Curriculum Corner

By Anat Garzberg-Grant

At Glen Waverley Primary School, mentor texts are used to enhance teaching and learning experiences for our students in all areas of the curriculum. Did you know that our school library has a separate section for Mentor texts that our teachers borrow and utilise in their mini lessons?

Research shows that mentor texts are the most valuable tools for teaching skills leading to proficiency in different learning areas. They allow students to experience the skill in action and see it being accessed and broken down in front of them.

Spotlight on Mentor Texts being used to strengthen authorship in 6A:

In 6A a mentor text were used to model how you can convey an emotion in a memoir/biographical text without using the word for the emotion; instead creating a mental image in the mind of the reader to feel the emotion within the scene of the event.

The students then created phrases and words to convey an emotion in their own memoir (see examples below).

Learning Intention: To understand ways to communicate ideas through purposeful language choices

SA: Identify purposeful language choices.

SC: Describe the message you want to convey through your writing.

DA: Analyse how your language choices convey your message.

DC: Generate ideas for how language features can be used future writing pieces

Student Samples:

Fear:

‘The urge to run boiled within me…’ – Inuka

‘tremble, quiver, quake, shudder.’- Haayden

‘Shaking like jelly.’ – Mahi

‘I clutched onto my mum’s hand tightly, while my legs were shaking like jelly.’ – Nuyara

‘My worst nightmare was…’ – Ellen

‘The drive to the airport was silent.’ – Vinu

‘pain, worry, panic, wary, horror.’ – Dylan

‘uneasy, edgy, afraid, disturbed.’ – Pranov

Loneliness/Longing:

‘The thought of my friends circled around in my mind.’ – Lu Lu

‘Wistfully smiling, I sat down and stared into the fine drops of rain.’- Jenny

Sadness:

‘My whole world fell apart.’ - Oscar

Pain:

‘A surge of suffering enters my mind.’- Adam

Nervous:

‘My legs were like jelly as I tried to get up.’ – William

‘I felt butterflies swirling around in my stomach.’ – Lilia

‘Trembling with fear.’- Vedanth

‘anxious, jumpy, petrified.’ – Senupa

‘The fear surrounded him.’ – Abdullah

‘It was like I couldn’t clearly think.’ - Dilu

Tired:

‘I had an urge to sit down and rest my head on a pillow.’ - Raavi

Frustrated:

‘I suddenly got up and started to walk around.’ - Trisha

Amused:

‘I watched him for a second, then started smiling to myself.’ - Minneli

Confused:

‘I am was so bewildered. My mind overflowed with ideas.’ – Enya

Acceptance:

‘I felt welcomed and embraced.’ - Arena

Stressed:

‘harassed, tired, fraught’ – Joshua

Isolated:

‘Not participating and watching everyone else play.’ – Yash

Happy:

‘Jumping up and down…’ – Olivia

"Mentor texts help students to take risks and be different writers tomorrow than they are today" Julia Donaldson (Author of The Gruffalo).

Congratulations to the students in 6A, Mrs Bailey and Mrs Gilbert on the rigorous and meaningful writing outcomes achieved in this learning experience. It is evident the strategic choice of text ‘Ziba Came on a Boat’ really enhanced the students’ emotive connectedness to make deliberate language choices in their personal writing.

The books in your home can be mentor texts too! For example if you’re trying to teach your children about the following topics, these books can be really helpful – and they will most likely be in your child’s book shelf at home!