Inspired by Mentor Texts: Joyful Writing from the Wild

Sometimes a passage or a line—whether it’s from a book, an article, a song, a reel, an image, or just an idea spoken to life—inspires my creativity, makes me want to write…something. I don’t always know what that something is until I start composing. But sometimes I know exactly what I want to write about. Like Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher and Don Graves and Tom Newkirk and Linda Rief and Allison Marchetti and Rebekah O’Dell and more who all speak and write eloquently about using mentor texts in their teaching, I believe in mentor texts and their power for inspiring writing. I’m always amazed at my students’ writing when they respond, analyze, or create based on a little snippet that they read. But this type of writing isn’t just for my students—although it certainly can be. It’s for me as a writing teacher, a way for me to continue my own writing and be inspired by passages I find “in the wild” outside of my readings for class.

To me, writing based on literary texts—especially those I’m reading in my own time—aligns with joyful literacies pedagogy in a few ways. First, writing based on my reading offers me—and eventually my students—the potential for a state of flow. When a passage captures my attention, I want to write about it, and I lose myself in what I’m writing as I contemplate and think my way through an idea or topic. Secondly, writing based on a mentor text inspires my creativity and challenges me to write something new, something different than what the mentor text offers. And, finally, this type of writing allows me to think deeply about what I believe and why I believe it, as it does with my students as well.

As a recent example, I used Linda Rief’s The Quickwrite Handbook: 100 Mentor Texts to Jumpstart Your Students’ Thinking and Writing in my narrative unit. She had taken a passage from Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, one of my favorite novels of recent years, that focused on the end of modern life. The students then wrote using descriptive language about the end of something, with many focusing on particular time periods, such as the end of high school. These were powerful, descriptive pieces that revealed their experiences with high school—or whatever event they chose—that gave me insight into my students. This is another powerful connection to joyful literacies: giving students the space to find spaces of belonging where their voices and experiences are valid. For example, I received many journal entries that focused on the good, the bad, and the boring aspects of high school experiences, which students could then use in their final narrative essays, if they chose to do so.

Therefore, we here at Joyful Literacies blog have decided to compile passages from our own reading, listening, and observing that inspire us to write more. Much like the authors mentioned previously (seriously, look up their books and buy them), we think there’s an authenticity when teachers bring passages from the world beyond the classroom into the classroom. In our experience, bringing excerpts from “real life” allows students to write journals that help them enter a flow state, engage with challenging ideas, question structures and ideas, and see themselves as writers. We’re calling this series “Inspired: Joyful Writing from the Wild.” Each blog post will include the “Inspired” title starter and the name of the text for our chosen passage, such as “Inspire: Joyful Writing from Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy,” which will be the focus of our first inspirational passage. We will include at least two journal prompts for reflective, analytical, expressive, argumentative, metacognitive, or sketchnote journals, and all prompts will align with each passage, as well as potential topics for mini-lessons on characterization, critical thinking, theme, and more. We hope you find this series useful and enjoyable for both you as a writer and for your students as writers.

Our first passage is from Charlotte McConaghy’s book Wild Dark Shore. When I read this book, so many passages inspired me to stop and write. One such passage was early on in the book:

“You are not meant to have favorites, but my youngest is that. If only by a hair, and with a gun to my head. If I really, really had to answer. And not because we’re most alike: that is my oldest and me. Not because we are least alike: that is my daughter and me. Maybe it is because he is curious and kind and so smart it can make your eyes water. Maybe it’s because he whispers to the wind and hears its voice in return. Most likely, I don’t know why. But it may also be because, for one brief moment long ago, I wished him dead” (p. 4).

This passage immediately inspired me to write in my junk journal. But it also made me think about how I could use this passage in my teaching, specifically as a mini-lesson on interpretation.  Some questions I could ask: What can we infer about the dad from this passage? About his parenting? About his feelings toward each of his children? What power dynamics can be inferred between the dad and the children based on this brief passage?

Additionally, here are a few prompts I created based on this passage and my own writing for my students:

1. Reflective Journal Prompt: Write about someone, something, some place, or some time that is your favorite. Wrestle with why this person, item, event, or place is your favorite, as McConaghy’s character does. Here are some questions to consider for your writing: Who/What is your favorite person, place, event, or item? Why is what you chose your favorite over all others?
   1. Follow-up Metacognitive Analysis: What choices did you make in describing your favorite person, place, event, or item? What do you think these choices suggest about you as a person, your feelings associated with your choice, and your values?
2. Sketchnote Journal Prompt: Create a combination of images and text that relate to your favorite items/people/places/events. What images come to mind when you think of these people/places/items/events? What words might you associate with these favorite items/people/places/events?
   1. Follow-up Metacognitive Analysis: What visual and textual choices did you make in sketching your favorite people, places, events, and items? What do you think these choices suggest about you as a person, your feelings associated with your choices, and your values?

In considering this passage, what are some prompts that you might generate? We would love to learn about your ideas for this particular passage as well! Feel free to share your ideas with us on Instagram at @joyful_literacies. In the meantime, stay inspired, my fellow writers!