Improving Students' Learning and Writing Ability

When learning how to write well, there is nothing more powerful than examining the work of the writers we admire. Real writers need mentors -- those writers who inspire us and demonstrate through their style and craft how we, too, can be successful writers.

In Writing with Mentors, Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli, authors of Mentor Texts and Nonfiction Mentor Texts, take us inside two Pennsylvania classrooms and show us how we can use children's literature effectively to teach both informational and narrative writing.

Lynne joins fifth-grade teacher Dan Monaghan to teach a lesson on effective leads in nonfiction. They model the "Sharing a Secret" lead, where students transition from telling secrets about themselves to using these secrets as a lead in longer essays to effectively hook readers. Rose joins two second-grade teachers in their fully-inclusive classroom to teach students all about the importance of setting and place in a good piece of narrative writing.

This video contains two programs, each over 90 minutes long, that show how a writing lesson evolves over two days. Viewers will see master teachers in action, demonstrating modeling, shared writing, whole group lessons, small group and one-on-one conferences, using writer's notebooks, and the all-important reflection upon the lesson.

1: Modeling What Good Readers Do
Using examples from technical text and novels, Cris models her own reading process to show students how to read and understand difficult material.

2: Interpreting Data: Charts, Graphs, Standardized Tests
Cris works with students as they analyze charts, data and graphs, and discusses how standardized test scores led her to place more emphasis on data reading across the curriculum.

3: Reading Like a Mathematician Cris and math teacher Jim Donohue co-teach, working with struggling readers on strategies for completing math problems, and talk about their collaboration.