Authors as Mentors

I've been a fan of Lucy Calkins writing for about 7 or 8 years now.  I used to think kindergarten kids could only do fill in sentences and first graders maybe a couple of sentences.  Not only was I proven wrong that they can write a LOT more, I learned that I can have writerly conversations and help them grow as writers.  They can also edit and revise!  Due to time constraints and forced programs, though I wrote daily, there were some writing units I hadn't gotten a chance to try.  Authors as Mentors was one of them.

This year was my first year trying Authors as Mentors.  What I love about this unit is that students learn how to help themselves as writers using mentor texts, and that if done well, the students begin noticing what authors do all the time.  This is a life skill.  It's also transferrable.  I've noticed that they use this in other writing units and their reading as well.

Here is a link to the Table of Contents to get an idea of what this unit can teach youpr students as it relates to Small Moments or Personal Narratives.  One of my favorites  is Comeback Lines, which we notice a lot of in poetry and songs.  Another one is using ellipses, making our writing interesting and that see often in our reading.  This helps our fluency as well.

Here's an example of a student trying out ellipses and revising/editing his piece: 

Star  Tours
By Mason

When I went to Disneyland I went on Star Tours.  The first time I got in a seat…and then I blasted off without the driver!  When I was in space, there I saw a ship with a bad guy in it!  So we were trying to get away from the bad guy, but he kept finding us….Once when he found us he said, “You can run, but you can’t hide.”  Then we went back to the space station  It was amazing!

Try it out for yourself!  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Happy Writing Adventures!
Marie

Writing for Readers

Lucy Calkins' writing program has  greatly supported teachers in the teaching of writing, even given them a vote of confidence with everything from a yearlong plan down to dialog you "could" use when working with these young writers.  She has carefully thought out the steps and questions everyday writers like you and I have.

Writing for Readers has been in our year long plan for a few years, but due to time constraints and the want of teaching other writing units, many parts of  it have been carefully put aside.  In the recent weeks, I got to delve into it deeply. Before, I had used the personal word walls and spacing lessons.  But what a hidden treasure I found that I had missed when I discovered the lesson on Writing for Partners.  I must admit, the last few days (almost a week) , I have been dragging my feet about this lesson, even skipped it for worry about the outcome.

Could a six year old actually give good advice and carefully think of the feelings of these writers? 

I know what happens to a crushed writer...they never write again.  And certainly, I didn't want this to happen to these wonderful writers.  But something kept nagging me to try it, at least once.

I decided to brave it and presented it to the class, allowing them to give me advice on what I could do as a writer to make MY writing more readable.  They were fabulous!   AND, they took such good care of my feelings. I cautioned them to use the same caring way they used on me for each other to help us all become better writers.

As you can see by the picture, kids were everywhere, on top of desks and on the floor, eagerly reading each other's writing.  They didn't even know I had a camera.  They were so engaged!  As I eavesdropped, I heard conversations like, "I really like this part..." "You have great details in your pictures..."  "I really want to read your story, but I'm having trouble reading it.  Could you put spaces in between your words?"

I had had that mini conferences several times with this one student, and it didn't click until his classmate said that.  I saw the lightbulb glowing out loud!!!

So, it is with great gratitude to not only Lucy for her passion, dedication and team of wonderful teacher researchers, but I am also thankful to my friend Chelsey, who helped me first see what it could look like in the classroom.   And lastly, I'm thankful for my dear friend Tammy, who jumped on board with me for her vision and our writerly conversations. 

What a blessing to know these little ones and their lives.

I urge you. Take the plunge!

~ Marie