entry 3: enhancing my writing instruction for my students

When considering my future students (ideally second graders), I would make time for teaching the organization trait. I think second graders might still struggle with the organization of a story, and drawing diagrams could be a great way to help them identify the beginning, middle, and end; "to focus on the beginning-middle-end of stories, for instance, students divide a sheet into thirds and draw a picture and write a summary sentence about each part" (Tompkins, 2012, p. 70). I also think this strategy is a great way to help them see that the order of a story matters. For example, "to explore a story's plot development, [students] make a mountain-like diagram and use pictures and words to label the problem, the roadblocks, the high point, and the resolution" (Tompkins, 2012, p. 70). Students can also "draw a circle diagram" for a life cycle book, and "for a book comparing two topics, they can make a Venn diagram" (Tompkins, 2012, p. 71). I love that there are so many ways to use this strategy of drawing diagrams to teach the organization trait. I think this is a crucial trait and strategy to spend time on when teaching the writing process, especially with second graders!

I really enjoyed reading MacKay, Ricks, and Young's (2017) article and their examples of how to use award-winning books as mentor texts for young writers. One example of a mentor text discussed in this article was Bear and Chook by the Sea by Lisa Shanahan. This text is written using a circular text structure; "circular text structures end the same way they begin. Often, 'many of the same words are used... with small changes to the ending [to show] that the [story] has progressed' (Ray, 1999, p. 145)" (MacKay, Ricks, & Young, 2017, p. 180). This book can be used as a mentor text to "help young students imagine using a similar organizational structure as they write their own stories" (MacKay et. al., 2017, p. 180). I think this is a great way to use a mentor text to teach students about different organizational structures they can use when they write their own stories. I think mentor texts are a great tool for students to be able to reference when they are writing and playing with the elements of authors craft.

The book Bear and Chook by the Sea is only one example of a way to use a book as a mentor text to teach. There are multiple examples of how to use award-winning books to teach young writers about the writing process and the skills and strategies they will use when writing. After reading MacKay, Ricks, and Young's (2017) article as well as Tompkins (2012), I know that I WILL be using mentor texts in my future classroom. I think they are a great way for students to actually see how these elements of authors craft are used by authors for them to then apply these same elements to their own writing.

References

MacKay, K. L., Ricks, P. H., & Young, T. A. (2017). Supporting young writers with award-winning               books. The Reading Teacher, 71(2), 177-187.