Look back at your copy of the text for examples. Or… turn to a new page in their notebook and try to tell about a character (s) using the writing methods that Patricia Pollacco used. Ask students to open a new draft and save a new copy to work on. Now ask the students to reflect upon how they might be able to use some of Patricia Pollacco’s methods to tell about the characters in their own story. Virtually, this could again be recorded using a digital whiteboard.
In a classroom this could be a conversation with student responses recorded on chart paper or whiteboard.How does Patricia Pollacco specifically introduce us to him?" Prompt your students to consider specific characters: "Now think just about the older brother in the story. Class Brainstorming Chart – “What do you notice.? Bring students back to meet about what they noticed. Check in with students to see what they are finding. Have them highlight what they notice and be ready to share. Now, partner students (or use digital breakout rooms) and ask them to notice other things that the writer does to tell about the characters in the story. “I notice that at the end, the writer shows that there was a lesson learned by the main character - ‘That’s why you have to be very careful what you wish for … it may just come true.’".Yes! Did you notice the narrator flashes from one setting to another”.“ I notice that there is a turning point when the main character finds out that her brother carried her all of the way home after she passed out on the merry-go-round”.“I notice that the author uses the main character’s thinking and dialogue to show the conflict between the brother and sister.”.“I notice that the author tells about how much she doesn’t like her older brother and keeps giving examples.”.“I notice that the author tells four important things about her Babushka right at the beginning in the first paragraph.Can you still figure out who is talking?.“I notice that the author uses a lot of ‘talking’, or dialogue (quotes in the text) but the writer doesn’t tell who is talking.”.Some include follow up questions for the student to prompt analysis: Here are some examples of student observations. Ask them to pay attention to how the writer uses different ways to tell the reader about the characters in the story. Next, tell the students you are going to read the text with them. Ask the students if they have read the story or any other books by Patricia Pollacco, and if so ask them to share any thoughts or observations about characters in her story. Tell the students you will together read the text of a book to see how Patricia Polacco uses writing to tell the reader about the characters in the story. Use the questions below to help you focus on specific elements of the mentor text you are studying and make plans on what you want to use in your own writing. This process helps us begin to notice specific writing techniques we can borrow and adapt in our own writing, especially when we want to create a similar effect for our readers. When we read as writers, we pay attention to specific choices an author makes and how these choices affect us as a reader. Readers as Writers: Analyzing Mentor Texts to Enhance our Writing Guiding questions can help students pay close attention to writer’s craft as readers, and then use these observations to shape their own writing decisions. For example, if students are writing a narrative, they may closely read a mentor text to notice how (and when) the author starts the story, as well as how the author treats the passage of time, builds suspense, and uses dialogue. When students analyze mentor texts to enhance their writing, they look at specific things the author did to create a specific effect on the reader. Using a mentor text to shape writing involves more than just a quick read of a good model. Writers help identify and analyze mentor texts to support their goals and purposes as writers.Writers have access to varied mentor texts to guide their understanding and use of specific writing strategies.New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA).Teaching in Remote/Hybrid Learning Environments (TRLE).Next Generation Learning Standards: ELA and Math.