Table of Contents
Introduction: Not Just Stories, but Oral Mentor Texts
- What Do We Mean by Oral Mentor Texts?
- But How Can I Fit It In?
- How to Use This Book
Chapter 1. Why Oral Mentor Texts?
- The Gasp Heard ’Round the Media Center: The Thirty Million Word Gap
- Teaching Oral Language Skills Explicitly
- The Importance of Retelling
- Going About It
- Oral Mentor Texts Throughout the Year
- Common Core State Standards Supported
- Supporting English Language Learners
Chapter 2. Choosing and Building a Class Story
- Laying the Groundwork: Sharing Stories from Our Lives
- Choosing or Orchestrating a Shared Experience
- Building the Story
- Identifying the Standards
- List the Reading, Writing, Language, and/or Speaking and Listening Skills You Will Teach for the Month (or Unit of Study)
- Highlight the Skills You Want to Include in Your Shared Class Narrative
- Expanding Class Stories Throughout the Year
Chapter 3. Learning and Practicing the Class Story
- Structures for Learning a Class Story
- Echo Telling
- Adding Symbols
- Using Gestures
- Choral Telling
- Structures for Practicing a Class Story
- Get Good at Telling One Sentence/Incident
- Tell It in a Circle
- Use Popcorn Telling
- Tell It Like a Book
- Tell It to a Partner
- Tell It to an Audience
- An Example of Effective Feedback
- Celebrating the Class Story
- Making the Home Connection
Chapter 4. Using Oral Mentor Texts to Teach Writing
- Oral Class Stories Help Writers Find and Write Stories
- Oral Class Stories Support Whole-Group Writing Instruction
- Oral Class Stories Support One-to-One Writing Instruction
- Oral Class Stories Teach Writing Craft
- Strong Leads
- Strong Endings
- Dialogue
- Story Language
- Speaker Tags
- Adjectives
- Varied Sentence Structures
- Precise Verbs
- English Grammar and Usage
- Rich Vocabulary
- Elaboration
- Similes/Metaphors
- Alliteration
- Repeating Lines
- Temporal Words
- Onomatopoeia
- Magic Three
- Slowing Down a Moment
- Ellipses
- Inserting a Poem/Song
- Inserting a Fact
- Inserting a How-To Box
- Inserting a Persuasive Letter
- Oral Class Stories in Whole-Class Writing Lessons
- Writing Minilessons
- Oral Class Stories Support Conferences with Writers
- Conference 1
- Conference 2
- Oral Class Stories Provide Additional Practice in Writing Centers
Chapter 5. Using Oral Mentor Texts to Teach Reading
- Retelling
- Developing Vocabulary
- Paying Attention to Punctuation
- Finding and Using Text-Based Evidence
- Visualizing
- Identifying the Beginning, Middle, and End
- Summarizing
- Identifying Story Elements
- Identifying Character Traits
- Describing Internal and External Character Traits
- Understanding That Characters Grow and Change
- Comparing and Contrasting Characters
- Inferring
- Oral Class Stories in Whole-Class Reading Lessons
- Reading Minilessons
- Using Class Stories in Literacy Centers
Chapter 6. Partnership and Individual Oral Stories
- Oral Partnership Stories
- Oral Partnership Minilessons
- Individual Stories
Conclusion: Class Stories and Beyond
Appendices
A: Story Recording Sheet Template
B: Partnership Rubric for Finding and Building an Oral Story
C: Story Recording Sheet Example
D: Partnership Rubric for Practicing an Oral Story
E: Individual Rubric for Finding and Building an Oral Story
F: Individual Rubric for Practicing an Oral Story
G: Individual Rubric for Presenting an Oral Story