Simply put, mentor texts are texts that serve as mentors, or guides, for reading and writing instructions. In writing, these texts will serve as an example of a strategy, craft, or convention that students can study in order to emulate in their own writing. In reading, these texts can be reread multiple times to discuss […]
writing
Writers’ Workshop: Show Don’t Tell
Every elementary Writers’ Workshop teacher has a go-to “Show, Don’t Tell” lesson in which students learn how to show or illustrate what is happening, instead of merely stating it. But do we ever have enough? Do the students ever master this highly important writing skill?? Exactly! So here is another lesson to add to your […]
Content Area Essays in Middle School
Admit it – you groaned just reading the title of this post! Any teacher who has taught middle school students to write in the content areas realizes how frustrating this experience can be. I am not going to even pretend that I have a silver bullet and everything will be fine. You might still smack […]
Writers’ Workshop: Celebrate the Authors!
Last week we celebrated all the little writers at our school!
Expository Writing: Helping Students Organize their Ideas
Join me for a moment in my writing conference…
Writers’ Workshop: Organizing Ideas for Personal Narrative Drafts
We are getting Writers’ Workshop kicked off school-wide – K-12!
Modeling Generating Ideas with Heart Maps in Elementary
We are getting Writers’ Workshop kicked off school-wide – K-12!
7 Strategies for Generating Ideas in a Writers’ Workshop
In the ideal Writers’ Workshop, students will write about topics of their choice that they are passionate about. This sometimes leads to frustration on the part of the students because they have a hard time figuring out what they want to write about and many times we hear comments like “I have nothing to write […]