Jennifer Richard Jacobson » Blog

List of Mentor Texts

jjacobs_web — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 12:13:06 +0000

I recently spent a week in Omaha, Nebraska conducting writing workshop inservices. The Omaha teachers were fabulous and had so much to offer! It was a high-energy, roll-up-our-sleeves week in which I was definitely both the teacher and the learner.

I was reminded of what a gift a two-day inservices can be. (I worked with teachers in grades 4-6 at the beginning of the week, primary teachers at the end.) One day of six traits or writer’s workshop is an introduction. By the end of two days, however, I’m fairly convinced that teachers have the information and practice they need to make significant changes in their teaching. (Big thanks to Christina Warner for arranging the perfect schedule.)

With both groups, we took some time to examine our favorite picture books and identify ways in which they could be used as mentor texts. Fourth Grade teacher Holly Sobota offered to compile a list and she’s given me permission to share this list with all of you. Thanks, Holly!

Mentor Text	Ideas for how to use the text
Raising Mr. Yoder’s Barn By Jan Yolen	Word Choice, voice
Dinosaur Days By Liza Baker	Organization, sentence fluency, voice (artistic voice)
The Hello, Goodbye Window By Norton Juster	Voice, beginnings, endings
The Adventures of Spider By Joyce Cooper Arkhurst	Word Choice, beginnings
Froggy Goes to School By Jonathan London	Beginning, vivid verbs, onomatopoeia
Is There Really a Human Race? By Jamie Lee Curtis	Endings, fluency, conventions
Queen of the Class By Mary Engelbreit	Word Choice
That’s Good, That’s Bad By Margery Cuyler	Organization-patterning Word Choice onomatopoeia, adjectives
Fortunately By Remy Charlip	Organization-text and pictures (black/white) word choice, adverbs, prediction
Falling for Rapunzel By Leah Wilcox	Word Choice, organization
Amelia Bedelia By Peggy Parish	Organization: Order (first, then, next) Word Choice: idioms
Once I Ate a Pie By Katy Schneider	Personification
Earth: Feeling the Heat By Brenda Z. Guiberson	Organization, vivid verbs, onomatopoeias
Beardream By Will Hobbs	Voice, rule of 3, Native American-multicultural, beginning
Hooway for Wodney Wat By Helen Lester	Word Choice (synonyms for talk), alliteration, strong verbs, pattern of 3
The Relatives Came By Cynthia Rylant	Organization, “bookend” circular organization beginning and ending, symbolism, growing, ripening grapes represent the passage of time, descriptive writing, values, importance of the extended family
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt By Michael Rasen	Voice, onomatopoeia, Organization-circular writing
Woolbur by Leslie Helakoski	Voice, circular writing, word choice
Duck and Goose by Tad Hills	Conventions-dialogue, Point of View
Stand Tall Molly Melon By Patty Lovell	Organization-Repetition, circular, word choice, voice
Moosetache by Margie Palatine	Word Choice, Voice
Foodle by Patricia Pavelka	Voice, Word Choice, Conventions
Purple Hair? I Don’t Care! By Dianne Young/Barbara Hartman	Organization-surprise ending, word choice, voice, quality details
The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Grummel	Word Choice
Big Smelly Bear by Britta Teckentrup	Organization-Voice
The Crayon Box that Talked by Shane DeRolk	Voice, Conventions, Free Verse Organization: Problem Solving
You are Special by Max Lucado	Organization-Rule of 3 Voice-character development
The Tortoise and the Hare by Janet Stevens	Organization-Rule of 3, Word Choice
It’s Disgusting and We Ate It! By James Solheim	Word Choice, Voice
Take Me Out of the Bathtub By Alan Katz	Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency
Wiil Waal: A Somali Folktale by Kathleen Moriarty	Ideas, Organization
A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee By Chris Van Dusen	Word Choice, Sentence Fluency
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams	Organization-Time Order
Lighthouse Family Series: The Whale by Cynthia Relliant	Voice

Writing Center

jjacobs_web — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:55:10 +0000

I am posting my article about Writing Centers from my weekly primary newsletter in hopes that you will share your list! What works well for you? (scroll down)

Dear Colleague,

When considering what to post this week, I stumbled upon a wonderful article by Gayle Robert that encourages us to examine classroom spaces.

The article inspired me to think again about writing centers – an inviting place where all the luscious writing supplies are stored within students’ reach. Here is my thinking and a list of the items in my center.

(If you need an explanation for any of the items on my list, you’ll find it in chapter 2 of my book No More I’m Done which you can read online.)

Happy writing!

Jennifer

Writing Center

For a time, I secretly feared that the real purpose of the writing center was to indulge my love of office supplies. (Many of you have heard me say that I’m drawn to Staples the way other women are to shoe stores.) However, letting go of control of supplies helps your students behave independently and frees you to teach writing. After years of working in classrooms other than my own, I do believe having a supply center is essential to a well-oiled workshop.

The writing center can be a permanent or mobile area in the classroom. I’ve seen writing materials rolled in on carts during writing time, or contained in shoe-pocket organizers that are prominently hung when needed.

Here are the supplies I store in my writing center. I’ve divided my list into two categories: items deemed mandatory and those that are optional.

Mandatory

ü Writing folders

ü Blank paper, story paper, notebook paper

ü Date stamp and ink pad

ü Pencils: standard and blue or green pencils for editing

ü Alphabet charts (may be on folders or adhered to desks)

ü Scissors and tape

ü Graphic organizers

ü Editor’s checklists

ü Scrap paper and supply request forms

Optional

ü Stapler

ü Pens (often preferred over pencils)

ü Crayons, colored pencils, markers

ü Sticky notes

ü Baby name book

ü Children’s magazines

ü Hole punch

ü Brad fasteners

ü Writing offices

Why a baby name book? If you have ever asked your students to complete a story map before composing, you know that primary students have a tendency to fill in the character section with names of their friends. There’s usually a lot of hubbub as students show one another what they’ve recorded. (Think Valentine’s Day without the sugar.) This can be particularly disruptive in second grade, where the ups and downs of transitory friendships are often the undercurrent of the day, and feelings are easily hurt. But even if there was not a concern of social issues trumping writing, the main problem from a writing instructor’s point of view is that fiction that features one’s young friends quickly stalls after the introduction. Once students have listed the primary characters, the plot goes nowhere. Why? Well, for one, it’s very hard for any writer to use his or her imagination when the material is real flesh and blood. And perhaps, once the fun of selecting and listing the characters is over, the story itself loses energy.

So I tell students that as an author, I never use names of people I know in my fiction. In fact, I do quite the opposite. I turn to a baby name book to find truly unique names-names that are seldom heard and will come alive on the page. (My first picture book, A Net of Stars, features Etta, Harper, and Fiona-names seldom heard where I live in the Northeast.) I place a baby name book in the writing center and suggest they try this technique. It quickly becomes one of my most dog-eared resources. (If you don’t want to invest in a baby name book, bring in an outdated phone book, which provides first and last names.)

Adapted from the upcoming study gudie for No More "I’m Done!" Fostering Independent Writers in the Primary Grades by Jennifer Richard Jacobson

The Murky Middle

jjacobs_web — Sun, 23 May 2010 16:47:06 +0000

As promised, I want to share another lesson I presented at High Bridge Elementary. Lynn H. requested a lesson that would help her fourth graders write the middle of their stories or personal narratives. There are oodles of lessons for teaching beginnings and endings, but how do we guide students through the midsection?

As I told the students, I , like so many of us who write fiction, complain about the "murky middle." Leaving my beginning behind, I feel as if I’ve stepped into a swamp, and can only hope that somehow my words will get me to the other side. With sound advice from many talented writers, however, I’ve developed a fairly reliable navigational system. It doesn’t stop me from occasionally losing my way (there are so many ways to veer in a wrong direction), but it has helped me gain some much needed forward motion. What do I do? It’s quite simple. I identify a question I want raised in the reader’s mind. The middle continues to ask the question, but the tension (the desire to know the answer to the question) is ratcheted up. That question becomes my through line — keeping me on course.

I used one of my personal essays to model this technique. (Are you writing every day? Good! Then you have examples, too!) Here is the opening of my essay:

My son requested a single gift for Christmas. At seven, he knew the odds: ask for one thing — one thing only — and you’re guaranteed to get it. His wish, scrawled in second grade handwriting, was a pocketknife.

The question raised: Will my son get the pocketknife? The essay goes on to describe the struggle between my values/fears and my son’s desire for a jacknife, each paragraph increasing the tension. Here’s one such paragraph:

“What is it with boys and knives?” I asked the L.L.Bean clerk. “A pocketknife isn’t a weapon,” he replied. “It’s a tool.” He proceeded to recommend just the knife for a child. It was small — tiny in fact. And the prominent gadget on this classic was a pair of scissors. Scissors that could be useful when applied to gum-foil, string and other stuff that boys carry in their pockets. Scissors that would allow this mother to give her son the tool he really wanted. Still, it had a blade.

After introducing this idea of raising a question in the reader’s mind, we considered favorite stories. What question did the author raise? I also projected writing samples on the overhead, and again we discussed whether the author had effectively raised a question. We discussed how some authors, by raising a question in our mind, let us know why we’re reading. They give us a purpose.

Lynn’s fourth graders took this idea and ran with it. It was gratifying to conference with students who were so willing to embrace this technique. They wrote to thank me for helping them to “build their stories.” However, I want to caution teachers against asking students to write to an inflexible formula. As fourth grade Claudia wrote:

Happy Writing!

The Power of the Mentor Text

jjacobs_web — Thu, 13 May 2010 16:22:17 +0000

Last month I was back in High Bridge, NJ, one of my very favorite places to be, demonstrating writing lessons and student conferences in the classroom. Now here is a school (dedicated principal, talented and highly committed teachers, engaged students) that can’t help but make me look good. Nevertheless, I will admit it, I am always nervous before modeling. The jitters are unavoidable: I’m working with students who are new to me, while being observed by half-a-dozen adults, and often conducting lessons (based on a teacher-requested topic) that I’ve never done before! But, perhaps not suprisingly, the greatest risks often bring the greatest rewards.

I want to share two experiences I had in High Bridge, but I will divide the posts. The first was with Kim T’s pull-out class of nine third graders. Kim asked for a lesson on voice. I knew that voice can be a challenging trait for many eight and nine-year-olds, but especially for those who might have difficulty processing and/or articulating feelings.

I chose Jane Kurt’s Rain Romp: Stomping Away a Grouchy Day as a mentor text. I read the book from beginning to end so students could enjoy the lively story. Then I asked students, as I reread the story, to stop me when they heard voice. I recorded the phrases they selected, and their conclusions regarding author’s craft in a T-chart. For example:

Examples of Voice	How the Author Created Voice
“I Don’t Feel Shiny" “Dad hums a snazzy jazzy tune.” “’No way,’ I said. Noooo Way.”	Unique way of saying something, includes feeling Shows enthusiasm Expresses attitude

After, we had recorded a list of eight examples, I asked students to consider using some of these techniques as they wrote that day.

Here is what Jessica wrote (the spelling and correct conventions are mine):

Words that Make You Angry

I woke out of my bed. Angry words fell through my head. I jumped out of bed, saw words everywhere. They were feeling words. I felt angry. Really angry. I yelled, "Get out of my room!" The words straggled out with some toony sounds. I got my net to catch the words.

It continues for a page or two and end with: "All the words are gone for now."

Here are a few sentences of Nicholas’s piece:

Once there is a Grandma. She is scared of everything: rabbis, food, trees. But she likes surgeries, and shots, and home. And shopping. She is scared of dogs.

Voice? You betcha! Oh, the power of the right mentor text!

The Complete History of Why I Hate Her

jjacobs_web — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:17:03 +0000

Next week, my second young adult novel will be out. I don’t think there was any intention on my publisher’s part to release this book during National Poetry Month, but it’s apropro just the same. You see, Nola and her younger sister Song speak in a special language — the language of haiku. As Nola says, "For the longest time it’s been our own code. Other kids speak in pig Latin, we speak in 5-7-5." When Nola spends the summer working at a resort in Maine (in part to escape the hardships of being the older sister of a chronically ill sister), she promises to send Song regular haikus:

Two new waitresses

Add four more who know their stuff

Trays bound to collide

There is a collision, but not between old and new. The eruption occurs between Nola and a girl who appears to be the best of friends . . . a girl who ends up going after everything that belongs to Nola. Everything.

I knew that I wanted to play with the form of haiku after reading the book: I Smell Something Foul: Haiku Expressions of Everyday Angst in which Alison Herschberg perfectly captures little agravations in a seventeen syllables:

Sunday night laundry

Twelve aparments one machine

Time to play dirty

The pressure’s too high

I can’t take it anymore

Where’s my other sock?

What’s going on in your life right now? Try encapsulating your feelings in haiku. I promise you’ll find something very tidy and satisfying about the form. Post your haiku’s here and I will award three random writers (pulled from a hat) one book of mine. Any book. Your choice.

Haikus must be posted by May 15. All ages may play.

A haiku contest

Sure hope someone plays the game

You are invited!

Warm Welcome, Writing Principal, and New Contest for Students

jjacobs_web — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:30:32 +0000

I’m recently back from presenting a school inservice and an author day at the Kateri School in the Kahnawake Mohawk Reservation in Quebec. Second graders in Ms Fran’s class created a stunning welcome banner — my first in the Mohawk language. I just have to share:

In other news, in my Monday Mini-Lesson Newsletter (February 22 — see all archived newsletters to the right) I stressed the importance of modeling writing for students. Danielle Hamblin, principal of the Central School in Great Meadows, NJ is keeping a blog documenting her training to prepare for a Grand Canyon hiking trip in support of Leukemia/Lymphoma. She forwards the blog to students in Great Meadows and Allachumy so they can assess her writing! (I know she’s scoring well when it comes to quality details!) Check out Danielle’s progress at:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/nj/gahike10/dhamblin

http://grandcanyonbound2010.blogspot.com/

And finally, author Toni Buzzeo has a new book out:

She’s inviting students in grades PreK -6 to enter a writing contest based on the cover of her book, No T-Rex in the Library. You can read more about the contest (and possibly win a free half-hour Skype session with Toni Buzzeo!) here: www.Tonibuzzeo.com. Hurry, the deadline is Friday, March 12.

Happy Pub Date!

jjacobs_web — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:06:20 +0000

Tomorrow is the publication date of No More "I’m Done!" and I couldn’t be more excited. Thank you to all of who’ve written to express your anticipation.

This book explores the ways in which we teachers, with the very best of intentions, train our young students to become dependent rather than independent writers. Here is a chart I include in the book that pinpoints some of the ways:

Creates Dependence

Fosters Independence

Teacher selects writing prompt.

Teacher is “keeper of supplies” handing out paper and pencils.

Teacher “stretches out” words or provides the spelling of words.

Because writing is assigned, students brainstorm whatever comes to mind in ten minutes and then exclaim, “I’m done.”

Writing lasts as long as a writing period or a journal page (or shorter!).

Students who are often minimally engaged in their work resist revision.

Students select writing topic.

Materials are available in the writing center.

Students know that by “recording the sounds they hear” they are teaching themselves to read and write.

Students often plan what they will write in the future, and consequently organize their thoughts in the space between one writer’s workshop and the next.

Students often work on the same writing piece for many days.

In anticipation of conferences,

author’s chair, the possibility of co-teaching a mini-lesson, students willingly revise.

Any thoughts, concerns, experiences? I’d love to hear them!

Decalogue

jjacobs_web — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:41:32 +0000

I just learned the meaning of this word, decalogue, this week. First I stumbled across the website of NNWP Teacher Consultant, Corbett Harrison who provides wonderful mini-lessons to use with mentor texts. He recommends reading chapter four of Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn Dixie, which contains a wonderful decalogue — a list of ten things the preacher tells Opal about her mother. Corbett writes: "On day one of class, I ask my students to create a list of ‘Ten Things I Know about Myself as a Writer.’ These first-day decalogues are placed safely in their portfolios, and during the last week of class, they make a new list on the same topic. A large percentage of my students’ final grades depends on the conversation we have about the difference between their two lists."

This got me thinking of all the other fabulous decalogues we could ask our students to write. So here is my decalogue of writing decalogues (thanks, Mr. Harrison):

1. Ten things I know about myself as a writer

2. Ten things I’m passionate about (to spark writing ideas)

3. Ten spelling rules I always forget

4. Ten grammar rules I don’t really understand (good feedback for providing appropriate mini-lessons)

5. Ten memories I wish to forget (but know I won’t, so I might as well write about them)

6. Ten things I wish someone would say about my writing

7. Ten sentences I admire (keep an ongoing list in the reading folder)

8. Ten things my classmates don’t know about me (and maybe I’ll write about them)

9. Ten words I love

10.

What is number ten? Write in your ideas, I’d love to share them!

P.S. Monday Mini-Lessons for primary teachers are being archived. Click on the button to the right to see past newsletters.

Spelling

jjacobs_web — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:44:02 +0000

I received an email from a teacher this week who wrote:

I work with a great group of 2nd grade students who love to write. However, their spelling needs improvement. Do you have any suggestions?

Formal programs help students to see spelling patterns and to learn spelling rules and for this reason are invaluable (up to a certain age). But as we all know, the real challenge isn’t getting kids to pass the Friday test, it’s getting them to apply what they are learning about spelling to their writing.

It’s tricky. We have to be careful not to put too much emphasis on correct spelling (especially when students are working on first drafts) or students will limit their word choice to words they know how to spell correctly. Risk taking is essential for fine writing and this means taking risks with spelling too.

It’s also helpful to remember that the very best way to learn to spell is to approximate the spelling and then compare the misspelled word to the correctly spelled word. (There are simply more hooks then for remembering the correct spelling.)

So how do we help? Here is a list of suggestions to consider:

· In addition to word walls, and including a frequently used word list in student folders (or adhered to the outside), keep a classroom computer open to a blank page in Microsoft Word. Students can type in their approximated spelling and then use spell check to choose the correct spelling.

· Instead of circling errors on student work, place a dot at the beginning of the line that contains an error. (More than one error? Use more than one dot.) Students need to consult resources or friends to determine the error and correct it. This helps to place the responsibilty for correct spelling on them. Students will strive to have fewer dots placed on their writing.

· Publish student writing on a regular basis, but please don’t ask young children to copy over their work! This teaches them two things: write short and don’t take risks. Instead, conduct an editing conference before publication: a time when you and the student focus on conventions. Here you can offer differentiated instruction which is far more effective than circling errors. Work with the student on two or three important skills. Then type up (or better yet, have a volunteer type up) the student’s writing with all of the correct spellings.

· Use an editor’s checklist. Are your students constantly confusing their, there and they’re? Ask that they double check the spelling of these words before coming to a writing conference or handing writing in.

· Conduct spelling mini-lessons using graphic organizers. Two resources for lively lessons are Word Work & Spelling: Graphic Organizers and Mini-Lessons by Dottie Raymer (Scholastic,2008), and my own Easy Spelling Lessons for the Overhead (Scholastic, 2003).

I hope these suggestions are useful. I’d love to hear your ideas for helping students to think about spelling. And if you see a spelling error in this blog post, please let me know.

Never underestimate the power . . .

jjacobs_web — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:09:03 +0000

Oh, how we embraced publishing students’ work in the early years of writer’s workshop! Many schools had a “publishing center” where parent volunteers came to type and bind student work. Covers were cardboard, decorated with wallpaper samples, held together with duct tape. Although the school where I taught did not have its own center, I painstakingly bound my students’ books with dental floss so they’d last forever.

Dental floss eventually gave way to spiral binding machines, and all too many of these moved to the back of closets with the onset of NCLB.

And now, in 2010, I experience a mixture of both nostalgia and glee when these wallpaper books are recalled in blogs and interviews. Who is mentioning them? Published authors! Here are a few I’ve come across recently:

Jessica Brody, author of adult and young adult novels, writes that she “knew from a young age that she wanted to be a writer. She started self ‘publishing’ her own books when she was seven years old, binding the pages together with cardboard, wallpaper samples and electrical tape.”

Dorothy Thompson editor-in-chief, CEO and founder of The Writer’s Life Ezine and The Writer’s Life Publications reports that she “began her writing career in the second grade when she made her first handmade book for a class project. From there, her passion for writing blossomed into a full-time career.”

And Chris DeBrie, author of Shakespeare Ashes, writes: “And it all started with my illustrated book from the second grade, with wallpaper for a book cover and a crayon drawing pasted on front. The title was, “Forkhead”, about a boy with fork-shaped ridges in his head. Forkhead and his best friend play some pranks around school. They trade some schoolyard snaps. Then they somehow become astronauts and camp on the moon in sleeping bags, with no space suits. I remember they stayed on the moon for 999 days, and the story ended there, so my guess is, they must have gone insane…

I hope these authors’ second grade teachers realize the influence they’ve had.