Every Tuesday, I participate in the Slice of Life challenge at Two Writing Teachers. If you want to participate, you can link up at their Slice of Life Story Post on Tuesdays or you can just head on over there to check out other people's stories. For more information on what a Slice of Life post is about, you can go here.
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When I started this blog in 2010, I thought a lot about what I believed about literacy. I had recently worked on my National Board certification in Early and Middle Childhood Literacy and my philosophy on reading and writing with students had evolved drastically from when I was doing my undergrad. Looking back, I'm so glad that my focus for this blog was on mentor texts. I continue to wholeheartedly believe in the power of authentic texts to support students - and teachers - and everyone - as readers and writers.
In September, I shared my thoughts on Ruth Culham's recent book The Writing Thief: Using Mentor Texts to Teach the Craft of Writing and I'm now excited to share information about an upcoming Google Hangout on Air with authors Ruth Culham, Varian Johnson, Kate Messner, Lisa Yee, and David Harrison. This event will be hosted by the International Reading Association (IRA) and Scholastic and will focus on making the most of mentor texts. Doesn't that sound amazing?
This event will be streamed live on Tuesday, October 28th at 8 – 9 pm ET on IRA’s YouTube channel which you can find here: www.reading.org/youtube . No registration is required. One super exciting thing to look forward to is that audience members will have the chance to win a virtual visit with one of the five author participants. I've been told that details will be provided during the event...so plan to be there! Be sure to follow @IRAToday on Twitter for more information and follow and tweet along with the Twitter hashtag #mentortexts.
I'm already thinking of questions I might like to ask of the guest authors! I find that the more I write and the more I read, the more I see connections between the two. Ever since participating in NaNoWriMo and Teachers Write, I pay significantly more attention to what I notice authors do in their writing as I read books. I'm so much more aware of decisions the authors made, I have a completely different understanding of the intention and dedication that goes into writing books I adore, and a heightened consciousness of the true craft of writing. I could go on and on about mentor texts but I'll wait until next week's virtual visit!
I'm already thinking of questions I might like to ask of the guest authors! I find that the more I write and the more I read, the more I see connections between the two. Ever since participating in NaNoWriMo and Teachers Write, I pay significantly more attention to what I notice authors do in their writing as I read books. I'm so much more aware of decisions the authors made, I have a completely different understanding of the intention and dedication that goes into writing books I adore, and a heightened consciousness of the true craft of writing. I could go on and on about mentor texts but I'll wait until next week's virtual visit!
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