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Things To Consider |
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"The real trick is to take just a little of advice from professional writers and really put it into practice in one's own writing."
- Lucy Calkins
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- Like all valuable classroom experiences, connecting young writers with professional authors requires forethought and planning. In addition to guiding students as they read their works, you may want to consider some of these suggestions to help you find ways to facilitate this connection.
- Some teachers use mentor or mimic texts with their students to give them experience in trying on different voices and styles. In this kind of exercise, students are offered a model text and asked to imitate its structure and language, changing details to relate their own thoughts or experiences.
Others feel that this technique, while valuable, has some limitations. Amy Tan, for example, said this in an interview for this project:
"Know the difference between inspiration and imitation or intimidation. What you do, for example, when you read a book like Catcher in the Rye is that you're infused with this excitement that maybe you can capture a part of your adolescence in the same way that J.D. Salinger can, but don't write like J.D. Salinger, you know, find your own voice. You know you can write a story just as compelling as that…as long as you find your own experiences and voice."
What do you think? Select the answer that most closely reflects your thinking.
- What other thoughts do you have about mentor texts? Share your ideas and opinions on Channel-Talk.
Transcripts and audio files of interviews with authors who are part of this workshop are available in the Additional Resources for this workshop.
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