Using Mentor Texts to Teach Writing With the Traits

150 Carefully Chosen Books to Strengthen Students' Writing in All 6 Traits

Becoming a better writer begins with reading well-written books and trying what their authors do successfully. So why not help middle schoolers improve their writing by exposing them to mentor texts written just for them? Culham, Blasingame, and Coutu have selected 150 fiction and nonfiction books by master writers, annotated them, and organized them by trait. Each annotation explains what the book is about and why it's a good model. Twenty ready-to-use, literature-based lessons are also included.

• The ultimate list of books for trait-based teaching
• Powerful lessons for modeling what skilled writers do
• Help in boosting narrative, expository, and persuasive writing skills
• The perfect companion to Culham's Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School, Reproducible Forms for the Trait-Based Classroom: Middle School, and 100 Trait-Specific

Ruth Culham, Ed.D., is the president of the Culham Writing Company and former Unit Manager of the Assessment Program at Education Northwest in Portland, Oregon. She is the recognized expert in the traits of writing field and author of many professional resources published by Scholastic, including 6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide, Grades 3 and Up; 6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for the Primary Grades; and Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School, and is the winner of the 2011 Teacher's Choice award.