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https://docs.google.com/document/d/14jDeXXB2MP0ukl8jll6hD7F-8PZb_wsT/edit

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SPAS Mentor List 3.24.2022

Please add more titles to the list.

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Jason Reynolds on Turning Fear of Literature into Love

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Jason Reynolds on Turning Fear of Literature into Love

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How poetry can help kids turn a fear of literature into love

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Mentor Text: Spotlight on Opinion Writing

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Mentor Text: Spotlight on Opinion Writing

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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14y4GePls4JwfZH1LsKGsXGI8N2ZXe50N8vCa6yaDZZc/edit#slide=id.g11dfc7d6d90_0_149

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Argumentative Mentor Text: Honors by Ron Aschieris

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Argumentative Mentor Text: Honors by Ron Aschieris

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Amanda Gorman Ted Talk: Using Your Voice Is Your Political Choice

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Amanda Gorman Ted Talk: Using Your Voice Is Your Political Choice

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Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown
The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
The Great Kapok Tree

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Email. susangtrauss@gmail.com

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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bu8VI1Zf4YgQ7VWxuRVbbP3MjA7gyqi1i77_tWJ9HCM/edit#slide=id.g11439ad6569_0_5

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Six-Word Memoir (started with Hemingway)
The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander (Newbury, Caldecott winner) Plus How to Read a Book
The Diary of Anne Frank
How to Hide an Octopus by Ruth Heller
Enslavement to Entrepreneur: The Biddy Mason Story by ACLU Northern California
Before She Was Harriet by Lisa Cline-Ransome (Ron A.)
http://www.californiayoungreadermedal.org/books/before-she-was-harriet
My Name Is Yoon by Helen Recorvitz

16:12:20          From Ron Aschieris :

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Goodnight, Bubbala
"Eleven" by Sandra Ciscneros

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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xL7OhE9kJ4caoXGB_3rDhFEbs9-uMDhEG2_jPGbG7ao/edit#slide=id.p

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SPAS Six-Word Memoirs

Please write your name and post your six-word memoir here.
Mentor Text:
Hemingway: For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.
Susan Strauss: I love teaching reading and writing.

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https://jamboard.google.com/d/12zN1-UswSd9wnmqDkxKHSV5RHe2p7NVIB2GTyrGqwqU/viewer?f=0

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Goodnight, Bubbala  Text                                                                       Bubbala Writing Simulations 

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Goodnight, Bubbala Mentor Text                                       Bubbala Writing Simulations          

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Goodnight, Bubbala Mentor Text                                       Bubbala Writing Simulations          

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Love these SPAS teachers' write-alikes!

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Mentor Text: Reading Like a Writer Video 2.1

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Mentor Text: Reading Like a Writer Video 2.1

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How to use annotation, verbal or written, to gain a deeper understanding of the author's writing moves.

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Login - Heinemann | Publisher of professional resources and a provider of educational services for teachers, kindergarten through college

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Heinemann is a publisher of professional resources and a provider of educational services for teachers, kindergarten through college.

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Mentor Text: Reading Like a Writer Video

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Mentor Text: Reading Like a Writer Video

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GAftgLI8dgaWI-e-y9YoKytQy1Aq69EoqF80CcfhPSVPEpcjUe4pHnMOJvAX0aQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJIV3EIEDXULRTB4A

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Today's guest post is from one of Rebekah & Allison's colleagues, Maria Bartz. Maria is an English teacher at Trinity Episcopal School in Richmond, VA. She loves a clean white board for spontaneous think tank sessions with her inspiring colleagues, a fully charged laptop to explore the ever-growing world of educational technology, and big circle of passionate teenagers engaged in thought-provoking discussion.
Planning for the first day is a balancing act. I want it to be fun, unique, and a truthful preview of what the school year will look like in my room. For the past six years of teaching, plans for the first day were a mix of icebreakers, quick review of the syllabus, and writing some sort of introduction letter, which they would finish for homework. It just never felt genuine or much like classroom.

This year, I decided to make it truer to my class: I wanted them writing. And not just an introduction letter that skims the surface of who they are and what they like to do. Still, it's tough to get students studying mentor texts and writing a finished piece in only 25 minutes. I was up for the challenge.

My secret weapon came in the form of six word stories....with a twist. In past years, I have used Ernest Hemingway's famous six word story to open the conversation about intentional word choice: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." While this is still one of the most heart-wrenching stories I have ever read, I wanted this activity to act as an introduction to the process of studying mentor texts as well as a gateway into the students writing about themselves in a personal way.

So instead of asking them to create a fictional six word story, it had to be a six word memoir. Here's how the class went:

I define the word "memoir" for my students and explain that memoirs can come in all lengths-a couple pages or an entire book. I then tell them that they are going to write their memoir in only six words (listen for the gasps!).

I preface the reading by saying, "This writer was asked, 'If you had to tell me about your life in six words, what would you say?' This is the memoirist's response: 'Ask me again in a month.'"

Independently, students respond to these questions: What is the tone, the feeling exuding from the sentence? How do you know?

I let students share with their group and then share to the class. Students notice that the word "month" is an indicator of hopefulness or despair, depending on how they perceive the length of a month to be. Students note that the word "ask" is friendly or intrusive, depending on how they interpret being asked personal questions. We only spend a few minutes discussing this, as they quickly grasp the power of each word in the sentence.

Next, we read ten examples of six word memoirs ( ). I chose amazing examples here examples that varied in topic, tone, and style and that resonated with high school students. Here are some of my favorites: this and this and this and this They are unintimidating and clever; students have even commented, "I like these" or "This is cool."

Students choose their favorites from the list of ten and work through the same questions about tone-what is the tone? How do you know? To that question, I add "What makes that sentence special-is there a play on words? Is there a creative use of punctuation?" Some circle or highlight words, others don't. Since this is a 25 minute class, I will save that discussion for another day. My goal today is just to have them read sentences thoughtfully. Due to my time constraints, we don't share our thoughts on our favorite sentences; although, if the class was longer, I would ask for volunteers to share their findings.

I then tell the students that it's their turn-that they will be writing their own six word memoirs. Some eyes widen, some let out a groan for having to do more work on the first day of school, but most are already spinning the wheels in their heads.

For the sake of those who are not as eager to write, I offer up myself as tribute and share the drafts of my own six word memoir. I explain why I made any major or minor adjustments in each draft and show my final draft written cleanly on a sentence strip. This is intended to ease their anxieties, allow them to get to know me personally, and illustrate the power of revision.

At this point, there is about five minutes left in class. I coach them along, asking rhetorical questions that could spark an idea-"What is going on in your life right now? What is your life motto? What are your hopes for the future?" Some students will write six words immediately. Others reread the mentor sentences and have zero words written when the dismissal bell rings. Homework is to finish the first draft of their six word memoirs.

Without much dawdling, this took one 25-minute class period.

The next class, as the warm up, I ask the students to reread their original six word memoirs-does it reflect the tone you intended? Does anything need tweaking? Once they are satisfied, they will write their final drafts on sentence strips-no names required.

That afternoon, I staple all the memoirs on our bulletin board to publish their writing. When students return to class, they are given three votes (pencil hash marks) for their favorite ones; we applaud those who got the most votes but keep the winners anonymous.

Students love reading each other's memoirs and seeing their own work displayed. I've even had a few students submit a new six word memoir, feeling the inspiration of their peers' and their own writing. We will refer to this activity throughout the year when I introduce the concepts of mentor texts, word choice, and taking risks.
(For another beginning-of-the-year writing idea using six word memoirs, check out What new experiments are you trying on the first day this year? What are your tried-and-true favorite ways to getting students writing from day one? Comment below, find us on Facebook, or Tweet Maria @MsBartz. Stefanie's pos t from last week!)
It is my favorite first day yet.

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First Day of School: Six Word Stories with a Twist

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Today's guest post is from one of Rebekah & Allison's colleagues, Maria Bartz. Maria is an English teacher at Trinity Episcopal School in Richmond, VA. She loves a clean white board for spontaneous think tank sessions with her inspiring colleagues, a fully charged laptop to explore the ever-growing world of educational technology, and big circle...

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A few weeks ago, I attended a webinar from Matt Glover and Carl Anderson on Writing Workshop. At the end of the webinar, Carl held a live conference with an amazing middle grade student. She wanted some help with her poem about her family's annual trip to the beach, this summer during the pandemic.

"How can I help you?" Carl said. "Is there something you want to learn today?"

She wanted to know if her main point - that the experience was really different because of social distancing - was coming across.

So Carl asked her to point out where she thought she had communicated this idea in her poem already, and after she found one or two examples, he reminded her, "In poetry, and in all writing really, when you have an idea, you want to make sure there are details in your writing to help you get that idea across." Then, he swiftly and expertly pulled up Langston Hughes' beautiful poem, "April Rain Song," and pointed out how one poet uses details to support his main idea.

The swiftness with which he dipped into the perfect mentor text to teach into her needs as a writer was both expert and genuine, simple and magic. How did he do it?

When conferring with students I tend to rely more on my own writing to demonstrate a teaching point - because it's my own writing, I know it well enough to be able to pull it out of thin air, or continue the crafting process right there in front of my students. And while I know my own writing, as well as student writing, is a powerful tool for conferring, I long to get better at this mentor text magician's work. Is it magic, or is there something achievable happening there?

Later, Carl revealed his process: he tends to confer from the same handful of 10-15 mentor texts, all saved as PDFs on his computer. He knows these mentor texts inside and out, and they are varied enough that he can use them to teach across all genres and crafting situations. Not surprisingly, he shared that many of them are poems (I believe it was Nancie Atwell who says that you can teach anything you need to teach - except paragraphing and citation - from poems. Oh how I love this).

When the webinar ended, I took this revelation as a challenge to go in search of my own handful of mentor texts from which I could teaching anything I might ever need to teach in a conference. And so, this fall writing beat was born. Here's what I hope to do:
Each month, I'll feature a post with

1-2 mentor texts, fully annotated to reveal all craft moves

A list or chart that shows generalizable teaching points that can be taught from this piece, when used in combination with a few other pieces

Something about the process of building a conferring anchor text set, including my selection process, how I plan to organize them so they are at-my-fingertips ready, and what a conference in which you're pulling from the same handful of mentor texts - some in different genres than what the student is writing in - looks like.

My Criteria For the Conferring Anchor Text Set
I'm going to be asking A LOT of these mentor texts: A set of texts that professes to address all conferring needs must be very special.

The set must be

Comprised only of writing I adore and am excited to teach from
If I'm going to be conferring solely from these mentor texts, I must love them!

Representative of a range of topics and interests to have broad appeal
A great mentor text is not only instructive but relevant to this year's students and what's happening in the world right now. I'll need to aim for a wide range of topics in order to engage every last person I might confer with, as a writer and human living today.

Accessible to students in grades 3+
While this blog began as a space for secondary writing teachers, we are beginning the work of expanding it to include our beloved elementary teachers as well. I'm going to challenge myself to collect mentor texts that will be accessible to students in grades 3 and "up." The "up" includes teachers I work with: since I'm not in the classroom right now, most of the conferring work I do is with teachers!

Rich with genre-crossing craft
I'll be searching for mentor texts that I can use to teach craft in every genre of writing that students might explore.

Able to teach the conventions of many different genres
In conferences, we teach the writer, not the piece of writing, but writers need genre knowledge to choose what genre will best present their message. So, these mentor texts, as a whole, need to teach into genre as well.

Conferring Anchor Text #1
My first conferring anchor text is "First Love" by Carl Linder. I love this poem so, so much and have used it countless times in mini-lessons, conferences, and PD sessions with teachers. It's an ode to basketball, so it speaks to my sports-loving students. But it's also an ode to love and the ways in which we grow within loving relationships and allow ourselves to "fall through" the net of that love.

"First Love" by Carl Linder

Based on my annotations, and my thinking about how the craft of this poem can be in conversation with other mentor texts, here are the generalizable lessons about what writers do that I could teach in a conference:

How writers create music with words and their sounds (internal rhyme, external, alliteration, assonance, etc.)

How writers repeat words and echoes of those words to reinforce their claim/main idea

How writers end strongly

How writers break lines to emphasize certain words/ideas

How writers play with word order to create interest and emphasis

How writers use em-dashes for effect

How writers punctuate lists

How writers explore cliche topics like "love" in interesting, fresh, beautiful ways

I could also teach the conventions of:
I know this mentor text alone could address dozens of students' needs in conferences, but just imagine how powerful it will be as part of a special collection of 10. When combined with examples of craft in a few other pieces of writing, it will be a true powertext.

Next month, I'll share one or two more mentor texts in my anchor collection, as well as a spreadsheet in which I've begun to categorize and identify which mentor texts can help teach which writing lessons in any given conference. I'll also talk more about the process of gleaning generalizable lessons about what writers do from crafted moments in a single piece of writing.
What mentor texts have been positively indispensable to your teaching and conferring? What texts would make your ten? Leave a comment below, find us on Facebook, or let me know on Twitter @AllisonMarchett! We'd also love for you to join our community at Inside the Blended Workshop! At Moving Writers, we love sharing our materials with you, and we work hard to ensure we are posting high-quality work that is both innovative and practical. Please help us continue to make this possible by refraining from selling our intellectual property or presenting it as your own. Thanks!

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A few weeks ago, I attended a webinar from Matt Glover and Carl Anderson on Writing Workshop. At the end of the webinar, Carl held a live conference with an amazing middle grade student. She wanted some help with her poem about her family's annual trip to the beach, this summer during the pandemic.

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Dates: THURSDAYS
March 3, 10, 17, 24

Time: 3:45-5:15PM (90 minutes)

Course Facilitator: Jessica Martin
jessicasmartin25@gmail.com

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Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86558394308?pwd=ZnVDdTdBeHV5bUNUY1hTeGkweGI1dz09

Meeting ID: 865 5839 4308
Passcode: WRITINGPD4

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Join us in a close-up study of why and how to interact with mentor texts with your students. Our mentor text study will include print, image, and digital texts that cultivate engagement, risk-taking, and learning. We’ll also share tips and methods on how to choose texts that help your writers emulate the craft they notice, appreciate, and respond to most during read aloud or independent reading time.