Writing with mentors

Streaming video - 2014

When learning how to write well, there is nothing more powerful than examining the work of the writers we admire. Real writers need mentors - those writers who inspire us and demonstrate through their style and craft how we, too, can be successful writers. In Writing with mentors, Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli, authors of Mentor texts and Nonfiction mentor texts, take us inside two Pennsylvania classrooms and show us how we can use children's literature effectively to teach both informational and narrative writing. Lynne joins fifth-grade teacher Dan Monaghan to teach a lesson on effective leads in nonfiction. They model the "Sharing a Secret" lead, where students transition from telling secrets about themselves to using th...ese secrets as a lead in longer essays to effectively hook readers. Rose joins two second-grade teachers in their fully-inclusive classroom to teach students all about the importance of setting and place in a good piece of narrative writing. This video contains two programs, each over 90 minutes long, that show how a writing lesson evolves over two days. Viewers will see master teachers in action, demonstrating modeling, shared writing, whole group lessons, small group and one-on-one conferences, using writer's notebooks, and the all-important reflection upon the lesson Real-world writing and real writers don't follow a script. Join Lynne and Rose as they show us how to teach writing the way it was meant to be taught. About the author Rose Cappelli received her bachelor's degree in Deaf Education from Pennsylvania State University and her master's degree in reading from West Chester University. Rose has worked as K-2 reading specialist in the West Chester Area School District; as a teacher consultant at Pennsylvania Writing and Literature Project; and as course coordinator at West Chester University. Lynne Dorfman, a native of Philadelphia, received her bachelor's and master's degrees in elementary education, her supervisory certificate in elementary education and her educational leadership doctorate degree from Immaculata University. She has thirty three years' of experience with the Upper Moreland School District. She became a teacher because "I wanted to make a difference and I love working with kids." Like many others, she also "played school" as a child. "I had some great teachers and I wanted to be like them." more