Touchstone Texts

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Touchstone Texts: Fertile

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Ground for Creativity

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Irma Sturgell
■ You find many things to teach in the text.

A
s a new teacher, I approached my first job like
an artist facing a blank canvas—a little paraly- ■ You can imagine talking about the text for a very
sis mixed with a healthy dose of youthful long time.

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enthusiasm. How fortunate I was to have skilled col- ■ Your entire class can have access to the text.
leagues mentor me. In those days, contagious creativity ■ Your students can read the text independently or

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made teaching an exploration—simultaneously invig-
with some support.
orating and frightening. That was well before standards,

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■ The text is a little more sophisticated than the writing

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state assessments, and relentless accountability.
Curriculum was often teacher invented, limited more of your best students.
by imagination, energy, and enthusiasm than by state ■ The text is written by a writer you trust.
standards or the constraints of a mandated curriculum. ■ The text is a good example of a particular kind of
Now, as standards drive curriculum, I miss those writing (genre).
freewheeling days. Teachers may feel more like tech- ■ The text is of a genre you are studying.

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nicians than artists, and, while excellent teaching can
breathe life into a standardized curriculum, there is no Ray (1999) suggested using touchstone texts as
excitement quite like that of a spontaneous lesson that

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part of a teacher developed writing workshop and se-
just works. lecting texts that

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A little of that spontaneity came my way when my

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■ Have background information included
principal asked me to spearhead a book-of-the-month
project for our school: Each teacher would receive a ■ Have a writing concept that is interesting
new book each month, or “touchstone text,” to use as a ■ Remind readers of other texts
seed for reading and writing activities. As we built these ■ Are crafted with interesting structures
classroom libraries, month-by-month, the principal
■ Are full of crafted ways with words
hoped we would also expand our repertoire of writing

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■ Are ones in which writers take risks
models to encourage and support our writing lessons.
There was no guide—no standard—for this project.

Tending the Seedlings
The Seeds

The charge from my principal was simple—get the

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The dictionary defines a touchstone as a test “of au- books, a new one each month, for every teacher in the
thenticity or value” (American Heritage Dictionary, school and provide support for developing reading
1994). In his book Rose, Where Did You Get That Red? and writing lessons based on the books. I invited
Koch (1990) shared a model for using great poetry as teachers and a parent to help select books, and we
a touchstone for student poetry. His method was sim- set up a series of meetings to review lists. We looked
ple; he shared poems he liked best, believing his en- for books that first engaged students as readers and
thusiasm would inspire student writers. Nia (1999), then as writers. We wanted books that helped chil-
following a similar line of thinking, proposed the fol- dren see how the text was written—how it was put to-
lowing criteria for choosing a touchstone text: gether. We considered the calendar when choosing
texts and sometimes made seasonal selections. Our lo-
■ You have read the text and you love it. cal independent bookstore shared new titles to get us
■ You and your students have talked about the text a started. As books were brought to the table, we read
lot as readers first. and reacted with students’ eyes while considering our

The Reading Teacher, 61(5), pp. 411–414 © 2008 International Reading Association
DOI:10.1598/RT.61.5.5 ISSN: 0034-0561 print / 1936-2714 online 411

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Figure 1 Each month, teachers get the same title—a notion
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Student Work Decorates Hallways I first lobbied against. “Surely we need to differentiate,”
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I protested. But no, it was to be one book for everyone.
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My principal trusted the instincts of the teachers, and
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he was right. The kindergarten teacher might use her
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book as a read-aloud for enjoyment or as a book to il-
lustrate a pattern while the sixth-grade teacher creates
a class book of haiku poems inspired by the same text.
When teachers know their students’ writing needs, and
have their touchstone texts at hand, they can select the
perfect book to easily model what is needed. Fletcher
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(1993) reminded us that writing mentors support writ-
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ers by maintaining high standards, building on
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strengths, valuing diversity and originality, and encour-
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aging risk taking. Touchstone texts bring author men-
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tors into the classroom. High-quality picture books can
and should be shared across the grades. Because they
are so concise, so well written, mentor texts model the
craft of writing more efficiently than novels or other
types of longer texts. While younger children focus on
the story and enjoy the pictures, teachers guide older
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children to focus on the structure of the text (Ray,
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1999). Books such as French’s Diary of a Wombat
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made our youngest readers and writers chuckle as
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they began to internalize the journal format. Older
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writers studied the text as an example of the diary
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while learning facts about an animal. As new titles
were added, students began comparing the titles; they
noticed similar structures, saw new ways to convey
content, and broadened their grasp of writing styles.
Specialists and support teachers also received

copies of the books and found ways to incorporate
them with their content. Our English as a Second

Language (ESL) teacher reinforced fluency by using

repeated choral readings to help children develop pro-

Note. Photographs by Irma Sturgell.

nunciation and intonation. ESL students used another

text to create an illustrated story that showed their com-
prehension. With Sams and Stoick’s Stranger in the
criteria. It was essential to select texts with lots of Woods, the music teacher taught a musical routine with
teaching mileage for grades K–6. Before finalizing our dancing snowmen. Brown’s The Important Book was a
list, we solicited feedback from teachers. favorite in many classes. The important thing about The
We began with Gonsalves’s Imagine a Night. Important Book is the repeated pattern. Our writers
Teachers were encouraged to visit the illustrator’s web- seemed to absorb this structure naturally and apply it in
site where they found additional artwork to entice writ- many subject areas. In gym class, as a follow up to a
ers in creating original stories. This first text was an parachute lesson, students wrote poems describing im-
inspired choice. Who could resist the compelling portant things about a parachute and displayed their
Escher-like illustrations? After teachers received this work in the hallway. When a fourth grader moved
book, it didn’t take long for book-based projects to midyear, her class wrote farewell cards titled, “The
emerge like spring crocuses. Important thing about Anna is....” These cards became

412 The Reading Teacher Vol. 61, No. 5 February 2008

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her parting gift. The art teacher’s crazy hair project led Sometimes teachers use the suggestions, and other

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to poems titled, “The important thing about my hair times they create their own. Our principal invites dis-

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is....” Book projects like these showed us how easy it is plays of student work and has designated the wall
to integrate literacy and a variety of school subjects. space under his office window as a prime showcase

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area. But class projects have expanded way beyond
that space to line the hallways of the school (see
Our Harvest Continues Figure 1). Monthly titles and student projects are post-
Each month, activities from author webpages as well ed on our school webpage (schools.dcsdk12.org/edu-
as suggested activities are included with the books. cation/staff/staff.php?sectionid=15)

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Sample Touchstone Texts

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Imagine a Night (Gonsalves, 2003). Students found America the Beautiful (Bates, 2004). This book
fantastic pictures on the artist’s website. One class reinforces geographic connections in a study of
wrote “Imagine a school day” stories and added U.S. regions and revisits an important piece of
drawings. national history.
Pieces: A Year in Poems & Quilts (Hines, 2001). Pinduli (Cannon, 2004). Pinduli is a charming hyena
Hand-pieced quilts connect geometry with that children love and to whom they can relate. The

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seasonal poetry. A third-grade teacher sewed an author’s website advises young writers about writing,
ABC quilt using fabric squares embellished by research, and illustration. The author shares the

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students. The sixth-grade math teacher taught book’s development from idea to final production.
symmetry and students made their own quilt Elena’s Serenade (Geeslin, 2004). This is an

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patterns.

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adventure story about a girl with a mission. The
Going North (Harrington, 2004). The story of a book includes Spanish phrases and is excellent for
family moving north teaches point of view through teaching story sequence and literary elements.
the narrator, Jessie, who imagines her family’s Punctuation Takes a Vacation (Pulver, 2003). What
feelings while traveling. The text provides historical a thrill to write without punctuation—or is it? The
background for the story. The technology teacher appeal of this idea engages students, inviting

taught comprehension strategies (prediction and them to abandon punctuation and see the chaotic
main event) and literary elements (simile, results. Notes and postcards without so much as a
metaphor, personification, and alliteration) through period lined our hallways. One teacher even had

PowerPoint slides with the text. her students write advice letters to punctuation

Sky Tree (Locker, 1995). Art, science, and poetry marks who were feeling left out.

combine to illustrate changes in a tree as the If Not for the Cat (Prelutsky, 2004). In this book,
seasons pass. Students drew favorite trees to haiku is combined with exquisite watercolors to
accompany original poems. The author includes inspire young poets. Teachers will use this again
scientific information and describes painting and again in their study of poetry. First-grade
techniques. teachers connected it to their science unit on living
Twilight Comes Twice (Fletcher, 1997). Well- and nonliving things.
known and loved by teachers and students, this Stranger in the Woods (Sams & Stoick, 1999). The
book is an excellent catalyst for examining story authors’ webpage provides background about how
structure and word choice. the book was made and models the patience needed
The Art Lesson (dePaola, 1989). This book for observation in the natural world. Connections to
celebrates a child’s special talents. Students wrote scientific observation, weather, ecology, and writing
about their own talents in response. make this an interdisciplinary choice.

Touchstone Texts: Fertile Ground for Creativity 413

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Children enjoy seeing their own work displayed books at hand is key to nurturing creativity in writing.
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alongside the work of others. It reminds them that Developing libraries of touchstone texts is one step to
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good books can be read again and again and helps immerse children in quality literature and encourage
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us develop as a community of readers and writers. teachers to let their creativity grow from the seeds of
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well-loved books.
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And So It Grows Sturgell is the building resource teacher at Cougar
As teachers discover new books that fit our criteria Run Elementary, Douglas County, Colorado, USA; e-
for touchstone texts, they pass titles on for committee mail isturgell@mac.com.
review. In addition to using the books for reading les-
sons and writing models, teachers use them for shared
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References
reading with book buddies. On our “read all day” American heritage dictionary (3rd ed.). (1994). Boston: Houghton
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event, teachers displayed their collected titles for inde- Mifflin.
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pendent reading. Fletcher, R. (1993). What a writer needs. Portsmouth, NH:
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Heinemann.
All the while, our children benefit from the writ-
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Koch, K. (1990). Rose, where did you get that red? Teaching great po-
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ing of these mentor authors. Samuel Johnson etry to children New York: Vintage Books.
(1709–1785), reminded us, “The greatest part of a Nia, I.T. (1999). Units of study in the writing workshop. Primary
writer’s time is spent in reading in order to write; a Voices K–6, 8, 3–12.
Ray, K.W. (1999). Wondrous words: Writers and writing in the ele-
man will turn over half a library to make a book” mentary classroom. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of
(www.samueljohnson.com/writing.html). Having English.
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414 The Reading Teacher Vol. 61, No. 5 February 2008

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