Penny Kittle and Micro Mentor Texts

January 10, 2026 · 33 min

About this episode

Penny Kittle discusses strategies for teaching writing and building student confidence in a conversation with Matt Renwick.

Listen to my conversation with Penny Kittle, author of Micro Mentor Texts: Using Short Passages From Great Books to Teach Writer’s Craft (Scholastic, 2022). This will be our book club selection for January - March 2026. Join the chat below. Full subscribers can also access the video recording of our conversation here . See a preview below. Brief Bio * Penny is a long time teacher at every level of education. She writes about her practice at https://substack.com/@pennykittle . * She is the author of several books, including Write Beside Them and 180 Days (with Kelly Gallagher, with whom she also co-hosts digital discussions ). * Penny is also the chairman of the board for the Book Love Foundation , dedicated to providing “classroom libraries comprised of hundreds of books carefully chosen by the teachers to meet students where they are and lead them to the deep rewards of reading”. Check out the Book Love Foundation Podcast to learn more. * When not in the classroom, Penny enjoys spending time with her grandchildren in New Hampshire. Summary In this conversation, Penny talk about a variety of topics, including: * the importance of teachers being knowledgeable and able to problem…

People in this episode

Host: Matt Renwick

Guest: Penny Kittle

Topics covered

writing craft
teacher strategies
student engagement
book clubs
educational practices

Keywords

Penny Kittle
writing strategies
teacher knowledge
student confidence
book clubs
Micro Mentor Texts

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Book Love Foundation, Scholastic

Books & works: Micro Mentor Texts: Using Short Passages From Great Books to Teach Writer’s Craft

Places: New Hampshire