Entry #8- "Bless, Address, and Press" Maddie's Blog
This week, Maddie's blog had my focus, specifically her entry asking "what makes a good mentor text?" Her entry really stood out to me as her voice was incredible! I could almost hear her reading it out loud to me, which was really powerful. By using different formatting tools, such as different colored text to emphasize certain ideas, capitalizing certain words, and using informal language to express her interpretation of the text(s), her voice was conveyed very strongly. Well done, Maddie!
Regarding her interpretation of the text Supporting Young Writers With Award-Winning Books by MacKay, Ricks, and Young (2017), she did an excellent job of highlighting the guiding question "what makes a good mentor text?" Maddie also poses her own question: "Just because a text is an award-winner, does that mean it is the best mentor text for all students?" I too also thought deeply about this question, as I feel that too many award-winning books are used as mentor texts, simply because they are well-known or have won awards. As I reflect on my classroom library, I have come to realize that many of the books I have are there simply because they are award winners or are popular with first graders. Many of these texts do not effectively serve as mentor texts for specific genres of writing.
In her blog, Maddie also suggests that mentor texts need to have diversity. She states "we can not overlook diversity when choosing mentor texts any longer." Her quote resonated with me, as it made me reflect on the diversity that exists in my own classroom library and the texts that I choose to use as mentor texts. Admittedly, my current classroom library lacks diversity, and some of my students may not be able to see themselves in the books. Therefore, the mentor texts I tend to select also lack diversity, which is not okay. I really hope to expand my classroom library in the near future and include more diverse literature.
Maddie did an excelling job of synthesizing her ideas from one text to another and made her thoughts about each authors' stance very clear. One thing I am left wondering after reflecting on Maddie's blog is how prevalent are diverse mentor texts? I have noticed that many of the mentor texts suggested by Tompkins (2012), and those we have discussed in Genre Expert Workshops in class have lacked diversity. Is this a teacher problem, where we need to be on the lookout for more diverse literature to use as a mentor text? Or is this an author issue, where there are not a variety of authors writing diverse literature that are able to be used as mentor texts? Maybe we as teachers are just stuck in our ways and are used to the books we have, where many do not see the need to change their mentor texts to reflect the diversity of their students. Nonetheless, I personally will be on the lookout for more diverse texts that I hope to include in both my classroom library and to use as mentor texts.
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.
Wow. This was a clear and sustained "blessing" of Maddie's post. I also appreciate how you offered some additional "addressing/pressing" in the final paragraph. When you offer these questions, it is always helpful for you to think about how *you* might find answers to your question (rather than worrying over what all teachers might do). Great work.
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