“Snow, snow

Shiver and blow

Icicle popsicles,

Drip drip dropsicles”

-Jane Yolen, Sing a Season Song

Isn’t that beautiful? I’m drooling. I double dog dare you to hate winter after reading this excerpt. These words make me want to wrap up in a cozy blanket and enjoy a hot beverage near a fireplace. I have fallen in love with the text Sing a Season Song, by Jane Yolen (Who am I kidding? I love Jane Yolen. Period. Her book “How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight” changed my life). In this particular book she demonstrates the beauty that all seasons have to offer and reminds us to appreciate good in everything. Each time I read this book to Buddy and Bear, Jane has us climbing into each season and pulling out memories. She causes us to do this! She has power, Jane does!

But I should tell you-and this is a secret worth sharing-that any mentor text that you choose holds the same power.

Some of you may be saying, “Hmmm. Mentor text. What’s this crazy blogger lady talking about?” A mentor text is anything that you want your students to eyeball and discern characteristics from so that they can emulate it. It may be an essay. It may be a sculpture. It could be an excerpt that uses dialogue if you’re working with students on dialogue. It could be an equation or formula. Or a lab demonstration. I tried to recreate my living room from an episode of Love it or List it-in that scenario, the episode was my Mentor Text (FYI, turns out my living room was destined for John Deere tractors and rogue crayons with a Thomas the Train blanket artfully draped over an arm chair). You’ve heard of Pinterest, right? Pinterest is a Mentor Text to the max. If you’ve ever looked at something on Pinterest and tried to create it, then you have used Pinterest as a Mentor Text. If you’ve ever looked at something on Pinterest, tried to create, and catastrophically failed, then you’re me. I’m  using the word “text” prettttty liberally here, but in most cases it does translate to print text.

My sales pitch on Mentor Texts begins with the notion that a mentor typically inspires you to do something. A mentor is your wise and trusted adviser, reminding you of your purpose. A mentor text hopefully does the same thing, inspiring students to create.  As an 8 year old girl I had an affinity was slightly obsessed with the American Girls series. Reading the books even inspired me to write a book about a girl who was a slave and found freedom (aka, Meet Addy Part Deux). There was not a lot of difference between the two stories, but if I had brought the story to a teacher I’m certain that with proper coaching and conferencing I could have developed my own story.

Writing in our content areas should have similar affects on students that the American Girl series had on me (now that’s a sentence I never thought I’d write). We need to show kids strong and awesome pieces of writing from our content areas, write in front of our kids, and feel confident about it. I promise you-yes, you, who perhaps hasn’t hashed out an essay or written a piece since the college days-YOU are the very best writer in your room. You know what a person in your discipline needs to include in their final product, whether it’s a mathematician, sculptor, chemist, journalist or literary consultant. Or maybe you know best that “Helper E” makes a vowel say it’s name and how to correctly hold the pencil-this is just as important.

When we model our writing we are really modeling our thinking, which turns into modeling thinking about your content area. Most teachers that I know are incredible direction-givers, and while the power of giving clear directions is certainly a good thing it doesn’t get students to synthesize in the way that it moves them to record information. We need to share our thinking and not be stingy about it for this reason alone: background knowledge helps determine comprehension. If you’ve done something an awful lot then it’s easy. Kids have not taken your class before (hopefully). They will need modeling, coaching, guiding and a mentor text to refer to and look back on throughout the writing process. If you want your students to craft a persuasive piece, then think of some of the most persuasive texts you’ve ever read. Put them in front of your kiddos. Dissect the pieces together. Keep going back to the pieces, and in the end their work will be stronger. It will emulate the mentor text with their own voice weaving the piece together. Using  a mentor text can help student’s work to become more substantial, beyond a regurgitation of notes.

I’m often faced with this statement from colleagues: “But I don’t have time to teach writing.  I need to teach my content area. This just isn’t in the curriculum”. Nonbelievers, take comfort. The best thing about using mentor texts is that you do not have to choose between teaching content and teaching writing. Using a mentor text packs a powerful punch in your lesson and allows you to accomplish both. Kill two birds with one mentor text, if you will.

This is a lot to digest, and I’m going to leave you with a challenge: go seek out a mentor text for your class. If you teach Middle or High school, try choosing one class period. Think about an upcoming topic in your curriculum. What do you want your students to create? What would show you that your instruction worked? Once you’ve got the end in mind you can search for a text that would help put both content and craft on display.

Spend time marinating on this, and once you’ve got your ideas…come back and visit. If you have questions, throw ’em in the comments section. My next blog post will be a lesson where you can see how a Mentor Text is implemented.

**The Meet Addy Part Deux typed manuscript can be found on my parents MS-DOS, which was recycled several years ago. Rough Draft is in the green spiral notebook (wide ruled) under the canopy bed in my childhood bedroom.