Wondrous Words by Katie Wood Ray
Wondrous Words has been sitting on my shelf for several years just waiting to be read, so this was a good time to take it down and do just that. I loved Katie's Writing Workshop book and have referred to it extensively over the years.
I will now be referring back to Wondrous Words over and over again. Katie does an excellent job of explaining the benefits of using mentor texts to teach students the writing process and the details of writing. Her work is full of many examples that as a teacher you could quickly implement in your own classroom. I think one of her most useful tips is that as teachers we can't possibly know all of the books and authors available to us. So, we should become very familiar with the work of just a few authors. Focusing ourselves on just a few authors allows us to look at that authors work more intimately and find the lessons we need to pull for our students. Another tip that she offers is "naming" things we see in writing. When we read from a mentor text, we should slow down and look at what the author has done to create good writing. It then becomes natural to "name" for our students what it is they are seeing. Once we have named it, we have a common reference to use with our students in their own writing. If you are looking to include more mentor texts in your classroom, I would highly recommend this book.
1. Which authors do you refer to most when looking for mentor texts and why? What do these authors have to offer?
2. Katie talks about "an important skill in learning to see and understand the craft of writing in texts is the ability to think about other ways the text might have been written." One of my most powerful lessons came about when I read Petite Rouge (a cajun retelling of Little Red Riding Hood) by Mike Artell and Jim Harris to my students. I followed this with Les Trois Cochons (a cajun retelling of the three little pigs) by Sheila Hebert Collins. My students loved Petite Rouge and asked for it to be read over and over. When I pulled out Les Trois Cochons they were excited about a second cajun style book. However, their excitedment was short lived. We were able to discuss what made Petite Rouge so good and why Les Trois Cochons fell so short.
Do you have any lessons in which you were able to discuss with your students other ways the text might have been written?
I will now be referring back to Wondrous Words over and over again. Katie does an excellent job of explaining the benefits of using mentor texts to teach students the writing process and the details of writing. Her work is full of many examples that as a teacher you could quickly implement in your own classroom. I think one of her most useful tips is that as teachers we can't possibly know all of the books and authors available to us. So, we should become very familiar with the work of just a few authors. Focusing ourselves on just a few authors allows us to look at that authors work more intimately and find the lessons we need to pull for our students. Another tip that she offers is "naming" things we see in writing. When we read from a mentor text, we should slow down and look at what the author has done to create good writing. It then becomes natural to "name" for our students what it is they are seeing. Once we have named it, we have a common reference to use with our students in their own writing. If you are looking to include more mentor texts in your classroom, I would highly recommend this book.
1. Which authors do you refer to most when looking for mentor texts and why? What do these authors have to offer?
2. Katie talks about "an important skill in learning to see and understand the craft of writing in texts is the ability to think about other ways the text might have been written." One of my most powerful lessons came about when I read Petite Rouge (a cajun retelling of Little Red Riding Hood) by Mike Artell and Jim Harris to my students. I followed this with Les Trois Cochons (a cajun retelling of the three little pigs) by Sheila Hebert Collins. My students loved Petite Rouge and asked for it to be read over and over. When I pulled out Les Trois Cochons they were excited about a second cajun style book. However, their excitedment was short lived. We were able to discuss what made Petite Rouge so good and why Les Trois Cochons fell so short.
Do you have any lessons in which you were able to discuss with your students other ways the text might have been written?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lisa Larson on
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Hi Marcell!
I've never read "Wonderous Words", so my interest is piqued. Would a middle school teacher get anything out of reading it?
I use both picture and chapter books as mentor texts in my classroom. For picture books, I love "Ted" for teaching dialogue, "Saving Sweetness" for figurative language and "Skippyjon Jones" for voice. As you can see, I don't stick to one author for picture books because it seems that once you've read one picture book by an author, their other books fit a prescribed format and I need variety in picture books because I have middle-schoolers. For chapter books, Gary Paulsen is excellent for voice and I've read excerpts from "Hatchet," "Harris and Me," and "How Angel Petersen Got His Name," at various times during the school year. His books hook my boys and adventure-loving kiddos. I also love Laurie Halse Anderson for teaching theme. Her books may be too mature for elementary students, but you may be able to find something that you can use from her. She is awesome because her stories draw you in and make you love her characters. Jerry Spinelli is a favorite for figurative language and creating a setting. Any of his books fit the bill here and I enjoy him because his writing is REAL and the kids connect with that.
I don't have any specific lessons to help you with your second question. Unfortunately, by 7th and 8th grade, my students aren't interested in thinking about "other" ways the text could have been written. They are stuck in the here and now and how this affects THEM. The few times I've tried to further the dicussion, it ends in disaster, so I don't try too much anymore. Sorry.
I hope this helps. Enjoy your last few days of summer!
Lisa
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Permalink Reply by Jetta Lovett on
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Hello Marcell,
Hope your summer was relaxing! I too have this book on my shelf and now I am going to dive into it. I also want to use more mentor text in the classroom this year. What I plan to do this year is invite an author a month and look at what they do best. Slowing down and looking at the way the author crafted the words on the page, so that we can see the picture in our minds from the book. For example, I read books written by Roald Dahl (especially The Twits) which show great descriptive language. I have the kids write about a beard and then we read about Mr. Twit's beard. They love the description and then are prompted to rewrite their paragraph about a man with a beard. If you'd like, I can bring you the worksheet I use with my own class. Let me know.
Jetta Lovett
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Permalink Reply by Marcell Boyer on
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Hello Jetta,
It's good to hear from you. I love reading Roald Dahl to third graders. His writing really captures their interest and inspires them to move into chapter books. I would love to have a copy of your worksheet.
Marcell
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Hi Lisa,
I think a teacher at any grade level would get some good ideas from Wonderous Words. Depending on what you've already read, some of it might be redundant but I think you would find plenty to inspire your teaching.
Marcell
Lisa Larson said:Hi Marcell!
I've never read "Wonderous Words", so my interest is piqued. Would a middle school teacher get anything out of reading it?
I use both picture and chapter books as mentor texts in my classroom. For picture books, I love "Ted" for teaching dialogue, "Saving Sweetness" for figurative language and "Skippyjon Jones" for voice. As you can see, I don't stick to one author for picture books because it seems that once you've read one picture book by an author, their other books fit a prescribed format and I need variety in picture books because I have middle-schoolers. For chapter books, Gary Paulsen is excellent for voice and I've read excerpts from "Hatchet," "Harris and Me," and "How Angel Petersen Got His Name," at various times during the school year. His books hook my boys and adventure-loving kiddos. I also love Laurie Halse Anderson for teaching theme. Her books may be too mature for elementary students, but you may be able to find something that you can use from her. She is awesome because her stories draw you in and make you love her characters. Jerry Spinelli is a favorite for figurative language and creating a setting. Any of his books fit the bill here and I enjoy him because his writing is REAL and the kids connect with that.
I don't have any specific lessons to help you with your second question. Unfortunately, by 7th and 8th grade, my students aren't interested in thinking about "other" ways the text could have been written. They are stuck in the here and now and how this affects THEM. The few times I've tried to further the dicussion, it ends in disaster, so I don't try too much anymore. Sorry.
I hope this helps. Enjoy your last few days of summer!
Lisa
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Permalink Reply by Stacey Saulsgiver on
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Thank you for sharing another author I need to read. She sounds like a wonderful resource. I am new to this trait writing with my grade level but I have found Robert Munsch to be an excellent example of voice. He definitely puts the joy into reading and writing. A book I read with my tutees last year was the Rumplestiltskin Problems. Every chapter was a different situations but each had the original outcome.
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Permalink Reply by Teddy Cook on
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Hello Marcell -
I read The Outsiders every year with my 7th grade classes. We talk about the how S. E. Hinton chose to write the book from a first person narrative. We talk about what makes that view point powerful, We then discuss how things would have been different if the author had chosen a different viewpoint. The students are asked to try their hand at going off in a new direction. . . to write as one of the other characters in the book. We share that writing in class and talk about direction the story might have gone.
I have now put this book on my "ya gotta read" list!
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