Using Mentor Texts with Struggling Readers

1. Using Mentor Texts with Struggling Readers Katherine Rydzy Diagnosis and Correction of Reading Difficulties December, 2010

2. Connection between Reading and Writing • Both activities ask learners to: • Organize ideas • Generate ideas • Monitor their thoughts • Problem solve • Revise how to think about the ideas • Morrow (2009, p. 235)

3. We continually read what we are writing, going back and forth between writing, reading, rewriting, and rereading • We review materials on a topic before we write about it, reading like a writer to gather ideas • When we write those ideas down, they become clearer

4. Therefore, if a student is a struggling reader, they are probably a struggling writer, too!

5. What Research Knows About Struggling Writers: • They see writing as putting words on paper, not developing ideas • They are not aware of audience, purpose, and form. • They write without stopping to reread or think about their writing. • They assume that longer pieces of writing are better than short pieces. • They use fewer strategies and don’t monitor their use. (from Tompkins, 2002)

6. What is a Mentor Text? • A piece of literature that is used to inspire writers as they work through the writing process. • It is also known as a touchstone text. • It can be literature from any genre. • It can be used while writing any genre. • It can be used with any age group of students.

7. Why Reading Specialists use Mentor Texts: • They provide a model for students to analyze. • Students can review the mentor text through out the writing process. • MTs engage students in the writing process. • MTs prove the validity of a skill/strategy because “real authors” use it. • They anchor instruction. • MTs build a connection between reading and writing.

8. Using Mentor Texts • a published piece of writing whose idea, whose structure, or whose written craft can be used to inspire a student to write something original. -Corbett Harrison

9. Ideas (from Harrison) • Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs • a fun story about the land of Chew-and-Swallow, where it rains different foods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. This is a unique idea that can be used to inspire original ideas! • You might, for example, challenge your students to write about an original day in the land of Chew-and-Swallow, using foods that were not used in the original text. Or you might invent an original land where something else unusual rains from the sky.

10. Structure (fromHarrison) • The Important Book • Probably the most widely used “structure mentor text.” It provides a simple-to-follow pattern that is repeated on every page, each page exploring a different topic: wind, apples, etc. • Students can write “Important Book-inspired” passages about any topics of study—science, history, geography—or about more personal topics they have a connection to. The book’s very safe structure can be used to write about any topic.

11. Craft • Owl Moon • contains wonderful language, with similes and sensory descriptions. The vocabulary choices made by the author allow the reader not only to hear the words, but feel the story. • Students can analyze and discuss what makes the language in this book feel intense and vivid. They can then write something new (a color poem, perhaps) or revise a piece of writing, making sure to use language that brings the story to life.

12. Things to Consider When Selecting Touchstone Texts • You have read the text and you love it • You and your students have talked about the text a lot as readers first • You find many things to teach in the text • You can imagine talking about the text for a very long time • Your entire class can have access to the text • Your students can read the text independently or with some support • The text is a little more sophisticated than the writing of your best students • The text is written by a writer you trust • The text is a good example of a particular type of writing • The text is of a genre you are studying

13. References and Lesson Sources for Teachers • http://writingfix.com

14. Activity • With your tutoring group, analyze a piece of literature. Brainstorm ways that it can be used as a mentor text. You may find idea, structure, or craft lesson ideas. • Record your ideas on the chart. • In a few minutes, you will share your ideas with the class.

15. references • Harrison, Corbett. (2009). The Seven Elements of a Differentiated Writing Program. Power point presentation, accessed at www.writingfix.com. • Manning, M., & Manning, G. (1992). Reading-Writing Connections. Teaching K-8. • Morrow, L. (2009). Literacy Development in the Early Years (6th ed.). New York: Pearson. • Sturgell, I. (2008). Touchstone Tests: Fertile Ground for Creativity. The Reading Teacher, 61(5), 411-414. • Tompkins, G. (2002). Struggling Readers are Struggling Writers, Too. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 18. 175-193.