Teaching Strategies
Mentor Texts
Mentor texts are examples of great writing that teachers use to model for student writing. Magazine articles, poems, novels, essays, and various other forms of writing can be used as mentor texts. When using reading passages or traditional reading textbooks, teachers focus on what is happening. They ask questions to reveal what an author is saying. The great writing in mentor texts shift the conversation to focus on how the author is saying something. After reviewing and analyzing examples of writing strategies through mentor texts, students model the same strategies in their own writing.
Mentor Sentences
Mentor sentences are sentences that students study for a few days to a week. Students will do activities like identifying the figurative language and parts of speech, revising the sentences, and imitating their own sentences.
Journaling
Students will free write in their journals consistently. For students who need extra support, prompts will be provided to get them started. The purpose of beginning the unit with journaling is to build stamina, confidence, and voice. The best way to become a better writer is to write consistently. Writing freely without being concerned about mechanics will reveal students’ personality, wit, and humor. Students will transition from free write journaling to developing one of their journal entries into a complete narrative essay. Students will complete activities to help them structure and organize their thoughts into a complete work.
Plot Mountain Diagrams or Freytag’s Pyramid
Plot mountain diagrams, also known as Freytag’s Pyramid, are visual models of a plot development. These diagrams come in a variety of different graphic organizers. First, students will diagram the plot progression of chapters in the memoir. Next, students will take one of their journal entries and fill in the plot on their own plot mountains.
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