Transcript Prime the Pump - University of Dallas

Using Mentor Texts
to Inspire Writing
Literature in the Writing Process
Using Great Authors as Teachers
in your Classroom
Shared by:
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Dr. Melissa Caraway
University of Dallas
[email protected]
The “experts” and my colleagues
And all of the wonderful children who
have shared their writing with me!
I used to…
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do journal writing every day (no one’s life is that
exciting…)
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assign topics without modeling (do as I say, not
as I do)
give “story starters” (they were cute)
write on demand without warmup (just do it!)
use “required” graphic organizers before
writing (stick to the plan, don’t follow a new idea)
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And a few kids wrote great stories, the rest
were average to frustrated!
What do the “experts” say?
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Now, I’m not going to tell you any nice sugary
tales about how easy it is to teach kids to
write OR entice you with any instant cures for
your fears or for your kids’ writing problems,
because
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I believe that writing takes discipline
AND, I believe that teaching writing takes hard
work!
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Marjorie Frank in If You’re Trying to Teach Kids How to
Write, You’ve Gotta Have This Book!
You have to plan, plan, plan!
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Gradual release of responsibility
Break down the task:
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M - How will you model? It may take a lot of input
to breed success! Gather models.
S - What part of the task will be shared? Work
together to prime the pump.
G - How will writers be guided? Consider small
groups.
I - What will independence look like? A draft? Final
product? Class, group, or individual? Or choose to
write about something else?
What do the “experts” say?
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Children need to know adults who write.
We need to write, share our writing with
our students, and demonstrate what
experienced writers do in the process of
composing, letting our students see our
own drafts in all their messiness and
tentativeness.
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Nancie Atwell in In the Middle
Write with Students
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Counselor visit with feelings poster
M: picture book about our feelings
S: create list of feelings that we had at
school across one day
G: drafting - teacher and students
I: create book - teacher and students and read together.
What do the “experts” say?
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Take a photo from your wallet - or any
artifact that means something to you and write about it…
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Writing is one of the best ways to
remember something.
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Donald Graves in A Fresh Look at Writing
Artifact writing - bag project
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Paper bag project - send home early in
year, ASAP (back-to-school night?)
M: teacher tells story with one artifact
S: students share/pair one artifact
M: teacher models drafting with artifact
G: students draft with one artifact
I: students can finish and publish, or
draft with other artifacts and share
Artifact writing
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Headings for bag:
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Something that is warm
Something from long ago
Something that makes me cry
Something that makes me laugh
Something as precious as gold
Artifact writing
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Objects - penny, shell, rock
Object with book
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Nothing by Mick Inkpen
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M: teacher reads book, shares object, draft of
story (happy/sad)
S: bring your “nothing” to school, share story
G: students draft with teacher help/confer
I: may finish draft, may decide to publish
What do the “experts” say?
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Prewriting has probably been the most
neglected stage in the writing process;
however, it is as crucial to writers as a
warmup is to athletes…the activities are
1) choosing a topic, 2) considering
purpose, audience and form, and 3)
generating and organizing ideas for
writing.
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Gail Tompkins in Teaching Writing
Topic, audience,
organize for success
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Jam by Margaret Mahy
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M: Read book
S: Brainstorm other uses for jam
G: Students write one sentence (capital,
period, best spelling) alone or with partner
I: May choose to publish a page for a class
book
Class books are not as intimidating!
Topic, audience,
organize for success
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Just Crazy discussion
 M: teacher tells what s/he is crazy about,
and why
 S: brainstorm/post things we LOVE to do
 G: story frame - _____ is _____ crazy.
 G: students tell and write why they are
crazy about this thing
 I: may choose to publish a page for a class
book
The Z was Zapped
by Chris Van Allsburg
M: Read the book a lot - class favorite!
S: What else could happen to the letters?
Posted sheets around class for
brainstorming over a few days, reread
G: Students got an ABC sheet, chose a
word for each letter from the posts
I: Special paper with book format,
students wrote and drew pictures creative! Could be class, group, or
individual.
What do the “experts” say?
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So choosing to begin a writing project
and knowing how to work on developing
that project are far from side issues in a
writing workshop, though in many
classrooms they are treated as if they
were. These two issues represent a
major part of what writers have to do.
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Katie Wood Ray in Wondrous Words
Choosing and Developing
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I Just Forgot by Mercer Mayer
Another class favorite - kids’ choosing
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M: Teacher read book, kids shared ideas,
steps for project
S: Created sentence frame, posted ideas
for what we were good at, what we forgot
G: Students drafted personal responses
with frame
I: Class book or individual books with
teacher formatted paper
Choosing and Developing
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Dr. DeSoto by William Steig
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M: Teacher read book, big discussion of
mouse dentist and fox patient
S: Brainstormed/posted list of other
unusual patients for Dr. DeSoto
G: Students chose a “patient” and drafted a
story about the unusual patient
I: Class book with teacher formatted paper
from Evan Moore book
What do the “experts” say?
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There are countless ways of rehearsing
for writing. But too often in school it
becomes a rigid process…all students
are required to begin by making a
cluster web, story map, outline, or
graphic organizer. Prewriting should be
a help, not a burden…
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Fletcher & Portalupi in Writing Workshop
One modeling experience
leads to multiple projects
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Gail Gibbons’ book Sunken Treasure
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M: Story in basal reader, along with Robert
Ballard’s Titanic excerpt
S: Created list of what underwater exploration is
all about, B-M-E or fact paragraphs
G: Students worked with partners to learn more
and draft
I: Many ideas for topics, some published for the
“treasure”
Carrot was a gold doubloon for writers!
What do the “experts” say?
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Many people still assume that most
writers bring a mental text that is more
or less assembled when they encounter
a blank piece of paper.
It turns out that many writers actually
discover what they want to say in the
process of writing it.
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Ralph Fletcher in What A Writer Needs
Report Writing
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First experience - dolphin sample
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M: Read lots of short nonfiction text
S: Decide on 4 questions to answer
M/G: Teach notetaking using 4 cards
M/G: Teach writing a paragraph for each
card
G/I: Make a draft and final copy
What do the “experts” say?
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When our youngsters begin the writing
process by collecting bits and pieces entries - in their notebooks rather than
by listing and choosing among possible
topics for writing, they are more apt to
experience writing as a process of
growing meaning.
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Lucy Calkins in The Art of Teaching Writing
What do the “experts” say?
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If you can stack it, you can teach it.
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Katie Wood Ray, workshop in Feb. 2005
and in her book, Study Driven
Create the stack
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Gather texts on a single topic or theme:
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Slice of life
Restaurant reviews
Fairy tales
TAKS writing
Movie, book, or video game reviews
Journeys on boats
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And whatever else you’d like to try!
Discover and “make paper”
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Read two texts the first day; students
talk and teacher writes for them - what
is the same about these two texts?
Continue for 2-3 days - read more texts
and add to chart to “discover” what this
genre is and how it works; list or table
Invite students to “stand on the
shoulders of these authors” by writing
something similar
Listing discoveries
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Slice of Life charts
My Big Brother
 Car Wash
 When You Visit Grandma and Grandpa
 One More Time, Mama
 The Grandad Tree
 The Baby Sister
Work together to create lists of what’s in your library consider putting some books on reserve. Enlist
librarian, teams, specialists, kids.
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Follow the plan
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M: Allow students to use your chart and
the mentor texts for inspiration
S: Discuss ideas for stories
G: Work alone, in groups, with partner
to draft
I: may revise and publish - evaluate
using the criteria on your chart, or
create rubric with students from chart
Chart for stack - Stephanie
Parsons, First Grade Writers
Title,
author
We
notice…
Why?
What
effect?
Name it
Who has
tried it?
Spend time to get results
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Plan, plan, plan for gradual release - gather
models and materials
Increase your prewriting - read, talk, make lists
and charts, read some more
Spend time in sharing the task
Guide - more time for those who may need
more help
Independent - not all work has to be
“published”, but all children must draft and
think! How did this project help you to be a
better writer?
A final word….
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Read like a writer.
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Reading becomes prewriting - stand on the
shoulders of great authors! You and your
students collect ideas, words, and models.
Write like a reader.
As you write, think about purpose,
audience, organization. Lean on what
you’ve read. Models and imitation helps us
learn to fly on our own.
Thanks so much for being here today!
[email protected]
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