Tips For Using Mentor Texts

• A mentor text is any piece of writing that can be used to teach a writer about  some aspect of writer’s craft 
• The best mentor texts are those that can be used numerous times throughout the school year to demonstrate many different craft moves.
• Most mentor text mini-lessons fall into one of three categories:
  Idea: the text inspires the writer to create an original idea based on one from the text.
  Structure: the text presents on organizational structure that the writer tries to emulate using original ideas.
  Written Craft: the author’s writing style, ways with words, or sentence structure inspires the writer to try out these techniques.
• As we build our mentor text lists and libraries, we should consciously look for texts from all three categories.
• When using mentor texts, it is important to remember that we are teaching a particular strategy or craft move—we are not teaching the book.

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