In another post I talked about what mentor texts are: books that can be used in multiple subject areas to teach a variety of skills. Obviously you can use mentor texts in reading. One of the subject areas that you can use mentor texts in is writing. Here I'm going to talk about a variety of ways for using mentor texts in writing. Writing Like An Author One of the easiest ways to infuse a mentor text into writing is to study the author's craft or as I explain it to my students: writing like an author. Mentor texts provide the perfect springboard into studying different writing types and styles. Mentor texts provide an ideal example for students to study when learning about and trying a new writing style or focusing on a skill. Descriptive language or dialogue? Take a look back at a Kevin Henkes book. Figurative language? Bring back Jacqueline Woodson. Mysteries? ... read more
What Are Mentor Texts And Why You Need To Use Them Right Now
Mentor texts. I feel like "mentor text" is a term that is both over-used and misunderstood. They're also not utilized to their full potential. Mentor texts are probably one of the most important things you can use in your classroom at any age. They also help you save time, and as teachers, time is the most important commodity we have. What Are Mentor Texts? Mentor texts are rigorous texts intentionally chosen for a specific reason for the purpose of teaching multiple content areas. Picture books, articles, poems, chapter books can be mentor texts. Picture books can be mentor texts in elementary, middle and high school depending on how you use them. Mentor texts are usually read multiple times examining different parts of the text each time. They are also brought back at different times of the year to focus on different aspects of the text for different subject ... read more
At What Age Should Interactive Read Alouds Stop?
Who doesn't love interactive read alouds? Even as an adult I still read books aloud. I'm an admitted picture bookaholic, yes. But what about the rest of the world? At what age or grade level should interactive read alouds stop? While I was doing my student teaching, I split my days between a Kindergarten/1st grade split class and fifth grade. Really different, right? So were my cooperating teachers. Especially in what they thought about interactive read alouds. The Kindergarten/1st grade teacher: NEVER read books aloud to her students. You read that right, she never once did a read aloud. With Kindergarteners and first graders. She was sick once or twice and I made some executive decisions in regards to our plans for the day *wink wink* The fifth grade teacher: used interactive read alouds A LOT. For almost every subject. Now, the bookaholic in me had absolutely NO ... read more
Improving Student Discussion Pt. 4 Decreasing Teacher Talk
As teachers, we talk a LOT more than we realize. During student discussions, though, we really need to let the students talk. In this post I'll be focusing on some of the main reasons that teachers jump into discussions and ways for decreasing teacher talk. It may not be easy, but you can do it! Watch how your student discussions transform when you just sit back and let them happen. Decreasing Teacher Talk Quick Glance When Teachers Butt InAvoiding the Common PitfallsAcceptable Teacher TalkDecreasing Teacher Talk Systematically When I first started getting serious with my student discussions, I thought that they had gotten pretty good. I was measuring my student talk using my Google Form (check it out! It's FREE), and as far as I knew I was doing pretty good. I asked our coach to come in and give me some feedback. Turns out my discussions were pretty awesome. I was ... read more
Improving Student Discussion Pt. 3 Increasing Quality
Welcome to Part 3 of my improving student discussion mini-series: Increasing Quality. If you're at a point where your students are having discussions and everyone is talking, but the level of the conversation is really low-level. That is, maybe they're not building off of each other's ideas. Perhaps they're repeating the same ideas that someone else said just so that they could have an opportunity to talk. Maybe they're essentially just having a hand-raising style share out because it's all answers in isolation. If this sounds like your students' discussions, then this post is for you. Increasing Quality of Student Talk Quick Glance Setting the Stage: Explicit TeachingConversation Supports that Increase QualityGoal-SettingPost-Discussion Reflection Setting the Stage: Explicit Teaching In the first part of this series when I talked about measuring discussion, the main ... read more
Improving Student Discussion Pt. 2 Increasing Student Talk
Last week I started my Improving Student Discussion Series with Part 1: Measuring Discussion. This was in response to all of the great feedback I received from my post on 7 strategies for getting quiet students to talk in discussions and 3 ways to get your students talking. This week I'm continuing with Part 2 - Increasing Student Talk. Increasing Student Talk Quick Glance It's All About the QuestionsPartners, Partners, PartnersSentence Frames/StemsDiscussion Strategies It's All About the Questions This is the BIG one. You want to improve your discussions and increase student talk? You need GOOD, DEEP questions! This means, you need to come up with questions or problems that will get your students thinking. The best questions have multiple answers or allow for interpretation or opinion. The question and how you pose it is everything. To illustrate my point, a ... read more
Improving Student Discussion Pt. 1 Measuring Student Discussion
Over the next few weeks I am going to be writing a series of blog posts on improving student discussion. This is in response to all of the great feedback I received from my post on 7 strategies for getting quiet students to talk in discussions and 3 ways to get your students talking. I'll be covering: Measuring Student DiscussionIncreasing Student TalkImproving QualityDecreasing Teacher Talk Measuring Discussion Quick Glance -Why Measure Discussion?-What To Measure?-How To Measure: Paper Method-How To Measure: Tech ToolsConclusions Why Measure Discussion? Remember back in the old days when classrooms were silent? Students were all quietly working on solving a page of math problems or completing a book report? Principals would walk through and compliment the teacher on their superb control of the classroom. In other words, we educators used to be, and I'm sure that ... read more
Ways To Get Your Quiet Students Talking
Wait, you want your students talking in your classroom? Isn't it a struggle enough to get that overly talkative kid to STOP talking? Let's be honest, that kid that won't stop talking is never going to completely stop talking, and you shouldn't want them to. Student talk in the classroom is incredibly important for vocabulary development, building classroom community, writing, reading comprehension. In other words.... LEARNING! So if student talk is so important to learning, what about your quiet students? What are some ways to get your quiet students talking? #1 We ALL Talk If it is a student's turn to talk and they clam up and you let them not talk, you just told them 2 things: A) They can get out of participating in class B) What they have to say isn't important. Set the expectation that everyone talks in the classroom. I introduce this to students by saying that ... read more
Best Read Alouds For Black History Month
Black History Month is right around the corner, and there are SO MANY great books out there to teach your students about African American heritage and history in this country. When I first started teaching, it seemed like every teacher knew really good books to read for every holiday, while I was left asking around everywhere. After years of talking to librarians, teachers and kids, here are, in my opinion, the best Black History Month read alouds! If you're looking for any other ideas for Black History Month for kids, I have a great resource page where you can access all of my ideas for your Black History Month celebration. If you’re a member of the Picture Book Brain Trust Community, you already have access to EVERY lesson plan and activity for these books! Just click on the Lesson Plans button! If you’re not a member of the Picture Book Brain Trust, you can join ... read more
How to Setup an Ipad to Create Student Podcasts
Podcasts are a modern adaptation of the classic radio broadcast, but have a HUGE variety of potential uses in classrooms even in the elementary school classroom. In terms of 21st Century Skills, communicating ideas in a clear, engaging way is critical, and podcasting incorporates so many other 21st century skills in addition to communication: flexibility, technology literacy, media literacy, information literacy, creativity, collaboration, social skills. I would argue it hits every 21st Century Skill. Creating student podcasts may sound like a daunting task. It's easy and HYPER-engaging, as you'll see below. Here I'm going to lay out how you and your students can get started with podcasting on an iPad! There are affiliate links in many of the posts on this site. This means your purchase supports myself, my business, and my family when you click through to buy - at no additional cost ... read more