Gretchen Bernabei asks students to derive possible text structures from examining mentor texts. Instead of that one format students are given—the five-paragraph essay—she gives us fifty, and doesn’t pretend that’s a complete list. She changes the landscape students can work in from one of poverty to one of wonderful excess. She shows us that as writers we are playing a game with lots of moves. —Thomas Newkirk School writing has nothing to do with my life…If that sounds like your students, then you need this book, because it will prove to your students that writing counts in our world— and always has.  In Text Structures from the Masters, Gretchen Bernabei and Jennifer Koppe provide 50 short texts by famous Americans who put pen to paper driven by what Peter Elbow described as "an itch" to say something. The book includes Sojourner Truth’s Speech (itch: join a heated debate), FDR’s Pearl Harbor message (itch: pick up the pieces), JFK’s inaugural address (itch: give a pep talk) . . . along with 47 more pieces and their explicit purposes. By examining the structure of these mentor texts, students suddenly see that the itch is something they have in their own lives, too! And the 50 companion lessons invite students to use the text structure of each the famous documents to express that itch. Each 4-page lesson includes: A planning sheet that reveals the structure of the mentor text, giving students an X-Ray like device for looking at the piece of writing. Brainstorming boxes that invite students to discover their "itchiest" topic A method for "kernelizing" their own essay—making an outline of what they will write using the text structure as a guide.  Student examples of both kernel essays and finished pieces. The bonus? Students report the historical document comes to life as they can see textual map that holds it together—and have used that map themselves.  Text Structures from the Masters shows students how writing can help get the work of their lives done. They don’t need to be poised to send someone into the battlefield to have the desire to express something to others—just the itch to say it well.   

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Tom Newkirk Introduction Acknowledgments Lesson 1 Structure: Stepping Up to a New Role Source Document: Hippocratic Oath, 400 BCE Lesson 2 Structure: Can′t We Just Get Along? Source Document: Speech to Captain John Smith, Chief Powhatan, 1609 Lesson 3 Structure: Team Promise Source Document: Mayflower Compact, 1620 Lesson 4 Structure: Humble Request for Help Source Document: Plymouth Plantation, 1624 Lesson 5 Structure: No, Thank You Source Document: Letter to William and Mary College, The Indians of the Six Nations, 1744 Lesson 6 Structure: Lighting a Fire Under a Procrastinator Source Document: Speech, Patrick Henry, 1775 Lesson 7 Structure: How Bullying Works Source Document: "Journal of a Lady of Quality," Janet Schaw, 1775 Lesson 8 Structure: Problem-Solution Message Source Document: Declaration of Independence, 1776 Lesson 9 Structure: Time for a Real Solution Source Document: Common Sense (Excerpts), Thomas Paine, 1776 Lesson 10 Structure: Letter From Home Source Document: Letter to Her Husband John Adams, Abigail Adams, 1776 Lesson 11 Structure: How Bad Is It? (A Description) Source Document: Letter to George Washington, Benjamin Rush, 1777 Lesson 12 Structure: Reprimanding a Group Source Document: Speech to Angry Officers, General George Washington, 1783 Lesson 13 Structure: Purposes of an Action Source Document: Preamble to the Constitution, 1787 Lesson 14 Structure: Charm Check Source Document: "The Star Spangled Banner," Francis Scott Key, 1814 Lesson 15 Structure: S.O.S. Source Document: "Victory or Death" Letter From the Alamo, William B. Travis, 1836 Lesson 16 Structure: Sightseeing Source Document: "Observations on a Steamboat Between Pittsburg and Cincinnati," American Notes, Charles Dickens, 1842 Lesson 17 Structure: Tour of an Unfamiliar Place Source Document: "Factory Life," Labor Reformer, 1846 Lesson 18 Structure: Breaking Into a Heated Argument Source Document: "Ain′t I a Woman?" Speech, Sojourner Truth, 1851 Lesson 19 Structure: Controversial Decision Source Document: Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln, 1862 Lesson 20 Structure: At the Moment of a Milestone Source Document: Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln, 1863 Lesson 21 Structure: We′re Both Wrong; We′re Both Right Source Document: Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln, 1865 Lesson 22 Structure: Letter to an Author Source Document: Letter to Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, 1868 Lesson 23 Structure: Fighting Unfairness With Logic Source Document: “Women’s Rights to the Suffrage" Speech, Susan B. Anthony, 1873 Lesson 24 Structure: Valuable Advice Source Document: "Advice to Youth" Speech, Mark Twain, 1882 Lesson 25 Structure: Comforting a Friend in Pain Source Document: Letter to a Friend, Henry James, 1883 Lesson 26 Structure: I Want More (While I Have the Chance) Source Document: Letter to Professor Baird, William G. Hornaday Lesson 27 Structure: First Earnings Source Document: Hard Times Cotton Mill Girls (Excerpt), Bertha Miller, b. 1890 Lesson 28 Structure: My Symbol Source Document: The Pledge of Allegiance, 1892 Lesson 29 Structure: Narrative: Just the Facts Source Document: On Lynchings (Excerpt), Ida B. Wells-Barnett, 1895 Lesson 30 Structure: Letter of Recommendation Source Document: Letter to Jessie Gladden, Clara Barton, 1898 Lesson 31 Structure: Why Something Goes Viral Source Document: "A Modern Day Devil Baby" (American Journal of Sociology, 20(1), (117–118), Jane Addams, 1914 Lesson 32 Structure: Understanding the Scars of Our Elders Source Document: "Remembering Slavery" (Excerpt), Tonea Stewart, 1930 Lesson 33 Structure: Objects of Affection Source Document: "The Pleasure of Books," William Lyon Phelps, 1933 Lesson 34 Structure: True or False? Neither Source Document: Letter From Phyllis, Albert Einstein, 1936 Lesson 35 Structure: How an Experience Changed Me Source Document: It′s a Great Life, Robert L. Miller, 1937 Lesson 36 Structure: A Bad Situation a Lot of Us Are In Source Document: "I′d Rather Not Be on Relief," Lester Hunter Song, 1938 Lesson 37 Structure: Picking Up the Pieces Source Document: Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1941 Lesson 38 Structure: Heads Up From Your Wingman Source Document: Letter to Her Husband, Eleanor Rooseevelt, circa WWII Lesson 39 Structure: What Do I Mean? Well . . . Source Document: "I Love You" Letter, Ayn Rand, 1948 Lesson 40 Structure: My Advice About Your Strong Feeling Source Document: Letter to His Son Thom, John Steinbeck, 1958 Lesson 41 Structure: Pep Talk Source Document: Inaugural Address, John F. Kennedy, 1961 Lesson 42 Structure: Memory Reflection Source Document: Black Like Me (Excerpt), John Howard Griffin, 1961 Lesson 43 Structure: Parting Advice to Your Replacement Source Document: "Duty, Honor, Country," General Douglas MacArthur, 1962 Lesson 44 Structure: Bon Voyage Source Document: Letter to His Astronaut Son, Scott Carpenter, 1962 Lesson 45 Structure: I Feel Your Pain Source Document: "Ich bin ein Berliner" Speech, John F. Kennedy, 1963 Lesson 46 Structure: Flashpoint Moment of Truth Source Document: "And We Shall Overcome" Special Message to Congress (Excerpt), Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965 Lesson 47 Structure: Walking the Walk to Make a Difference Source Document: "Lessons of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.," Cesar Chavez, 1990 Lesson 48 Structure: Using a Story to Make a Point Source Document: Nobel Lecture (Abridged), Toni Morrison, 1993 Lesson 49 Structure: New Perspectives From a Photo Source Document: "Pale Blue Dot" Speech, Carl Sagan, 1996 Lesson 50 Structure: So You′ll Know Me After I′m Gone Source Document: Letter to My Sons (Preface), Lieutenant Colonel Mark Weber, 2012 Appendices 1. Complete Collection of 50 Text Structures 2. Text Structures Useful as Promises to Others 3. Text Structures of Our Identity 4. Text Structures for Travel 5. Text Structures for Important Moments 6. Text Structures for Desperation 7. Text Structures Useful as Persuasion About Some Needed Change 8. Text Structures Useful for Bad Times 9. Text Structures for Times of Conflict 10. More Ways to Use the Lessons in an English Language Arts Classroom 11. More Ways to Use the Lessons for Academic Play in a Social Studies or History Classroom 12. Character Project Assignment and Tracking Sheet