Using MENTOR TEXTS and MODELING to Improve Student Writing

Specifically Designed For Educators Serving Grades 1-6: Classroom Teachers, Resource Teachers, Title I Staff, Curriculum Specialists, Special Education Teachers, and Administrators

• Innovative ways to improve students’ writing skills by using mentor texts to scaffold student writing in grades 1-6
• Dozens of creative strategies to strengthen and improve your students’ writing skills utilizing mentor texts in grades 1-6
• Step-by-step instructions for incorporating mentor texts into your writing workshop
• NEW, powerful, classroom-tested approaches for engaging grades 1-6 writers with mentor texts
• Displays, student samples and a comprehensive resource handbook packed with ready-to-use strategies, mini-lessons and ideas to take your writing instruction to a new level

Practical Strategies

This highly practical seminar has been designed for educators serving grades 1-6 to help strengthen students’ writing by using children’s literature and teacher models as MENTOR TEXTS. The focus of this seminar will be on providing new, innovative and ready-to-use strategies for developing lifelong writers through mentor texts, trait-based mini-lessons, scaffolding, interactive read-alouds, teacher modeling, and more! Annemarie Johnson will share a wealth of ideas and strategies that will engage all levels of writers. She will demonstrate and model mini-lessons you can use immediately in your classroom complete with real student samples. Each participant will receive an extensive resource handbook filled with specific lesson ideas, model materials and strategies ready to use in any grade 1-6 classroom.

Ten Key Benefits of Attending

1. Use Children’s Literature as Mentor Texts to Guide and Inspire Student Writers
   Introduce your grades 1-6 students to a common core of anchor texts . . . use picture books to explore author’s craft
2. Discover Craft Secrets Used by Professional Writers
   Uncover the techniques used by accomplished writers . . . Inspire students to take risks and expand their writing skills using professional authors as mentor texts
3. Utilize Mentor Texts to Incorporate a Scaffolded Approach to Teaching Writing
   Employ the Optimal Learning Model to gradually release responsibility to your grades 1-6 writers . . . Use teacher modeling, guided practice, independent practice, and conferring to reach all levels of writers in grades 1-6
4. Discover Fresh, Innovative Prewriting Lessons
   Use mentor texts to jump-start your students’ daily writing . . . Ideas and activities that will work with all levels of writers in your grades 1-6 classroom . . . Powerful ways to use writer’s notebooks to motivate students
5. Teach the 6 Traits of Good Writing Through Mentor Texts
   Strengthen students’ use of ideas, word choice, organization, voice, sentence fluency, and conventions through mentor texts . . . Show students how authors make decisions about their writing . . . Leave with numerous trait-based mini-lessons
6. Employ Mentor Texts to Explore a Variety of Genres
   Learn to use mentor texts to teach poetry, narrative and expository writing . . . Walk away with multiple mini-lessons and strategies designed specifically for grades 1-6
7. Empower Student Writers Through Read-Alouds
   Make your read-alouds intentional and instructional . . . Learn strategies for weaving read-alouds into the fabric of your school day
8. Demonstrate How to Read Like a Writer Using Mentor Texts
   Use picture books to help students notice the specific ways authors craft their writing . . . Explore a 5-step process for “reading like a writer”
9. Respond to Student Writers
   Receive tools for embedding assessment into your teaching . . . Learn ways to “improve the writer, not just the writing” . . . Differentiate your writing instruction through individual writing conferences
10. Best Resources to Keep You Current
    Leave with many resources to enhance your writing program . . . An extensive bibliography of professional books, mentor texts and websites

Outstanding Strategies You Can Use Immediately

• Ways to immerse students in literature with mentor texts ideal for grades 1-6
• How to encourage your grades 1-6 students to take risks in their writing
• Numerous mentor text mini-lessons ideal for grades 1-6
• Craft secrets used by professional writers
• Outstanding strategies for using mentor texts to help students think more deeply about the art of writing
• Innovative methods for helping students read critically with the eyes and ears of a writer
• Effective ways to model writer’s craft through use of mentor texts
• Outstanding strategies to empower and inspire students to expand their writing skills
• Instructional read-aloud strategies that will enhance your writing instruction
• Specific steps for scaffolding your writing instruction using mentor texts and the Optimal Learning Model
• Innovative methods for ensuring success for all levels of writers in grades 1-6
• Read-aloud techniques that provide a strong supporting structure for literacy learning
• Mentor text mini-lessons to teach genre and the traits of good writing
• Classroom-proven ideas for inspiring even your most reluctant students to write
• How to use writer’s notebooks as an assessment and teaching tool
• Ready-to-use lessons that help students put ideas into practice
• Excellent websites for finding information on authors, book reviews and high-quality mentor texts
• A bibliography of professional resources and mentor texts perfect for taking your writing instruction to a new level

A Message From Your Seminar Leader

Dear Colleague,

The English author Samuel Johnson said, “The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make a book.” Most accomplished writers will agree that what we know as writers we know as readers first. How can we take this truth and use it to inspire writers in our grades 1-6 classrooms? That’s what this seminar is all about! We will spend the day exploring how to teach our students to write by introducing them to quality children’s literature that will serve as “mentor texts.”

During my 22 years as an elementary teacher and literacy consultant I have found that most children (and adults) learn best when provided with quality mentors and appropriate modeling. Cognitive psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, proposed that most children can and will learn if given the right opportunities and appropriate instruction. The use of mentor texts and modeling takes this research and puts it into action in the writing classroom. When we teach children to notice how accomplished writers craft their writing, demonstrate these techniques for our students and provide a nurturing environment for them to try these techniques in their own writing, they can do it! I have seen it happen over and over again. The use of mentor text mini-lessons has been so successful with my own students that I just can’t keep these ideas to myself – I want to share them with you!

During our day together I will share teaching strategies that will empower you to engage your grades 1-6 students and help them begin to “read like a writer”. Some of the topics we will explore include:

• step-by-step instructions for using mentor texts in our grades 1-6 classrooms
• ready-to-use mini-lessons for teaching author’s craft and the traits of good writing
• ways to make your read-alouds instructional and intentional
• practical strategies for motivating even the most reluctant writers and for taking all writers to the next level

It is my goal that you will leave this seminar with renewed enthusiasm and a passion for teaching writing. I hope you will join me for a day that promises to be dynamic, fast-paced and packed with ideas.

Sincerely
Annemarie Johnson

P.S. You will leave this seminar energized and armed with practical strategies for using mentor texts in your own grades 1-6 classroom.

Who Should Attend

Classroom Teachers, Resource Teachers, Title I Staff, Curriculum Specialists, Special Education Teachers, and Administrators.

Special Benefits of Attending

Extensive Resource Handbook
Each participant will receive an extensive resource handbook, specifically designed for this seminar. Included in the handbook are:

• A list of quality mentor texts ideal for grades 1-6
• Mini-lessons for teaching the traits of good writing using mentor texts
• Samples and examples of writing lessons for grades 1-6
• And much, much more

Meet and Share
This seminar provides participants a great opportunity to meet and share ideas with other educators interested in strengthening their instructional program.

Consultation Available
Annemarie Johnson will be available at the seminar for consultation regarding your questions and the unique needs of your program.

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