Using Articles as Mentor Texts

As a mentor text, I chose an article from the website teachingkidsnews.com entitled “Woolly Mammoth Sparks Debate Over Cloning” (http://teachingkidsnews.com/2014/11/25/3-woolly-mammoth-sparks-debate-cloning/). This article informs readers about the discovery of a Mammoth embedded in ice, and so well preserved that scientists believe it’s DNA can potentially be used for cloning. The article follows the traditional conventions of a newspaper article, and can be valuable in the English classroom as a mentor text for students working towards writing their own articles. Through this style of writing, students are introduced to this specific story through the who, what, when, where, and why details of the event, while also being introduced to the history of the Mammoth as well as the process of cloning. While these details are not specifically relevant to the study of English, using articles similar to this one as a means of teaching newspaper article conventions conveys to students how they can draw interest in the reader while following the proper form and style of this genre. In my practicum experience, I taught newspaper writing to Grade 10 Applied students and always found that interesting headlines and stories really drew them in and allowed them to maintain a better understanding of the conventions. Using this resource, teachers can draw from a variety of interesting news stories geared specifically towards students across a variety of subjects and written in a way that students can recognize the conventions and form of the article.