One of our topics led to mentor texts... and I can't stop thinking about this. Right now, I keep the picture books I use for minilessons (reading, writing, nonfiction studies) in my cabinet so that I can find them easily. Once I've shared them with kids, the books go on a display shelf until the shelf is full. Then I put those books back in the cabinet... but I will ALWAYS get them back out if one of my readers asks for a book.
*Enter Nicole and her marvelous questions*
What if we had a mentor text basket? Accessible to kids but easy for us to find.
Who are the books for... us or them?
What good are the books if they're sitting on my shelf?
We wouldn't have paid $16 (for hardcover books) if they weren't great!
See? She makes such good points! We both agreed that it's hard to keep these books in a place where kids can always access them because a) it makes it harder for us to find the books when we need them for read alouds/lessons and b) we want to keep these books in good condition since they're the ones we use for teaching. We both have extensive classroom libraries so kids have plenty of great books to read, but...
So, as you can tell, I'm still torn on what to do. We asked some of our Twitter friends, but I wanted to ask here, too. Where do you keep your mentor texts? Are they kept separate or mixed in with your classroom library? Do you keep a master list of mentor texts and possible minilessons for those books?
I'm looking forward to hearing your thinking!
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| You can see a small portion of my classroom library in this picture. |
I just created a few mentor text baskets in early June - I was faced with the same questions albeit self-imposed thoughts. I like the way Jill (My Primary Passion) has documented her mentor text on Pinterest. (That prompted me to request an invite!)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to this week's reflections regarding Opening Minds!
I do what you do - keep them separate on a shelf, but once they have been read, they are made available for the childrenb to read. We list all the read alouds on a large chart and if children request them, It is a quick matter to find it for them. I use labelled bookboxes by theme to hold my mentor books along the cupboards.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you as well. I have my basket of mentor texts tucked behind my desk. However, they are always available if requested! But I'm wondering the same things you are. I'm thinking back to a couple years ago when I helped the learning resource teacher build a set of mentor texts for the teachers to check out. She was smart and bought a second copy to put into circulation for the students to check out. That's a good idea, but expensive for us!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of creating a mentor text basket -- I probably would create one for reading and one for writing (and some would overlap!).
Thanks for always creating more to think about - great ideas!
I just love the thoughtful questions you ponder here. I'm never sure when I finish reading if I want to write a comment or go write a post.
ReplyDeleteThe mentor texts I have chosen are books I think can be used for many types of teaching. As the school year ended these books were grouped together on my shelf. When the year begins they will slowly be pulled and shared. I like to read them for pleasure and conversation before we look closely at the author's words/craft. After they have been shared, you will find them in a variety of places in our classroom library. The students always choose the baskets where books will be placed after they have been shared. Sometimes you will find them in topic baskets, sometimes in particular craft baskets, sometimes in character baskets, sometimes in types of thinking baskets, sometimes in theme baskets. It really varies from year to year across communities. I want students to be able to read them during reader's workshop, take them home to share, and talk about them with friends. They are amazing books. Yes, the books are a little warn, but very loved.
Thanks again, Laura. I look forward to reading what other teachers think about the topic.
Cathy
..oops worn
DeleteThis is a wonderful idea. I have done this for years and now have a name for what I've been doing. Thanks so much.
ReplyDeleteHmm. One of my goals for next year is to better use mentor texts to teach my reading, writing, and math concepts. I want to create a data base - i've set up a wiki which I will go public with once I work out a couple of glitches - with hopes that people will add to it to help me (and interested others) learn about more mentor texts and how they are using them. My vision is that people will add their favourite books to the list and how/why they use them for teaching. As for what to do with mentor texts I think they should be available for students but not until AFTER I have used them for my lesson. Greedy on my part yes, but nothing is more exciting for students than sharing a brand new (to them) book for learning and then watching them read it over, and over again when I make it available to them after the fact. Oh.... so much for me to think about. Karen
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