Tagged: mentor texts

A Thoughtful Approach to Teaching Poetry

Whether you are looking for ways to incorporate poetry into your existing curriculum or create a stand-alone poetry unit, Awakening the Heart is a treasure chest of activities, projects, mentor texts, and teaching strategies to support your work, writes teacher Jeny Randall.

Inspiring Understanding Using Personal Stories

Exploring human experiences through personal stories promotes discussions that focus on facts and individual realities rather than generalizations and stereotypes and helps students develop empathy, compassion and understanding, writes Kasey Short. Reading suggestions included!

Pairing Graphic Novels with Their Text Originals

What might students learn about the “invisible process” of reading prose fiction by a comparative study of a novel and its graphic novel counterpart? Jason DeHart promises high interest and aha moments as readers see the story not only with their minds but with their eyes.

Save Teaching Energy: Multitask Mentor Texts

When we transform a text into a multitasking mentor text, we increase the instructional mileage we can get from one power-packed teaching tool, writes veteran teacher and literacy consultant Pam Koutrakos. She includes five “energy star” ideas and a text set to get started.

All You Need to Select and Use Mentor Texts

A Teacher’s Guide to Mentor Texts offers a winning combination – a structured lesson approach, a range of suggested mentor texts, and an overall message adaptable to specific students. Teachers at multiple levels of experience will find it invaluable, writes Sara Pennington.

Using Guided Practice with Hesitant Readers

Literacy experts Robb and Harrison draw directly from their current middle grades teaching practice to identify the causes of reading hesitancy. Their tested lessons focus on improving student reading and vocabulary using videos and high-interest texts included in the book.