Mentor Texts: What Are They?

 

What is a mentor text?

Jeff Anderson offers a succinct definition: "A mentor text is any text that can teach a writer about any aspect of writer's craft, from sentence structure to quotation marks to 'show don't tell'" (Mechanically Inclined 16).

If you choose to teach writing or grammar apart from workbooks, it is helpful to have a collection of texts to use as models.  Once kids have studied the examples, they can imitate the author, using the same techniques, developing their awareness of  options beyond what they currently use.

I have begun a collection here. The categories below and the excerpts within them are only a beginning. If you (or your students) want to help me, send me your selection, including the author, title, page number, and the category it best illustrates.

Alliteration
Appositives
Absolutes
Adjectives out of Order
Adverb Clauses (AAAWWUBBIS)
Commas in a Series
Compound Sentences
Fragments
Participial Phrases
Prepositional Openers
Similes
Two-Word Sentences

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