Making The Most of Mentor Texts

 Making The Most of Mentor Texts

Mindfully and strategically used, mentor texts, present as a powerful tool when alerting the inexperienced writer to a multitude of techniques writers employ to make their writing both effective and memorable. When choosing suitable texts, select examples that you also enjoy reading. It will help heighten the sharing of literary treasure. Choose exemplars possessing specific techniques  and craft moves you would like your students to embrace as writers. Alerting young writers to the power mentor texts possess to inform and enhance their writing, forms an important part of the cognitive apprenticeship we wish them to experience.

Consider the following steps when choosing suitable mentor texts Begin by reading aloud the chosen book, for pleasure. This provides young learners with a sense of the text’s totality. The whole story is revealed. 

• Reread the book with a specific focus on some different writing techniques used by the author. Invite students to note words, phrases, sentences or craft moves used by the author they found most appealing or effective. 

• Sticky notes could be used to identify the effect it had on students as readers.

• Model for students how you, a more experienced writer, might apply a particular technique to your own writing. Invite feedback on how you applied your craft technique. 

• Invite students to try the strategy with you, or with a partner. Then discuss what you are collectively noticing about this technique. 

• Finally, invite student writers to create their own piece of writing with a view to trying to apply the same technique.

Picture story books make excellent mentor texts  for the following reasons:

• They are short – reading and analysing them can be achieved quite quickly.

• Illustrated– visual images help support comprehension.

• They are engaging, making them high impact. 

• They frequently possess layers of meaning and complexity, allowing you to return with a different focus, depending on student’s ages. It means we don’t have to extract everything from the text in one go.  Something can be saved for later on.

 In practising craft techniques, student writers do not necessarily have to respond with a full story when they write. Crafting engaging Leads/introductions and endings are powerful skills  for young writers to develop. Teaching these strategies is most valuable because they have applicability to multiple forms of writing. 

 Consider the different techniques used by authors for commencing a story. They might use dialogue, a question, a description of a setting or a character. They might immediately introduce a problem or a dilemma.  Having students write practice different types of leads adds to their writing armoury.  Endings/conclusions deserve the same consideration. 

Mentor texts allow us to investigate writing craft in tangible ways:

How dialogue advances the story or reveals something about the character. 

How authors introduce surprises and twists in the plot 

How authors convey readers into the past

How authors use punctuation to create voice, and establish suspense, surprise, emotion

How authors apply repetition to emphasises a point 

How authors build tension

How authors use Show, Don’t Tell to create a picture for the reader

How authors develop characters

How authors unpack the story – beginning, middle, end

How authors denote the passage of time –

How authors consciously apply varied sentence length  to maintain reader interest.

How authors employ word play

How authors craft endings –character reflection, lessons learnt.

How authors apply sensory imagery – smell, touch, taste, sight 

How authors employ circular endings 

How authors highlight character differences

How authors employ repetition – repeating words, phrases or sentences to emphasise and draw attention to an element of the story

Changes to fonts – darker, italics, different font – emphasis, emotion, to create tension, highlight onomatopoeia.

How authors deliver vivid and detailed description of settings 

How authors use inside/outside to reveal character’s internal thinking helps

reader understand their actions and choices

How the author uses vivid, powerful verbs

How the author uses adjectives sparingly

How the author uses literary elements –similes, metaphor, personification, alliteration 

I am mindful of something Ralph Fletcher said regarding mentor texts. ‘Don’t milk all the juice out of a text. Save a little for next time.’ 

In order to see for ourselves, a text’s potential, it is imperative to develop our own ability to read like a writer. Our capacity to do this will no doubt be enhanced, if writing alongside student writers is seen as a priority. We must avail ourselves of the opportunity to fully appreciate, both, the joys and the struggles that come from being a writer who teaches.





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