Reading, Writing, and Mentor Texts: Imagining Possibilities

Date: March 28, 2013

Summary: In this episode we discuss with our guests the many ways mentor texts support writers and inspire writing of all genres in the classroom and beyond. We also explore direct connections to learning across the disciplines and resources for identifying and finding mentor texts.

Excerpt from Show

Lynne Dorfman—co-director of the Pennsylvania Writing and Literature Project and co-author of Mentor Texts , Non-fiction Mentor Texts , and Poetry Mentor Texts —defines mentor texts:

Mentor texts are pieces of literature that you—both teacher and student—can return to and reread for many different purposes. They are texts to be studied and imitated...Mentor texts help students to take risks and be different writers tomorrow than they are today. It helps them to try out new strategies and formats. They should be basically books that students can relate to and can even read independently or with some support. And of course, a mentor text doesn't have to be in the form of a book—a mentor text might be a poem, a newspaper article, song lyrics, comic strips, manuals, essays, almost anything."

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Duration: 1 hour

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Related Resources Discussed on the Show

• "Mentor Texts for Opinion Writing"
• "Persuasion through Public Service Announcements" , by Kristyna Brewer
• Mentor Texts with Lynne and Rose
• "Mentor Texts: Learning to Write from What We Read" , by Robin Holland
• Deeper Writing (and Reading) of the World , Robin Holland's blog
• Columbus Area Writing Project
• "Straight Through the Heart" , New York Times, by Dean Bakopoulos

Additional Resources

• General Mentor Texts
  • Library of Congress
  • National Archives
  • "Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers"
  • Ted Talks
  • Smithsonian.com
  • Flocabulary: Hip-Hop in the Classroom
  • Best of History Websites: An EdTechTeacher Resource
• Immigration and Migration
  • "Social & Cultural History: The Future of Our Past"
  • U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
  • The Statue of Liberty—Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.
  • "The Great Migration" , HISTORY
  • "Themed Collections: Primary Source Sets in Historical Context" , University of California Calisphere
• Science and Technology
  • "Science and Technology" , USA.gov
  • U.S. Innovation
  • "Economic Growth and the Early Industrial Revolution" , UShistory.org
  • American Profile: Made in America
  • "The Cold War's Impact on Science and Technology"
• Economic Opportunity
  • Economics USA
  • Bureau of Labor Statistics: Economy at a Glance
  • Rockefeller Foundation
  • "The Economic History of the United States" , San Jose State University Department of Economics
  • Library of Economics and Liberty
• The American Character and Identity
  • "Primary Documents in American History: United States Constitution" , Library of Congress
  • "The Presidents" , White House
  • "U.S. Culture & Values" , Yale University
  • "Cultural Stereotypes About Americans"
• The Other America
  • Teaching Tolerance: A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center
  • The National Women's History Project
  • African-American History
  • Native American History
  • Latino Americans for Immigration Reform
  • "The Red Scare"
• America and Global Affairs
  • "Imperialism" , Fordham University
  • First World War Primary Documents
  • "Primary Documents Relating to World War II"
  • Foreign Affairs and Policy/Foreign Service , Georgetown University Library