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Help students stay organized with their mentor sentences and create a useful notebook resource they can utilize during writing time.

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1. Have students write down the mentor sentence. They can write it down in their notebooks or a on a sheet of paper. I like to have my students keep a section in their notebooks titled "Mentor Sentences." We begin with these almost every class period as bell-ringers, so students know to come into class and open their notebooks for mentor sentence time.

2. Have students make observations about the sentence. Students should share what they observe about the sentence either with a small group or the entire class. These observations can range from the structure of the sentence to the word choice and more!

3. Identify the specific skill in the sentence you want them to learn, and have students write down this grammar rule, literary device, etc. Students should add this information to their notes.

4. After students write down the targeted skill, instruct students to craft a sentence of their own using the same structure as the mentor sentence. They can either select a topic of their choice, or you can give them a specific topic. The purpose of this part in the process is to experiment with the new skill.

5. Have students share some of their sentences with the class. They can either write them on the board, project them on an ELMO, or share with a partner sitting near them. Students should check to make sure that their partners have crafted a sentence in the same structure as the original, mentor sentence. You can go around the room and check some of their sentences while they share. You can even have them turn them in if you feel that you need to check understanding for a specific skill.

6. This step is very important! After students practice the new skill from the mentor sentence, they should go back to a piece of writing and revise a sentence in the same structure as the mentor sentence. Mentor sentences need to be connected to the writing process because this is how students will learn to vary their style and also gain new options for grammatical structures and devices.

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How to get Started with Mentor Sentences - Bespoke ELA: Essay Writing Tips + Lesson Plans

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Mentor sentences are an excellent tool to use in the secondary ELA classroom to model essential skills from grammar to literary devices. They reinforce quality writing skills from published in authors in a positive way rather than the traditional sentence correction method that modeled neg

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Some teachers are afraid of using a workshop approach in high school, because it seems like too much of a free-for-all, without enough emphasis on targeting the specific skills that students need for literary analysis or writing. We're preparing them for post-secondary education, they say, so shouldn't we be steering them down the right path with focused lessons?

The reality is that when teachers use a workshop approach, they are much more likely to get their students interested in actually getting on that path, and learning something as they travel it. about how reader's workshop is more likely to ensure that our students do the reading we ask of them; it's no different with writer's workshop. When we give them voice and choice, they will pick up the pen or the book and get to it. But what do we do once we get them engaged? How do we teach the skills they need when they are all reading and writing different things?
Mentor sentences and short texts are a perfect tool for this, and the great thing is that they pack a double punch: they can be used to demonstrate what good writers do for both reader's and writer's workshop. Here's how I'm using them for mini-lessons this week:

My students will get a copy of this handout on the left. It instructs them to notice what each writer has done, and to find the similarities. As it's the first of the year, I've done little instruction on sentence types or author use of language, but I'm hoping that since these are twelfth graders, they will soon identify the following: each is a simple sentence (the third has a compound one as well), and each writer has used metaphor and specific diction to illustrate how the subject feels. 3. I may have tweaked their interest in three books: After my initial lessons, the ones where I cover the elements of good writing, character development, tone, theme, etc., I will use longer passages and have the students recognize and imitate the multiple things that good writers do. We will have had lots of great discussions about books, they will have filled pages in their own notebooks, and hopefully they will have been inspired to read and write. However, they will also have been given the opportunity to analyze author choice and to develop the skills they need to be good readers and writers. I If you'd like to use my short mentor texts in your classroom, you can grab them
After I give the students a chance to hopefully discover this on their own, I will have them turn and talk with a neighbour about their discoveries. As they do so, I'll circulate and listen in to see how accurate they are. Once the conversation wanes, I'll bring it back to a full class discussion and have them offer their ideas on the writers' choices. If I need to, I'll give a quick lesson on the difference between a simple and compound sentence. We will discuss how word choice affects meaning in each sentence. Finally, I'll ask students to write, in their writer's notebooks, at least one simple sentence that illustrates a feeling in a character.
When we are finished, I will have accomplished several things with four sentences:
1. The students will have had a short lesson on simple and compound sentences (and I will have identified who needs more instruction).
2. We will have discussed how writer's use metaphor and diction to create character.

4. Students will get a chance to imitate these writer's techniques in their notebooks.
Wintergirls, Speak and The Book Thief. Because these are very short texts, this whole process will only take about fifteen minutes. I'll give them the handout on the right for homework. This time, they will hopefully recognize that these are also simple sentences, but this time, they are used to illustrate an abstract concept. Wednesday, we'll add phrases to the simple sentences before moving on to compound and complex sentences later in the week. I have mentor sentences that illustrate author's use of repetition, parallelism and multiple types of figurative language. We will experiment with all of these during short mini-lessons during our reader's and writer's workshop.

Would you like to get some support as you plan a workshop approach in your secondary classroom? Join my Facebook group, Secondary Reader's & Writer's Workshop Support. Send me your email to room213custom@gmail.com, or search this link. will still do some full class texts and writing assignments later in the semester, and I know from experience, that they will be much more ready to work on these things because of the approach I'm taking now. HERE.

Do you have any favourite mentor texts? Please share in the comments!

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Some teachers are afraid of using a workshop approach in high school, because it seems like too much of a free-for-all, without enough emphasis on targeting the specific skills that students need for literary analysis or writing. We're preparing them for post-secondary education, they say, so shouldn't we be steering them down the right path [...]

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Travis Leech, Jeff Anderson, and Holly Durham: Differences Between Patterns of Power 6-8 and 9-12

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POPcast, Ep.1: An Overview of Patterns of Power, Grades 6-8

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POPcast, Ep.10: Jodi Ramos & The New York Times Teaching Project

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Jeff Anderson: Invitation to Notice, Grade 4

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Jeff Anderson: Invitation to Compare and Contrast, Grade 4 (Patterns of Power)

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Jeff Anderson: Invitation to Celebrate, Grade 4 (Patterns of Power)

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Copies are available at your campus

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Authors Jeff Anderson, Travis Leech, and Melinda Clark lead a vibrant approach to grammar instruction in Patterns of Power: Inviting Adolescent Writers into the Conventions of Language, Grades 6-8. Here, young, emergent writers are invited to notice the conventions of the English language and build off them in this inq

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Copies are available at your campus

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Traditional grammar instruction often focuses too much on what's right or what's wrong, hiding the true power of conventions-the creation of meaning, purpose, and effect. Instead of hammering high school students with the mistakes they should avoid, Jeff Anderson, Travis Leech, and Holly Durham suggest exploring gramma

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Grammar Mentor Sentences from Literature

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Grammar mentor sentences can be a powerful tool in secondary ELA classes. Show students how writers use grammar to enhance their writing.

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My Four-Square Weekly Set was created with painter's tape from walmart