A mentor text is a book/story, either fiction or non-fiction that you have read to your class for enjoyment, then you can go back and use it again to teach a concept, strategy, etc. Each time you go back to your mentor text, you might use just one page or passage to teach whatever concept you are focusing on. I love to use Owl Moon to teach how to use comparisons in writing. I also use it for descriptive words and visualizing. I even use it for grammar. Ultimately, you use the mentor text to show your objective in an authentic setting. Debbie Miller's Reading With Meaning and the Strategies that Work list Mentor texts to use to teach comprehension strategies, Bringing Words to Life lists mentor texts to use to teach vocabulary...See www.basicsplusbooks.com for a great list of correlation books to go along with some of our favorite professional resources. Hope this is helpful! You probably use mentor texts all the time, but just didn't put this name to them:) Kelli
Michelle Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: What do you mean by "mentor texts" On Dec 30, 2006, at 5:44 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I am reading with earnest all the talk about strategies. I think the point i want to reiterate is that the strategies are comprehension strategies... not just reading comprehension strategies that are used for more challenging text. I really agree with the comments about teaching metacognitively across the curriculum: in math, writing, and social studies and science. Then the practice and deep understanding you are talking about really come in to play... not just a particular author's meaning but just that... finding meaning in all that you do. This becomes especially apparent in math where often kids are working with algorithms and abstracts devoid of the personal touches of an author or apparent visual cues that are so often found in story... although all printed media is text.... LEARNNG HOW YOU THINK, HOW OTHERS THINK, HOW TO MODIFY, REVISE, AND DELETE ARE MAJOR SKILLS THAT I tend to believe need to be presented with a SYSTEMATIC and SEQUENCED CONTINUIM in mind.That much said, I find fault at the elementary level as I observe classes using the same mentor texts from grade level to grade level. Maybe it is the lack of time or perhaps the flood of information that teachers are trying to assimilate quickly but I'd rather hope for the skill to be practiced with all kinds of texts and in all kinds of frameworks. Maybe the emphasis should be on how we connect the strategy and not the presentation of the strategy itself. As a teacher of first graders, I find that the strategy must be named, applied, dissected and modeled in many different ways in order for little ones to really get when and how to think deeply about anything. I know that Debbie Miller's book was written with first graders in mind.... but I also look at STRATEGIES AT WORK and that same sense of deliberate modeling and then gradual release is evident. No matter what....showing how to think about thinking is such a step above my memories of school, we can only be on a very good track.... Happy New Year everybody! _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http:// literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
