Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Tone Is in the Fear of the Beholder:using Multimodal Mentor Texts
A demonstration lesson presented at the 2014 Write for Texas Summer Institute. It provides a snapshot of a four to five week unit that engages students in the reading and writing workshop model.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Starting & Stopping With Strong Imagery: Revision Strategy
In this lesson, students will engage in revising their writings to incorporate sensory images. Students will brainstorm topics of places, away from their home, that are special. Then students will choose and then write a descriptive...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Revision Lesson: Re Shaping Narrative Writing
This lesson, inspired by the novel Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes is a fabulous classroom mentor text that helps teach a very powerful revision strategy: rewriting an idea in a completely different genre. Grimes' book shares short...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Racetrack Sentences
In this lesson plan, The Berenstain Bears and the Big Road Race, written by Stan Berenstain, is used as a mentor text. Learners will record their favorite adjectives from the mentor text, rank them according to their favorite, and share...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Airplane Flight Sentences
In this lesson, Robert Burleigh's picture book entitled Flight is used as the mentor text. Students will record their favorite adjectives from the mentor text, rank them according to their favorite, and share them. Students will also use...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Creepy Crawly Sentences
In this lesson, the picture book entitled Toad, written by Ruth Brown, is used as the mentor text. Students will record their favorite adjectives from the mentor text, rank them according to their favorite, and share them. Students will...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Action Packed Rain Forest Sentences
In this lesson, Jane Yolen's Welcome to the Greenhouse is used as a mentor text. Students will record their favorite verbs from the mentor text, rank them according to their favorite, and share them. Students will also use interactive...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Action Packed Ocean Sentences
For this lesson, Andrew Clement's awesome picture book, Big Al is used as a mentor text. Young scholars will record their favorite verbs from the mentor text, rank them according to their favorite, and share them. Students will also use...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Action Packed Zoo Sentences
In this lesson, If I Ran the Zoo, written by Dr. Seuss, is used as the mentor text. Students will record their favorite adjectives from the mentor text, rank them according to their favorite, and share them. Students will also use...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Beyond the Basic Biography Report
In this lesson plan students use the format and structure of a mentor text such as A. Lincoln and Me by Louise Borden to write an interesting biography about a historical figure with an emphasis on idea development, voice, and writing...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Oh, Messy Cheetos!
In this instructional activity, sentence fluency is the focus. The mentor text entitled Mrs. Wishy Washy is used to help students explore how using repetition techniques can enhance the meaning of a story. After reading the text,...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: We Saw Him at the Zoo
In this lesson plan, the mentor text utilized is Deborah Guarino's book, Is Your Mama a Llama?, with the focus of sentence fluency. Each student will think of an animal that that has the same initial sound as his/her name. Using the...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Summarizing Mathematical Learning With the Important Book
In this lesson plan, The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown is used as a mentor text. Students will create an illustrated paragraph about a particular math topic. Students will use the mentor text and attempt to adapt the author's...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Complex Pirate Sentences
In this lesson, Melinda Long's picture book entitled How I Became a Pirate is used as the mentor text. Learners will record their favorite complex sentences from the text and share them. Students will also use interactive buttons to...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: The Perfect Day With Scaredy Squirrel
In this lesson, the mentor text entitled Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt is used to get students thinking about how they spend their days. Then students will write the hour and minute hands on blank clocks and will writing complete...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Argue Better Than a Pigeon
In this activity, the book Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems is used as a mentor text. Students will learn how to evaluate the validity of a mathematical argument. Students will practice writing and revising their own...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Personified Number Stories
In this lesson, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith is used as the mentor text. Young scholars will explore numbers and the properties of these numbers. Students will then write a math story, using the explored numbers, and...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Requesting a Task Force to Prevent Child Endangerment
In this lesson, Roald Dahl's book The Witches is used as a mentor text. Students will attempt to save themselves and the other children. Students will analyze real population statistics from world-wide and details from the story to...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Rain Drop Shape Poem
This lesson plan uses the mentor text by Wendy Cheyette Lewison entitled Raindrop, Plop! This lesson, which has a focus on word choice, engages students in brainstorming descriptive words and phrases about raindrops. At the end of the...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Season Mandala
In this lesson, Have You Seen Trees?, a book written by Joanne Oppenheim, and The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree, a book written by Gail Gibbons, are used as mentor texts. As a post-reading activity, students will record facts about the...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Summarizing a State's History With a Found Poem
Students will identify the main message and story behind the song "Cold Missouri Waters," by James Keelaghan; they will use a note-taking strategy and create a "found poem." They will then apply this strategy to an article from a printed...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Writing for Math Class: Creative Math Equations
In this lesson, the mentor text called Mathematickles by Betsy Franco is used. Young scholars will use the language of mathematics to demonstrate their understanding of the topics about which they write. Older students should use humor...