Using Mentor Texts to Engage Students in Daily Writing

Using Mentor Texts to Engage Students in Daily Writing 

This semester I have the privilege of working in a freshman English class once a week with a teacher I have always considered one of my mentors.  In the fall, he took what I call the "Penny Kittle plunge" and really refocused how he is teaching all of his English courses.  He has two goals for his students - to read and write A LOT everyday in his classroom. And so far, I can vouch that they are doing this.

Since teaching writing is my area of weakness, I knew I would learn a lot working in this class.  This past week our students completed two simple quick write activities that were eye opening and helped us see that freshman can understand the concept of "voice" when given the right task.  

Quick Write #1 - _______, since you asked, I'll tell you why_________.

I finished the book, The Crossover, by Kwame Alexander last weekend and when I came across this poem, I knew this could be a powerful mentor text for our students to mimic with their own writing. The lesson was simple.  My teammate read did a brief book talk on The Crossover and then read this poem aloud to the class.  He then asked the students to title a new page in their composition notebook: _______, since you asked, I'll tell you why_________. The only requirement for the assignment was that they tried to write as many lines as the original poem.  

Before he could even finish explaining the activity, students were starting to write.  The room was completely silent and students were engaged.  We both wrote our own versions and began to walk around the room to check in with students.  What we saw blew our minds.  The students' writing was so personal and opened my eyes to what our students are going through outside of the classroom.  Students wrote about life in foster care, parental drug abuse, divorce, infidelity, protecting younger siblings from growing up too fast, wanting others to see their beauty, wanting their parents to see the good in them, etc.  Their voices were loud and clear. In that small moment of time, I was able to see a glimpse into our students' lives.

Quick Write #2 - 10 Lies ______ Told You

http://goo.gl/KCVItW

After the heart wrenching poems from the previous day, the teacher I work with needed an upbeat writing activity to end the week. This time he book talked Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and then shared the poem, "The First Ten Lies They Tell You in High School" with the class.  The students then mimicked her writing and created their own lists.  These poems made me laugh. As I read them, I kept nodding and telling the students, "Oh my gosh, I have said some of those same things to my own children or students."  

If you are looking for simple ways to encourage your students to write, be on the lookout for mentor texts like these to have them mimic.  Once you get them started, they may never want to stop.