mentor texts keynote
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
LYNNE R. DORFMANAND
ROSE CAPPELLI
Success For All Writers with Mentor Texts
2012 PSU York Summer Institute
Imagine the possibilities!
Turn and Talk
Sharing Our Thinking: What are Mentor Texts ?
Mentor texts are pieces of literature that you canreturn to and reread for many different purposes.
Mentor texts are to be studied and then imitated.
Mentor texts help students make powerful connections to their own lives.
Mentor texts help students take risks and try out new strategies.
Mentor texts should be books that students can relate to and can read independently or with some support.
Why Use Picture Books as Mentor Texts?
Picture books provide the models that will help students grow as writers.
They stimulate creativity and create interest.
They are rich in beautiful illustrations that add another layer to the text.
They can be used to connect reading strategies to author’s craft.
They contain multiple life lessons.
They are culturally diverse.
They demonstrate the importance of choosing words wisely.
They are short enough to be shared entirely in one reading.
from Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children’s Literature
Mentor texts become our coaches and our partners as we bring the joy of writing to our students. They help students envision the kind of writer they can become; they help teachers move the whole writer,
rather than each individual piece of writing, forward. Writers can imitate the mentor text and continue to find new ways to grow.
Possible Writing Lessons fromPainting the Wind
Writing in the present tense
Effective repetition
Variation in sentence length
Listingwith semicolon and comma
using a sentence fragmentwith a dashplacement variationwithout the use of a
conjunctionwith a colon
Use of exact nouns and names
Strong verbs
Hyphenated adjectives
Variations in print
Effective use of dialogue
Setting up the ending in the beginning
Placing adjectives after the noun
Character snapshots
Adjective Placement to Emphasize Meaning
“I can’t concentrate,” she said, her voice flat and unhappy.(Baby by Patricia MacLachlan)
There will be Sarah’s sea, blue and gray and green, hanging on the wall.
(Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan)
He is wearing a strange cowboy hat, too small, that sits high on his head. (Journey by Patricia MacLachlan)
Somewhere behind us a train whistle blew, long and low, like a sad,
sad song. (Owl Moon by Jane Yolen)
Adjective Placement to Emphasize Meaning
We reached the line of pines, black and pointy against the sky, and Pa held up his hands. (Owl Moon by Jane Yolen)
Our trees poke their branches, black and spiky, against the sky.(Peepers by Eve Bunting)
I held the jar, dark and empty, in my hands. (Fireflies by Julie Brinckloe)
I have a pomegranate, hard and dry. (Anna’s Table by Eve Bunting)
I have a caterpillar, curled and mummy black,A lizard, thin and wide, run over by a car.
(Anna’s Table by Eve Bunting)
From Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
by J. K. Rowling
Christmas morning dawned, cold and bright.
(p. 211)
Not only were there a dozen frost-covered Christmas trees and thick streamers of holly and mistletoe crisscrossing the Great Hall, but enchanted snow was falling, warm and dry, from the ceiling. (p. 212)
From Lynne’s Notebook…
Gazing upon the slippers, ruby-red and sparkling like fiery stars, she clicked them together three times and wished to return to Kansas.
The morning mist, silver and silent, crept in among the meadow’s wildflowers, grasses and oaks like a mysterious stranger.
The summer day, long and hot, had finally ended in a torrent of angry rain.
The August rain, angry and merciless, pelted the young cornstalks into the soggy earth.
Summer is here. And the painters come back to the
island. They come on the mailboat with their paints
and easels and bags of books and favorite pots and
pans. Some bring their children. All of them bring their dogs.
From John Henry by Julius Lester
John Henry sang and he hammered and the air danced and the rainbow shimmered and the earth shook and rolled from the blows of the hammer. Finally it was quiet. Slowly the dust cleared.
From James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
They gaped. They screamed. They started to run. They panicked. They both got in each other’s way. They began pushing and jostling, and each one of them was thinking only about saving herself. Aunt Sponge, the fat one, tripped over a box that she’d brought along to keep the money in, and fell flat on her face. Aunt Spiker immediately tripped over Aunt Sponge and came down on top of her. They both lay on the ground, fighting and clawing and yelling and struggling frantically to get up again, but before they could do this, the mighty peach was upon them.
There was a crunch.And then there was silence.
From Rose’s Notebook…
Mark crisscrossed to the other end of the
court dodging his opponents and dribbling
the ball in a staccato rhythm as the shouts
and cheers from the fans echoed in his ears.
He made the shot. The whistle blew. Victory.
The Your Turn Lesson
Hook Use literature to invite participation
Purpose Tell what you will do
Brainstorm Invite writers to generate ideas
ModelDemonstrate with your own writing
Shared/Guided Writing Writers actively participate as a class or in partnerships
Independent Writing Writers compose
Reflection Writers reflect on how the writing worked. Writers become aware of what works for
them and what will move them forward as writers.
Turn and Talk
From Barn Savers by Linda Oatman High
Papa plops the tools in the trough, and dust floats like chicken feed.
Darkness falls soft and silent like chicken feathers around the barn.
Finally, the darkness fades to dawn, and the sun rolls before us like a wagon wheel.
I stack and stack, and the sun sinks low in the sky like a sleepy, red-faced farmer.
From Beekeepers:
The springtime sunshine pours like warm honey from the sky…
Goosebumps sting my arms and I shake…
From The Girl on the High-Diving Horse: Summertime gallops by…
Heart pounding like hooves, I nod…
Hyphenated Adjectives from Linda Oatman High
From The Girl on the High-Diving Horse:As we walk, I can’t help but gawk at boxing kangaroos, card-playing cats, and a dog on a surfboard.
“Our hotel home,” says Papa, stopping at a castle-shaped place rising pink and high as a sunrise into blue New Jersey sky.
“That’s the girl on the high-diving horse,” he explains. “She’s crazy-brave.”
I kiss the big horse on his velvet-soft nose.
In the purple-early morning of our last day of summer…
Hyphenated Adjectives From Other Authors
Baseballs, Snakes, and Summer Squash by Donald GravesLook for the use of hyphen to create sound words or exact adjectives in run-down, long-haired, clickety-click, doe-eyed, ‘no-thank-you’ and orange-bellied.
Twilight Comes Twice by Ralph Fletcher deep-rooted, last-minute, dew-spangled
Up North at the Cabin by Marsha Wilson Challair-bubble balloons and peanut-butter-and-worm sandwiches
The Divide by Michael Bedardcopper-colored grass, rose-patterned paper, sunflower-bordered road, weather-beaten boards, and fresh-plowed soil. Note the name of a flower, snow-on-the-mountain.
Langston’s Train Ride by Robert Burleighlong-ago train rides, sun-tinged Mississippi, dust-flecked window, tar-paper shacks and broken-down sheds. He also uses hyphens to create verbs and nouns: I skit-skat a little half-dance on the sidewalk.
Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman by Nikki GrimesBessie would attend the hot-in-summer, cold-in-winter, one-room Colored schoolhouse where I taught in Waxahachie.
Animal Acrostics by David Hummonpolka-dotted, ear-ringing, never-ending, fairy-tale, topsy-turvy, and open-mouthed.
Specificity is everything!
show-your-love day
raise-the-hair-on-your-arms night
cover-your-ears-but-not-your-eyes night
wake-up-your-parents-as-soon-as-possible morning
don’t-you-dare-do-it look
I-can’t-believe-she’s-making-me-eat-this look
please-don’t-send-me-to-school look
am-I-crazy look
thin-as-a-noodle neck
straight-as-straw hair
black-as-midnight eyes
Taffy Sentences
From Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson…It was going to be another hot August
day. Another long, hot August day. Another long, hot, boring wretched August day.
From Nocturne by Jane YolenIn the night,in the velvet night,in the brushstroked bluecoat velvet night,a big moon balloonfloats silent over trees…
Trying It Out
Februaryby Charlotte Otten
February turns everything to
gray:gray lakes, gray fog, gray
sun.Gray squirrels lose their
bearingshunting for acorns buriedbeneath thick gray snow.
Blizzardby Rose
A blizzard turns everything to white:
white trees, white skies, white rooftops.
White-tailed deer step gingerlysearching for a drinkon frozen white lakes.
Grade 5 Shared Writing Experience
Music makes every day a celebration:soft blues, country ballads, hard rock.People start toe-tapping their feet andclap, clap, clapping their hands and dancing to the beat - fast or slow.
From The Eyes of Gray Wolf by Jonathan London
At the top, he closes his eyes, throws back his head,
and howls. A wild, untamed music, it seems to
bounce off the moon, echoing from the mountains
and filling the gullies and valleys.
When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you
spent reading or hearing this, keep it for life -
from “You Reading This, Be Ready” by William Stafford
