Step 1: Show and Read a Model
Many students may need to learn what a finished piece looks like before they can write one. For example, if you were asked to learn to play a song on the guitar, wouldn’t it be helpful to have heard the song first? If you are learning to build a piece of furniture, wouldn’t it be important to know what the finished piece looks like before you try to build it? It’s reasonable to believe that showing students a model of a completed piece, their goal, would be the first step. They’ll benefit from seeing it and hearing it, so project it, hand them each a copy, and read it independently and together. Furthermore, the writing examples must be simplified and clearly organized.
If the models are color-coded to delineate the parts such as topic sentences, details, and concluding sentences, it will help the kids a great deal.
Some writing programs put forth mentor texts as models for students. This is what I think of mentor texts. They’re good for adults. A beginning writer needs a simpler model that’s easy to understand and separate into parts. As Vygotsky’s research on the zones of proximal development indicates, you have to meet students where they are and guide them to the next step, not ten steps ahead. The authors of the picture books commonly offered as mentor texts are highly accomplished adult writers who are advanced in their use of language. This puts them many steps ahead of the typical elementary-age student, so the model is at too high a level for inexperienced writers. Once, in my fifth-grade class, I thought I had found an excellent mentor text. It was When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant. Each page of this picture book begins with “When I was young in the mountains…” I had a student who had taken a trip to Portugal, so I gave him that book as a mentor text, suggesting he could begin each paragraph with, “When I went to Portugal…” This idea he didn’t take to at all. He balked at starting each sentence the same way and refused to try it. I believe the writing style of the mentor text didn’t resonate with him at all yet I had thought the mentor text would have made the task easier for him.
After spending time searching out and offering mentor texts to my students, and after realizing the disparity between the respective levels of writing expertise between grade school students and published authors, I began to write mentor texts for my students. It is difficult to find the time to do this as a busy teacher with a life. Let me give you an example of the first one I wrote whose purpose was to teach students how to craft an opinion piece.
The Best Dog Breed
A miniature poodle is the best breed of dog in the whole wide world. My first reason is that they are just the right size, neither too big nor too small. My second reason is that this breed does not shed. My third reason is that poodles are very smart and easy to train. For these reasons, I believe there is no better breed of dog than a miniature poodle.
Key
Opinion statement
Reason 1
Reason 2
Reason 3
Conclusion
Through this simplified example, at a writing level they can easily comprehend, elementary students of all degrees of achievement can clearly see how an opinion piece is constructed. The first and last sentences are both the same color to show that the concluding sentence reiterates the opinion statement but with different wording. The three reasons are simply stated in distinct sentences. From this model, beginning writers should be able to write five sentences like these and construct a well-organized opinion paragraph, with help from a graphic organizer to get them started. The challenge for many students will be coming up with three reasons. For your strugglers, you can require only two reasons.
Here is how the model can be expanded for a five-paragraph essay.
The Best Dog Breed
A miniature poodle is the best breed of dog in the whole wide world. No breed surpasses it in size, cleanliness, and intelligence. Take it from me, these dogs are wonderful.
My first reason is that they are just the right size, neither too big nor too small. A miniature poodle stands about as tall as a twelve-inch ruler. You can easily pick it up in your arms, but it can also run fast. It fits in a car or pet carrier but isn’t tiny.
My second reason is that this breed does not shed. With a poodle, you don’t get dog hair on your furniture and your clothing. A poodle helps keep your house clean so you don’t have to vacuum as much. Shedding dogs can cause allergies, but people aren’t allergic to poodles.
My third reason is that poodles are very smart and easy to train. They want to please people and they learn easily. Owners can teach them to sit, lie down, stay, come, and heel. A poodle is a breed that readily learns how to respond to commands and is very well-behaved.
For these reasons, I believe there is no better breed of dog than a miniature poodle. They are medium-sized, they don’t shed, and they are easy to train. I would never want any other kind of dog than a miniature poodle, and I think everyone in the world should want one, too.
Key
The introduction paragraph explains the opinion and the three reasons in brief.
The second paragraph states the first reason and provides details and/or examples.
The third paragraph states the second reason and its details and/or examples.
The fourth paragraph states a third reason and its details and/or examples.
The fifth concluding paragraph restates the opinion using different wording and summarizes the three reasons. Additionally, it ends with a final take-away statement.
The first opinion model above is deliberately short and repetitive to clearly show the construction of an opinion paragraph: 1) State the opinion, 2) Give three reasons, and 3) Restate the opinion.
The second model shows how each of the sentences can be developed into a paragraph by adding examples and details. An acronym you can use to help students remember how to develop a piece is the word RED. RED stands for Reasons, Examples, Details.
At first, I recommend providing your students with color-coded models as above. Later, students will greatly benefit from color-coding a model themselves using different highlighters. They can do this with you as a class, or highlight a piece with a partner or small group.
You can provide students with a list of choices for how to begin each sentence or paragraph in the opinion piece.
Below are suggestions for introducing the opinion statement:
In my opinion…
My opinion is…
I believe…
There is no better…
The best…
The worst…
Below are varying ways to introduce each reason:
My - reason is…
The reason I think so is…
Besides that…
In addition…
For example…
For instance…
Another reason is…
Below are some ways a student can choose to begin the concluding sentence:
In conclusion…
All in all…
For these reasons…
In summary…
Students may want to add their suggestions for beginnings and share them with the class. The models above will support most students.
Reluctant writers and English learners can copy from the paragraph frames provided in the lessons offered on this website.
Advanced writers can not only share alternative sentence starters with the class but also put a creative spin on their writing.
As long as the result is coherent, organized, and contains reasons, examples, and details, let the writers create. The simplified models will serve as a guideline for those who need it and a springboard for those who want to take off.
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