and responding to the prompt with the required number of sentences. It is done in isolation and it better be done in quiet with your eyes on your own work. Saying writing is social is revolutionary in the classroom, yet commonplace in the real world. How many people spend hours of their lives writing stories that they never share with other people? The Emily Dickinson’s of the world are rare, yet that is exactly what current education encourages in our schools. There is a greater narrative at play here- writing is storytelling. Telling stories, and stories in general, rules and shapes our lives in every way; stories are usually thought of as fun yet can be dulled down and sanitized by the restrictions and requirements put on students and teachers alike. Teachers teach writing so that they can fulfill the standards, but what if we taught students to write well for themselves too? “Writers also bring their past writing and reading practices with them whenever they write or read” (NCTE, 2018). When this cycle of boring writing perpetuates through the grades, students quickly learn to dread “writing time” and to avoid it at all costs. Sadly, one wonderful year of writing instruction cannot combat years of journals, required sentence amounts, and random prompts. In order to make a change in the world of writing, teachers need to work together. Writers and readers can be scarred from their past classroom experiences, and we need to be sensitive and acknowledge that so we can move forward. “Becoming a better writer requires practice. The more writers write, the more familiar it becomes” (NCTE, 2018). The best way to encourage writing is to write more. This is the same with reading, and with almost any skill a person wants to strengthen. It makes perfect sense when saying it aloud yet seems to also be overlooked in its profoundness. Rarely do we teachers want to put in the hard work for our students when we can more easily fulfill our writing instruction quotas in the more traditional way.In addition,“reading like a writer” is sometimes it’s not about the story but about the craft of the story.
This idea of literally coming alongside each student in the writing process is not only a great example (or should I say mentor) but allows the teacher to experience firsthand what she is asking her students to do. To live through the frustrations, boredom, excitement, and writer’s block alongside her students in my opinion makes them a better teacher. Teachers learn the struggles of their students, which in turn allows them to weed out certain strategies and to figure out solutions to problems. It is important for teachers to write with their students because it shows solidarity, provides ready-made examples and models, and can change the opinion of teachers about writing instruction.You have to analyze what the author is doing in their writing to use those strategies yourself (such as a compare/contrast lead, show, don’t tell, or movement of time and place (Shubitz, 2016)), and most students do not naturally do this. As teachers we have to bring them around to see this different perspective when reading if we want to effectively use mentor texts and see our students become good writers.
Writing is important because it is a foundational skill. Students must be able to write in order express themselves and what they know. Using a writer’s notebook is a way to teach different forms of writing and to make writing matter to students because they will be writing about topics they care about. Having a writer’s notebook is fun, creative, and inspirational.
Having a writer’s notebook that isn’t page after page of random writing prompts and a minimum sentence count is a completely new idea for teachers and schools alike. If an adult writer’s notebook is colorful, messy, and filled with pictures and random ideas, how much more could a child’s notebook be? The process of writing itself is a messy, colorful, illustrative process, not the standard 5 paragraph essay or the circuitous steps of drafting, revising, editing, etc.
The greatest stories usually are based off of experiences or memories. So why not generate story ideas through different, even “fun” exercises? This is what Mentor Texts is chock full of: generating writing ideas, fleshing those ideas out, and allowing the students to be in charge of their writing topics. Using strategies such as I LOVE/I DON’T love, a bucket list, favorite places, a memory chain, maps, sounds I hear/sights I see, my beautiful things, graphs, pictures, and what if? stories are all wonderful examples of stretching the bounds of the definition of writing itself.
Mentor texts are pieces of literature that we can return to again and again as we help our young writers learn how to do what they may not yet be able to do on their own” (Dorfman & Cappelli, 2001, p. 6). It makes perfect sense to teach children how to write creatively and well by using creative, well-written texts, yet this is something that never crosses teacher’s minds. It is much easier for teachers to show students examples of good writing through diverse mentor texts than trying to create good writing on their own. Many times, students in resource rooms also have a really hard time deciding where to begin or wrap up their story. This is where mentor texts can come in and really assist and shape future storytellers.
Attracting readers and keeping them engaged is not only difficult for published authors, but especially for novices that may or may not hate writing and lose their train of thought repeatedly. Additionally, many students, especially with disabilities, have a really hard time adding detail and making the story colorful rather than straight-forward. This is because they have used all their brainpower on communicating and documenting their idea(s)- any additional work seems insurmountable and exhausting. These students need direct instruction and a map of sorts to follow when composing a story. Through dialogue, using the senses, anecdotes, moments, and illustrations, students are able to firmly grasp the details of the story instead of just blindly trying to follow the teacher’s exhortations of “Tell me more”. They have solid ground on which to stand when they recreate a conversation or record what they saw, smelled, heard, tasted, and felt. Many students doodle during journal time as a form of escape. What if that was considered sufficient? Using students’ skills or a “fun” mentality to spur writing on can be immensely helpful. This is the stuff good writing instruction is made of: research, planning, and knowing your students.
Students must be allowed to write on their own and on topics they are passionate about, but gradually. As the teacher writes in their own writer’s notebook, they provide material from which to teach from. Teachers can use the Gradual Release of Responsibility (GRR) Model of Instruction to do just that. Teachers first utilize mentor texts to highlight specific strategies, use their own writing to practice those strategies, and show that during class instruction. Students can first work together, work in small groups/partners, and then independently so that they have every opportunity to practice before they go solo. It is important for students to feel supported and guided, especially those who struggle with writing. This also builds up confidence for beginning writers and ensures that students will use the strategies as correctly as possible. This is an easy, structured plan for both teachers and students to follow.
2. Features of the Unit
- Names:Ana Serrano, Emily Horton, Blair Smith
- Population:3rd grade general education classroom
- Structure:Small groups
- Goals/Objectives for the unit:
- Student will use specific strategies for finding personal topics, drafting personal stories, narrowing the focus, and revising.
- Students will work in small groups, with partners, and independently during narrative writing instruction.
- NC ELA Standards:
- RL.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
- L.3.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships.
- RL.3.6 Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters
- RL.3.7 Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story.
- L.3.3Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. a. Choose words and phrases for effect. b. Recognize and observe differences between the conventions of spoken and written standard English
- W.3.2 Write informative /explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
- Organize information and ideas around a topic to plan and prepare to write.
- Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.
- Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.
- Use linking words and phrases to connect ideas within categories of information.
- Provide a concluding statement or section.
- With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing, with consideration to task and purpose.
- W.3.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
- Organize information and ideas around a topic to plan and prepare to write.
- Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.
- Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.
- Use temporal transition words and phrases to signal event order.
- Provide a sense of closure.
- With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing, with consideration to task and purpose.
- SL.3.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
- Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.
- Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions.
- Ask questions to check understanding of information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the remarks of others.
- Explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion.
Mentor Texts
- Charlie is Broken by Lauren Child
- My Two Blankets by Irena Kobald and Frey Blackwood
- Shortcut by Donald Crews
- Happy Like Soccerby Maribeth Boelts
- Home Runby Robert Burleigh
- Last Stop on Market Streetby Matt de la Peña
- The Witches and Matildaby Roald Dahl
- The Map Book by Peter Barber
- Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts
- When I Was Five by Arthur Howard
- Writer’s Notebook Invitation and Plan for Introducing Notebook
- Introducing Writer’s Notebook:
- Students will go on a scavenger hunt to find their writer’s notebooks. At the beginning of the lesson, the teacher should tell students how excited he or she is to introduce them to something that he or she uses every day and hopes the students will look forward to using and hopefully everyday (see script). After a bit of a pep talk, the teacher should split students up into groups. Depending on the environment, class, and amount of assistance available will be the scope of the scavenger hunt. However, students should be led to an area that has writer’s notebooks wrapped in wrapping paper or newspaper and addressed to each individual student. No one should open their gift until all students have arrived at the destination and have their gift. When everyone has their gift, students can open them, and the teacher should say that he or she is so excited to share the gift of writing with them. Students should then have a chance to see what the teacher’s notebook looks like. The teacher should say how excited he or she is to see and hear what makes it into students’ notebooks.
- The first entry that students will create in their notebook is a simple “I like, I dislike” picture or graphic organizer. There are many different ways that students can do this. They can create a graph has an upper axis and a lower axis. On the upper axis students include five things that they like and on the lower axis they include five things that they dislike. Another way students can do this is creating a page of 100 things that they love. This is a time where students can think of anything – food, animals, family, friends. It is anything that can help them develop a story.
- Another activity to do with students to help them start their writer’s notebook is creating a heart map. A heart map is simply a heart that is drawn in their writer’s notebook or a printed copy that they can glue into their notebooks. Within their heart they are asked to put names, words, phrases, pictures inside of their heart that have meaning to them. These can just be people, or they can be phrases that remind them of a story that they can tell later. Students are also encouraged to write names, words, phrases, or draw pictures on the outside of their heart: these are things that they do not like. Have students talk with partners to bounce ideas off of each other and help develop some ideas to put on their heart maps.
- After students have used their graphic organizers/maps to discover writing ideas, set up stations around the room with specific topics for students to discuss with each other. Each table or area will have a different topic, like pets, injuries, siblings, vacations, friends, and games. Spend 5 minutes at each station (or however much time allows) for each student to talk and share their stories related to the topic. And the end of the time, allow students to nominate each other to tell exciting/interesting stories to the entire class. Instruct students to write down ideas as they think of them during their table conversations.
- Hypothetical script: Many of us groan and moan when we think about writing. It is my goal to change your mind about this! I want your faces to light up and get excited, so excited that you’re begging me to let you write! We are going to start a writer’s notebook. This is a notebook that you will keep here at school, but I hope that while you are anywhere besides this classroom you are collecting ideas that you can bring to life within your notebook. We will collect ideas, we will create pieces together – both short and long – you will try out all different types of writing, you will revise, and you will publish. This notebook is not just for strictly writing, you will draw pictures, thought bubbles, maps, and paste photos and items. This notebook will hold ideas, memories, and practices that are important to you. I want you to use your writer’s notebook well so that you will always have ideas to write about and that you care about.I am so excited, and I hope you are too, to see what you and your classmates have to share!
4. Your Turn Narrative Lessons
A. Finding/Mining for Ideas
Injury Map
Hook: Read the book Charlie is Brokenby Lauren Child. After that, have a class discussion as to where Lauren Child may have gotten her ideas for the story. Make sure to discuss the possibility that she may have broken her arm or had some type of injury herself.
Purpose: It can sometimes be difficult to come with ideas for stories. I know that many of you have many injury stories that you love to tell. Today we will record some of these, so that you can come back to them and write about them, if you choose to do so.
Brainstorm: In front of the class, think out loud about ideas you have of times you may have gotten injured yourself. Point to different body parts and say briefly what type of injury occurred. Ask students to share injuries that have happened to them, as well.
Model: Share a map of your own injuries. Use an outline of a human body and have some of your injuries filled in, with room to add more. After adding a few, let students know that you are having trouble thinking of more personal injuries, but you can think of some you witnessed that have happened to other people you know. Write these down and make note as to who they happened to. This will help students who are struggling to think of personal injuries to still be able to write something. You may also include getting sick or minor things, such as paper cuts or stepping on a Lego, to help students see that this does not have to include huge injuries, just something that they could turn into a story. Choose one of the injuries listed and write a short story about it.
In kindergarten, I hated nap time. The one time I remember taking a nap, I got hurt. We all slept on these blue foam mats, and for some reason I decided to lay mine under a table. The next thing I remember, I sat up so quickly that I banged my head on the edge of the table. It didn’t hurt so I didn’t think anything of it. I felt something wet running down my face at the same time my teacher saw me. They immediately sent me to the nurse, where she put a large gauze bandage on my face that covered half of it. I remember thinking it was a little dramatic, as I felt nothing. My mom came and picked me up and that is how I got stitches above my eye from a nap.
Shared/Guided Writing: Pull out a blank human body outline and allow students to share personal injuries. Let students add to the map and create a class example. This should help students who may be struggling to come up with their own ideas. After the map has a decent amount of ideas written in, have students share their ideas with a partner.
Independent Writing: Give each student an outline of the human body that could be glued in their writer’s notebooks. Allow students time to record some of their own experiences with injuries and illnesses. After students have had time to list their entries, place them in small groups and allow time for each student to share one of their stories. Then, have students write a short entry about the injury, in their notebooks.
Reflection: Allow students the opportunity to share their entries with a partner. Have students then think with their partners about ways they could use this map to help write other stories. Come back together and discuss the possibilities as a class. Some questions that you could have students think about include:
How can this map help you think of stories?
What length could your stories from your map be?
How could you write about the moment in which these events happened?
How could you write about the story surrounding the moment?
What other types of maps could you create to help you think of stories to tell?
Creating a Hand Map
Hook: Find a personal narrative that has a deep emotional effect on your readers/writers. For the purpose of this lesson I have chosen My Two Blankets by Irena Kobald and Frey Blackwood. Read the personal narrative aloud to the class. Other good options are: Shortcut by Donald Crews, Happy Like Soccerby Maribeth Boelts and Last Stop on Market Streetby Matt de la Peña.
Purpose:Writers, think back to when we read My Two Blanks. How did Cartwheel feel when the story started? How did she feel when she had to move? How did she feel when she got to her new home? Hot did she feel at the end of the book? {List the emotions on the board as the students are giving them to you}. Can you see how much of this story depends on the emotions of the main character? When we are trying to write about specific topics, sometimes it is easier to find what we want to write about if we think about an emotion we were feeling at that time. Today I am going to model how to use a hand map to find a specific topic to write about.
Brainstorm:Allow students to break up into partners or small groups to create a list of emotions that they commonly have. After a couple of minutes come back as a whole group and have students share out. Create a master list on a chart or the board and ask students to add any emotions that they do not have listed in their own notebooks.
Model:Share your own hand map with your students. Begin with some easier emotions that you know your students would be able to relate to such as sadness, happiness, nervousness, fear, and excitement. Place one emotion on each finger and branch out with one- or two-word phrases that will remind you of an event. {see my example at the end of the lesson}. For your students, try and come up with one event/story for each emotion but be sure to tell students that they can focus on one emotion at a time when creating their own. Then, show students a flash draft created from one of the emotions that you have on your hand map. Here is an example of one of my flash drafts that I wrote after making my hand map:
Shared/Guided Writing:After modeling your own hand map have the class create a class hand map. Ask students to volunteer up emotions that they created earlier in the brainstorm portion of this lesson. As you are creating the class hand invite students to start their own hand map in their writer’s notebook. They can follow the class hand map, but if they have an emotion that is not on the class hand that they want on their own, let them know that theirs can end up looking different. Have students give you phrases for a potential story for each of the emotions that you have put on your class hand.
Independent Writing:Have students pick one of their phrases and develop a flash draft in their own writers’ notebook just as you had when you modeled. As students are developing a flash draft, teachers begin developing a new entry from their own hand map at the same time as students – it is important to show students that you can work while they are working!
Reflection:Students should look through their entries in their writer’s notebook and find examples where the entry may have started based on an emotion. Ask students:
How effective is your hand map as a tool for finding a specific writing topic?
What kinds of writing seems to spring from your hand map?
What types of emotions are you finding give you the most ideas for stories?
(Dorfman & Cappelli, 2001, p. 70-72)
B. Drafting Personal Stories and Narrowing the Focus
1. Creating a Neighborhood Map
Hook: Read Last Stop on Market Street by Matt De La Peña to share the story/map of CJ and his nana’s journey throughout their neighborhood on the bus. If working with an older audience and you have additional time, read Matt De La Peña’s acceptance speech here: https://www.hbook.com/2016/06/news/awards/2016-newbery-acceptance-by-matt-de-la-pena/. If not, state that this story was inspired by the author’s own upbringing. Encourage students to think about what a journey through their own neighborhood or town would look like. Ask them to compare and contrast their neighborhood with his.
Purpose: Sometimes writing begins with drawing. Today I will show you one way to find ideas for writing by creating and labeling a neighborhood or town map.
Brainstorm: Students can turn and talk with a partner about the places they visit in their neighborhood or town. List ideas on an anchor chart as children share. If students are having difficulty, ask them to turn and talk about their home, school, or favorite place.
Model: Here is my neighborhood map:
I can talk about some of the places and notes I made in the margins concerning events, descriptions of scenery, objects, and people, and future stories. I chose one place that serves as a springboard for a story and wrote a small flash draft:
When I was still living at home, the house farthest from mine burned down. The owners lived in a log cabin and sold their property. The new owners did not want the house, so they allowed fire departments from surrounding towns to use the structure as a practice building. Fire trucks filled our street and the house blazed all day long. It was a sight to see.
Shared/Guided Writing: Display a map of the school and ask students to help you label it and begin to talk about possibilities for a story. What happened on the playground this morning? What did you play in P.E.? What happened in the library? After jotting down a few ideas from the students, have them help you decide on one to write about.
Independent Writing: Ask students to create their own maps of their neighborhood or town. Encourage them to add labels and captions. Ask them to choose one place on their map that has a story to tell. Give them time to turn and talk with one or several partners. Encourage partners to ask questions to clarify and extend thinking. Give students time to write their story.
Reflection: Students can turn and talk in their small group about how their maps helped them find and tell a story. Use the following questions.
What helped you find your story- the pictures or captions or both?
How did sharing with a partner help you choose your story?
Will your map offer other stories to write? Will you use your map for inspiration in the future?
Note: This lesson can be taught over several days. Maps can be created one day, partner sharing can be on the next, and writing can be on another day.
2. Focusing on a Moment Using an Idea Splash
Hook:Read the book Home Runby Robert Burleigh, with students. Be sure to focus on the fact that although Burleigh takes the time to introduce Babe Ruth, the bulk of the story is spent focused on one small moment. Discuss with students things such as what Babe Ruth may be thinking and feeling, what others may be thinking and feeling, and how focusing on the moment adds to the story.
Purpose:Sometimes it can be difficult to focus on a moment, as a writer. We tend to sometimes want to tell everything that happened, because it is all important to us. However, our readers do not want to hear a timeline of events. Instead, we want to captivate them and give them a reason to want to keep reading. This strategy helps to narrow the focus and write about a small moment in time.
Brainstorm: Think out loud about other small moments in time. From there, have students help generate a list of small moments in time. Write these down on chart paper or on the board for all to see.
Model: Choose one of the small moments on the class list and model an idea splash. Start by telling students that it does not matter if the picture you choose is perfect. The point of the picture is for your own reference to help pinpoint the moment in time. Model out loud the picture you will choose and how it helps you place yourself in that moment in time. From there, write short words and phrases related to that moment. Begin a short draft of the moment.
Shared/Guided Writing: Go back to the class list and have students help you pick a moment that was chosen by the class. With the help of students, think of a picture to draw that represents the moment. From there, have students give words and phrases related to the moment in time. If more practice is needed, have students complete the process with a partner or in small groups.
Independent Writing: Ask students to choose a small moment that the class listed or to think of their own small moment. Have them generate an idea splash of their own. Once students have had time to create an idea splash, give them time to start to draft.
Reflection: Ask students to think about how the idea splash did or did not help them to focus on a moment in time. Some questions to ask may include:
How is focusing on a small moment different than telling a story over time?
How does focusing on a small moment help make your story rich?
Was this difficult or easy for you to do?
Note: Depending on the group of students and teacher preferences, this could be done as two lessons. The first would focus on the idea splash, and the drafting could be completed separately in a second lesson.
C. Narrative Writing Craft and Revision
- Building Content Through Showing, Not Telling
Hook:Use the mentor texts The Witches and Matilda by Roald Dahl to show character’s emotions and descriptions.
In The Witches, the main character reacts with fear when he discovers that the nice ladies on the other side of the screen are really witches. You can also reread the chapter “The Meeting” and chart all the words that show fear such as “My blood turned to ice. I began to shake all over,” (Dahl, 1983).
In Matilda, the headmistress of Matilda’s school, Miss Trunchbull, is a terrifying, disgusting bully. Roald Dahl does a wonderful job of describing Miss Trunchbull through showing her personality and appearance with colorful descriptions. “Looking at her, you got the feeling that this was someone who could bend iron bars and tear telephone directories in half,”(Dahl, 1998). You can add descriptions to your fear chart from The Witches.
Purpose: Writing by telling alone is boring. Authors try to balance telling with showing. One of the easiest things that authors can show is emotions or what a person looks like/acts like. Today we will find ways to reveal the emotions and descriptions of our character through showing instead of telling just Roald Dahl did.
Brainstorm: Students can brainstorm a list of emotions and descriptions that they can show, not tell. Emotions could be excitement, disappointment, sadness, frustration, surprise, and joy. Descriptions can connect to emotions such as happy in the way sunshine makes you feel, lonely like a single tree on a mountaintop, or frustrated when another person steals your idea in class.
Model: Ask the students to imagine other ways in which Roald Dahl could have shown fear of Miss Trunchbull in Matilda. This list could include such things as hands shaking, quiet students, kids running away, being rooted to the spot, or crying. Then choose another emotion, like the happiness associated with Miss Honey, and write a scene around it. Let the students guess what the emotion is based on the descriptions. Have them come to the board and underline the words or phrases that helped show that emotion.
Miss Trunchbull pulled up to the school yard in her pitch-black car. Several children ran as fast as they could in the other direction while others were rooted to the spot. Matilda’s hands started shaking and Billy and Maddie started crying as Miss Trunchbull approached. She screamed at the children to get out of her way as Sally whimpered quietly. Matilda turned pale when Miss Trunchbull passed, and let out a breath when the teacher was finally encased in the school walls.
Shared/Guided Writing: Choose another emotion, like happiness, and have the students brainstorm a list of nonverbal cues or actions for it, and then create a scene around the emotion in a shared writing experiences. It is best to choose something that centers around school so that all students can contribute. Matilda is an easy book to model from since much of the book does take place in school. Students can work in pairs in they are able to.
Independent Writing: Ask the students to return to a previous story in their writer’s notebook and revise it to reveal an emotion through description by showing instead of telling. They can also start a new story and try out the strategy to build content.
Reflection: Ask students to reflect on how this strategy worked for them.
How did adding details/descriptions to show an emotion rather than just tell it make your writing better?
What kinds of words/descriptions help you show an emotion?
When can you use this strategy?
Is it sometimes better to tell? When?
Ask students to find other examples as they read independently where authors have used the show, don’t tell strategy and copy them into their notebooks (Dorfman & Cappelli, 2001, p. 104-105).
- Using a Mentor Sentence
Hook: Read aloud the book Happy Like Soccer with the class. When you get to page 16, stop and point out to students the sentence that Boelts uses on this page. Ask students what they think this sentence means for the story. Help them to recognize that the repetition of the word “sure” at the beginning of each line to help create an emphasis on what the narrator thinks will happen.
Other mentor texts to use for this strategy are Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts and When I Was Five by Arthur Howard.
In Those Shoes, the first three “sentences” of the book are great mentor sentences because the author kept two of them short creating anticipation and hope.
In When I Was Five, the sentence page 31 includes parentheses which is another writing technique to help add some depth, internal thoughts, or funny comment into a narrative.
Purpose: Sometimes we have created a draft of a piece of work, but we feel that we need to add more. Or sometimes we have a draft that we aren’t sure what it needs, or if it needs anything. By looking at a mentor sentence you find some direction. A mentor sentence is a sentence that really stand out – that makes the reader feel a certain way, or that shows how the author was writing in a specific way. Often, we struggle with adding a turning point, using descriptive language, or showing not telling. There are many other strategies that students can struggle with that can be shown through mentor texts and more specifically mentor sentences. We can also want to have that “WOW” sentence or moment in our story, but we can sometimes lack the creativity to put it together or not being able to find the right words or tone. This is why we can lean on mentor sentences.
Brainstorm: Students can look through their notebook and find a narrative that they are still in the process of writing or have mostly written. Have students look at the mentor sentence and take something from that sentence to create one that could fit into their story. The sentence does not have to end up in their story, they do not need to figure out where to put it right this minute, it is just a sentence that could fit into their story, or that could help them add more to their story.
Model: Show students how you look through your notebook and pick a piece of writing that you could create a new sentence based off of the mentor sentence from Happy Like Soccer. Think out loud as you decide what aspect of the sentence you are going to follow, whether that be repetition the word “sure” or coming up with a different word to use or whether that be beginning your sentence with an action. Write down a sentence on the board for students to see. If you can, try and come up with a second, showing students that they can create more than one sentence influenced by the mentor sentence because they do not have to decide if they are going to use it right now.
“I wish I could absorb more out of this moment, more out of this day, more out of my life even though it just began.”
Shared/Guided Writing: Have students turn and talk for a couple of minutes with a partner. With their partner, ask the students to write a sentence influenced by the mentor sentence for each of the stories they have picked. Meaning, if John and Ben are working together, have them collaborate and create a sentence that could be added to John’s story and then have them do the same thing for Ben’s story. After student’s have had a chance to do this, allow them to share with their tables or with the whole class.
Independent Writing: Introduce a new mentor sentence to the students. Ask them to pick a new entry or use the same one to create a sentence that is influenced by this same mentor sentence. If they are struggling, ask them to use the mentor sentence from Happy Like Soccer in another story, or within the same story they already created one for with a partner.
Reflection: Ask students how this strategy worked for them.
How can this strategy help you when revising a piece of writing?
What was helpful about using this strategy?
References
Barber, P. (2005). The Map Book. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005. Retrieved from
Boelts, M., & Jones, N. Z. (2009). Those Shoes. Somerville: Candlewick Press.
Boelts, M., & Castillo, L. (2014). Happy Like Soccer. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
Child, L. (n.d.). Charlie is Broken.
Crews, D. (1992). Shortcut. New York: Greenwillow Books, c1992. Retrieved from https://login.proxy006.nclive.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat04042a&AN=app.b1620799&site=eds-live&scope=site
Dahl, R. (1998). Matilda.New York, NY: Penguin Young Reader’s Group.
Dahl, R. (1983). The Witches. New York, NY: Penguin Young Reader’s Group.
De La Peña, M. (2015). Last Stop on Market Street. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
Dorfman, L. R., & Cappelli, R. (2017). Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing through Children’s
Literature, K-6 (2nd ed.). Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Howard, A. (1999). When I Was Five. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers.
Kobald, I., & Blackwood, F. (2018). My Two Blankets. Melbourne: Little Hare.
National Council of Teachers of English. (2018). Understanding and Teaching Writing: Guiding Principles. Retrieved from http://www2.ncte.org/statement/teachingcomposition/.
Shubitz, S. (2016). Craft Moves: Lesson Sets for Teaching Writing with Mentor Texts. US: Stenhouse Publishers.
Horton Who? 