Mentor Texts That Keep Students’ Interest

Every now and then I’d pick a dud-of-a-book to read aloud.  However, more often than not, my students loved the books I read aloud and subsequently used as touchstone texts.  Was it that they were all interested in the topics of every book?  Not necessarily. Was it that they admired the illustrators for their artistic abilities?  Not always.  Was it that I read aloud well?  Not so much, though I’d like to think I’m pretty good.

Quite frankly, the success of the touchstone texts I picked rested on one thing: enthusiasm.  If I introduced a book enthusiastically, then most of the time, my entire class loved the book.  Since enthusiasm really is contagious, I played-up the books I wanted to revisit with my students big time… as if I were trying to get them to win an Academy Award.  Here are some of the things I did to “sell” a book to my students:

• I always told my students, up-front, that this was going to be a book we were going to come back to.  I found that by the third week of school, my students usually trusted me to select books they liked.  Therefore, that was usually enough to get them to listen with an open mind, even if they weren’t crazy about the book’s cover.
• Hook students before you read the text by giving them a preview of the book.  I’m not talking about reading the blurb, I’m talking about providing them with a personal summary of the book that will get them interested enough to want to pay attention.
• Tell students that the book possesses several qualities of good writing.  You might want to tell them what to be on the look-out for or just make a blanked statement so they can turn and talk with a partner about what they’re noticing the author did as a writer.
• Think aloud while reading.  This is probably something you already do, but planned think-alouds that are focused on craft can help students see the greater value of the book (i.e., more than it just being an interesting story).
• Provide time, at the end of the read aloud, to have students reflect on the way(s) in which they could use the text you just read as a mentor.  You might have them do this in writing or by turning and talking to a partner about it.

Next week, picture books for older students.