Episode Description: “Do real writers get assigned topics and have to force them into five-paragraph essays by their editors?” Allison Marchetti and Rebekah O’Dell, co-authors of the popular blog movingwriters.org, Writing with Mentors, and Beyond Literary Analysis, use real world texts as mentor texts to teach the skills of writing. In this episode, Marchetti and O’Dell chat with co-host, Kim, discussing engaging and relevant writing instruction, the writer’s notebook, and partnering with parents to support student writing. With so many changes to 21st-century education and learning, what should we try tomorrow, this week, and this month?
Allison Marchetti has her Masters in the Teaching of English, 6-12. After college, she taught in a public suburban school in Chesterfield County for five years and then joined a small independent school in Richmond where she has been for five years. She is the co-writer of the popular blog movingwriters.org and the books: Writing With Mentors and Beyond Literary Analysis. You can follow her on Twitter at @AllisonMarchett. Read her bio for Heinemann.
Rebekah O’Dell is a graduate of the University of Virginia and now teaches English at an independent school in Richmond Virginia. Before that, she taught in public school for several years. She is the co-writer of the popular blog movingwriters.org and the books: Writing With Mentors and Beyond Literary Analysis. You can follow her on Twitter at @RebekahODell1. Read her bio for Heinemann.
Ken Tucker’s “Pharrell Williams: Just Exhilaratingly Happy” at npr.org
Ken Tucker’s Review of Pharrell’s New Album at MovingWriters.org
Wondrous Words: Writers and Writing in the Elementary Classroom by Katie Wood Ray
Click HERE to access the Google Doc of the Team / PLC Discussion Questions for this episode.
Season 3, Episode 9: Moving Writers with Mentor Texts with Marchetti and O’Dell
Listen to the episode, featuring Rebekah O’Dell and Allison Marchetti, as a team or listen individually before your next team meeting.
Select questions from the options below or create your own questions for group discussion.