AUTHOR IN THE SPOTLIGHT

OVERVIEW

The student prerequisites for this author study are to read four books by one author. They work in groups of two or three and each group must also have a folder that will hold all of the essays and parts of the project for teacher inspection. They must follow the due date chart that will be filled in by the teacher (as far as the exact days that each project part is due). The teacher will meet with each group several times during the implementation of the project in order to guide and help the team edit their work. When all parts of the project have been completed the group is granted permission to "go up" onto the tri-board in preparation for the final presentation. The time frame is approximately 3 months - I assign the project and divide the class into groups in February. They work through the end of May (time off for Easter vacation, etc.). Our school has a projects fair at the end of May or beginning of June and the final presentation is at the projects fair. Last year we presented about 15 Author Study projects.

Students are encouraged to word process their project materials and they are required to do research using the Internet. Additional project enhancements include the use of images and pictures retrieved from the Internet.

This project was designed for a basic skills/average seventh grade English Language Arts class. These students needed an incentive to read as well as a vehicle to display their abilities in a positive and productive manner. However, this project can be “scaled down” for younger grades and “scaled up” for high school classes.

Developed by Elissa Berkowitz, Reading/Literacy Teacher, for TeachNet  2005