Before you begin any new kind of writing, what do you do? Most likely, you head straight to Google and search for other examples of this writing style to help you along. So when it comes to our students learning new writing styles, it makes sense that they would need plenty of opportunities to study examples to know what is expected of them.
Modeling the writing process for students and co-constructing written pieces as a class are necessary launchpads to get students into the independent writing phase, but before we can model anything, we should first allow students to explore mentor texts to introduce the writing genre and provide them with a clear objective of what they will be working towards.
One of the easiest and most engaging ways I’ve found to introduce mentor texts is through the use of stations in the classroom. Here are some of the ways that you can facilitate different mentor text stations.
Option #1
Choose one mentor text and place a copy of it at different stations around the classroom. Indicate where each station is with signs. Place an instruction card at each station asking students to examine a different aspect of the mentor text. For example, one station could ask students to analyze the author’s style, another could ask students to analyze format or word choice, etc. You can provide students with a handout or note taking graphic organizer, or you can place a piece of chart paper at each station and students can write their responses down for everyone else to see as they go through the station.
Option #2
Choose a variety of mentor texts that cover the same genre or writing style you are studying. Place a different text at each station. Students travel to each station and record what they liked and disliked about each text. After students have finished the stations, conduct a class discussion of the likes and dislikes of each text and create a master list that can serve as a writing guide when students eventually write their own pieces.
Option #3
Place a different mentor text at each station. Give each student a different coloured highlighter or marker (use pencil crayons if you don’t have enough different coloured markers). Hand out task cards to each student that give them a mission they must carry out at each station. Tasks could include using their colour to highlight or underline an example of imagery, or an example of the author’s tone. After students have finished the stations, you can create a bulletin board display of each mentor text with a colour code legend that indicates what each color means.
Option #4
Choose five or six mentor texts that show a progression of improvement in writing. If your state or province posts student examples of standardized testing responses, this can be a great place to find writing that scored lower and higher. Place the texts at each station but remove any indicator of its score. Ask students to travel to each station and determine the correct order of the texts from lowest to highest score. Students should take notes at each station of things they notice in the writing that might make it better or less developed than the others. After students finish the stations, reveal the actual order of the texts and ask students to share what they noticed about each one. Emphasize the qualities of the highest scoring text as the mentor text students should model their writing after.
Do you have other station ideas to share? Let us know in the comments or join the discussion on Facebook or Instagram!
Looking for more posts about using mentor texts?
Check out these great previous posts from the ELA Matter blog below!
