how to use mentor texts ( understanding author’s craft)

HOW TO USEMENTOR TEXTS

( UNDERSTANDING AUTHOR’S CRAFT)

MAKING THE MOST OF MENTOR TEXTS

“If we want beginning writers to learn lessons from model texts, we need to teach them what to look for. . . to notice the techniques, moves, and choices that [authors] make.”

- Kelly Gallagher

SHIFTING TOWARDHOW A TEXT IS WRITTEN

Standard 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th-10th Grade 11th-12th Grade4

Literature

Explain how authors create meaning through stylistic elements and figurative language emphasizing the use of personification, hyperbole, and refrains.

Determine the figurative meaning of phrases and analyze how an author's use of language creates imagery, appeals to the senses, and suggests mood.

Explain the effect of similes and extended metaphors in literary text.

Explain the role of irony, sarcasm, and paradox in literary works.

Analyze the meaning of classical, mythological, and biblical allusions in words, phrases, passages, and literary works.

TEKS: 8A TEKS: 8A TEKS: 8A TEKS: 7A TEKS: 7A

Informational

Use a dictionary, a glossary, or a thesaurus (printed or electronic) to determine the meanings, syllabication, pronunciations, alternate word choices, and parts of speech of words; use context (e.g., cause and effect or compare and contrast organizational text structures) to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or multiple meaning words.

Use a dictionary, a glossary, or a thesaurus (printed or electronic) to determine the meanings, syllabication, pronunciations, alternate word choices, and parts of speech of words; use context (within a sentence and in larger sections of text) to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or ambiguous words.

Use a dictionary, a glossary, or a thesaurus (printed or electronic) to determine the meanings, syllabication, pronunciations, alternate word choices, and parts of speech of words; use context (within a sentence and in larger sections of text) to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or ambiguous words or words with novel meanings.

Use a dictionary, a glossary, or a thesaurus (printed or electronic) to determine or confirm the meanings of words and phrases, including their connotations and denotations, and their etymology; analyze textual context (within a sentence and in larger sections of text) to distinguish between the denotative and connotative meanings of words.

Use general and specialized dictionaries, thesauri, glossaries, histories of language, books of quotations, and other related references (printed or electronic) as needed; analyze textual context (within a sentence and in larger sections of text) to draw conclusions about the nuance in word meanings.

TEKS: 2E, 2B TEKS: 2E, 2B TEKS: 2E, 2B TEKS: 1E, 1B TEKS: 1E, 1B5

Literature

Synthesize and make logical connections between ideas within a text and across two or three texts representing similar or different genres.

Synthesize and make logical connections between ideas within a text and across two or three texts representing similar or different genres, and support those findings with textual evidence.

Synthesize and make logical connections between ideas within a text and across two or three texts representing similar or different genres and support those findings with textual evidence.

Synthesize and make logical connections between ideas and details in several texts selected to reflect a range of viewpoints on the same topic and support those findings with textual evidence.

Synthesize ideas and make logical connections (e.g., thematic links, author analyses) between and among multiple texts representing similar or different genres and technical sources and support those findings with textual evidence.

TEKS: 10D TEKS: 10D TEKS: 10D TEKS: 9D TEKS: 9D

Informational

Make connections (e.g., thematic links, author analysis) between and across multiple texts of various genres, and provide textual evidence.



Make complex inferences about text and use textual evidence to support understanding.

Make complex inferences about text and use textual evidence to support understanding.

TEKS: Fig 19F TEKS: Fig 19F TEKS: Fig 19F TEKS: Fig 19B TEKS: Fig 19B6

Literature

Describe different forms of point-of-view, including first- and third-person.

Analyze different forms of point of view, including first-person, third-person omniscient, and third-person limited.

Analyze different forms of point of view, including limited versus omniscient, subjective versus objective.

Analyze the way in which a work of fiction is shaped by the narrator's point of view.

Analyze the impact of narration when the narrator's point of view shifts from one character to another.

TEKS: 6C TEKS: 6C TEKS: 6C TEKS: 5C TEKS: 5C

Informational

Compare and contrast the stated or implied purposes of different authors writing on the same topic.

Explain the difference between the theme of a literary work and the author's purpose in an expository text.

Analyze works written on the same topic and compare how the authors achieved similar or different purposes.

Explain the controlling idea and specific purpose of an expository text and distinguish the most important from the less important details that support the author's purpose.

Analyze how the style, tone, and diction of a text advance the author's purpose and perspective or stance.

TEKS: 9A TEKS: 9A TEKS: 9A TEKS: 8A TEKS: 8A

THREE TYPES OF MENTOR TEXTS

This mentor text has a unique or interesting idea that can be used to inspire a fresh idea from your student writers.

Ideas This mentor text provides a structure that a student can “borrow” to write about their own unique ideas.

Structure This mentor

text contains well-crafted writing with techniques that can be discussed and imitated.

Craft

Mentor Text, a definition: a published text whose idea, structure, or writing techniques can be discussed by students during a lesson for the purpose of inspiring them.

IDEA MENTOR TEXT #1

In Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, Amy Rosenthal lists various words and makes connections for the words to her life.

INFINITYJustin came home from school with the announcement that he had just learned what even and odd numbers were. Okay, I said. So tell me: What’s infinity, even or odd? I certainly didn’t have an answer in mind; I posed it only as a fun, unanswerable question. He thought about it for a moment, then concluded: Mom, infinity is an 8 on its side, so it is an even number.

We know students struggle with making connections. Have students create their own encyclopedia connecting words to their experiences and memories.

Idea Mentor Texts

This mentor text’s unique or interesting idea is used to inspire a fresh idea from your student writers.

[ Narrative ]

IDEA MENTOR TEXT #2

Idea Mentor Texts


In chapter 3 of Lord of the Flies, two characters describe the same setting (the unexplored jungle); one sees the jungle as dangerous, the other as a beautiful, mysterious place.

Students could think of a setting – real or imaginary – and think of two characters who feel differently about the place. They could then write about the setting from the two different perspectives, showing how they differ.

[ Descriptive ]

IDEA MENTOR TEXT #3

Idea Mentor Texts


In Judy Brady’s essay, “I Want a Wife,” she categorizes and defines the role and responsibilities of a wife, as she develops in the reader a since of empathy for how much a wife is taken for granted.

Students could write a similar essay for “I Want a Son” or “I Want a Daughter,” focusing on the roles and responsibilities they have.

[ Classification / Definition ]

STRUCTURE

GRETCHEN BERNABEI

• Why We Must Run With Scissors

• Reviving the Essay

• Story of My Thinking

• Crunchtime

• Fun-size Academic Writing for Serious Learning

• Grammar Keepers

[ Chronological]

STRUCTURE MENTOR TEXT #1

Introduction - Fiction An Action – put main

character in the setting doing something

Dialogue – have the main character say something expressing feeling, concern, or curiosity

A Thought or Question – show what the main character is thinking

A Sound – describe a sound the character hears and set a mood

“Picked Clean”by Michael Gonzales

She found her brother’s finger in the grass by the shed.

The grass glistened with morning dew, but the finger did not.

She picked it up. She had seen it fall. He’d been running for the house, away from the toolshed, and he’d been holding onto . . .

StructureMentor Texts

This mentor text provides a structure that a student can “borrow” to write about their own unique ideas.

[ Action]


Introduction - Expository A Lead – an opening

sentence that contains: an amazing or unusual

fact, a descriptive segment, a quote, a question, a statistic, or an anecdote

A Topic Sentence – a sentence that clearly tells the reader what the text is about.

“An Athlete’s Guide to Life”by Michael Gonzales

Athlete’s have rule books to govern their games but not to guide their lives. Where’s the manual that warns them that the sight of their actress girlfriend hand-feeding them popcorn will trigger an entire nation’s gag reflex? Why isn’t there a page telling them where to shop for a sympathy card that says . . .



[ Statement of Fact / Question]


Body – Elaborative Detail Fiction – highlight critical

characters, settings, objects, and events by describing them with specific details

Questions About Character Questions About Setting Questions About Objects

No “Yes / No” questions!


By the time her parents had brought him back to the house from the hospital, she had pressed that finger to her tongue, twice. The finger first, then her own, and then the finger again. She had wanted to see what the difference might be, but there wasn't any, not that she could tell.



[ Character/Object

]


Body – Elaborative Detail Expository – answer

why the fact, quote, or statistic is important, give a specific example, connect to the main idea

Details establish credibility, emotional connection, and/or logical connection


If you're going to violate NCAA rules, it's safer to accept freebies from car dealerships than from tattoo parlors. With tats, you can't leave the evidence by the side of the road, and you won't be able to convince anyone that your new ink actually belongs to your cousin—he's just letting you borrow it.



[ Main Idea / Specific Example]


Conclusion - Fiction A Memory – have the main

character remember the main event

A Feeling – show how the main character feels about what happened

A Wish or Hope – have the main character think ahead and make a wish or hope for the future

A Defining Action – have the main character do something that reflects a change


Then she decided that she didn't want him to have it back, so she took the finger back beyond the toolshed out to the pond at the far end of their property, and then she threw that finger as hard and as far out as she could throw it, hoping that it would sink to the bottom, down to the very bottom of the pond, and that the catfish would find it there, and then pick it clean.



[ Defining Action]


Introduction - Expository Restate Each Main Idea

as a Question

Word Referents

Definitive Words/Phrases

Hypothetical Anecdotes

Restate General Topic


Finally, if you have stayed true to the manual, there will be no need to subject the world to another athlete's autobiography. You will have nothing to confess, explain, reveal, retract or refute, for which the public will be grateful. You will have earned the right to do anything you want – except Dancing with the Stars. That's still a deal-breaker.



[ Hypothetical Anecdote]

JEFF ANDERSON

• Revision Decisions

• 10 Things Every Writer Needs to Know

• Everyday Editing

• Mechanically Inclined

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity." - Charles Mingus

CRAFT MENTOR TEXT #1

The mayor’s daughter, Madge, opens the door. She’s in my year at school. Being the mayor’s daughter, you’d expect her to be a snob, but she’s all right. She just keeps to herself. Like me. Since neither of us really has a group of friends, we seem to end up together a lot at school. Eating lunch, sitting next to each other at assemblies, partnering for sports activities. We rarely talk, which suits us both just fine.

Today her drab school outfit has been replaced by an expensive white dress, and her blonde hair is done up with a pink ribbon. Reaping clothes.

Craft Mentor Texts

This mentor text contains well-crafted writing with techniques that can be discussed and imitated.

[ Appositive / Participial Phrase / Fragment / Parallelism ]


It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil. It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own. And we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone. We have broken the laws. The laws say that men may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them so. May we be forgiven!

Craft Mentor Texts


[ Anaphora / Syntax]


All Carolina folk are crazy for mayonnaise; mayonnaise is as ambrosia to them, the food of their tar-heeled gods. Mayonnaise comforts them, causes the vowels to slide more musically along their slow tongues, appeasing their grease-conditioned taste buds while transporting those buds to a place higher than lard could ever hope to fly. Yellow as summer sunlight, soft as young thighs, falsely innocent as a magician's handkerchief, mayonnaise will cloak a lettuce leaf, some shreds of cabbage, a few hunks of cold potato in the simplest splendor, restyling their dull character, making them lively and attractive again, granting them the capacity to delight the gullet if not the heart. Fried oysters, leftover roast, peanut butter: rare are the rations that fail to become instantly more scintillating from contact with this inanimate seductress, this goopy glory-monger, this alchemist in a jar.

Craft Mentor Texts


[ Figurative Language / Alliteration / Parallelism]