Connecting What We Read to What We Want to Write Kelli Coons Bryson Elementary School

 Unit of study that allows students the opportunity to deeply explore an author’s life and body of work.  Students will be able to critically evaluate author’s themes, characters, and writing style.  Students can make connections between the author’s life and their work.  Students can make personal connections between their own experiences and those of the author and their characters

 In addition to reading many texts by the author it is essential to include:  Discussion  Research  Culminating Activity

 Encourage reading fluency  Engage critical thinking skills  Fine-tune writing skills  Encourage the close bond with books  Create a reading community  Encourage wide-reading to diversify student choice  Jumpstart reading informational text  Cross curricular connections

 Determine the purpose and objectives for the author study  Selecting An Author  Reader’s Response  Research the author/illustrator  Culminating Activity

 Three main types of author studies  Author’s World–connections between author’s life and work.  Critical Response- focuses on author’s themes, characters, and writing solely.(not author’s life)  Personal Response- focuses on reader’s own response to the books of the chosen author and their own personal reflection/connection. Incorporate all in a multilevel response

 Will the whole class be studying the same author?  Do students get to choose who they study or will you be choosing who is studied?  Engagement vs. familiarity for teachers  Text sets? Book Baskets? Classroom Library?

 Who do your students want to read?  Kindergarten- Eric Carle  1 st & 2 nd - Jan Brett  3 rd, 4 th, & 5 th – Patricia Polacco  Create an Author Study center to generate interest.

 Prior to the author study, introduce basic literary elements. Identify the author’s style and craft. Point out clues about how the author’s life impacts their writing.  Most importantly, encourage the students to respond to their reading as a way to track how they are feeling about what they read.  *Reader’s Response Journal  Use graphic organizers, lists, illustrations

 Teach research skills and media literacy  Biography  Autobiography  Websites  Award  Encyclopedias  Newspaper/Magazine Articles  Audio/Video Clips Audio/Video Clips  Be on the lookout for connections between their lives and events in their books.

 Author Display  Create a podcast or video review of the author’s work  Develop an Author Timeline  Create Social Media for Author  Host a book bash  New Student in Class  Write a book in the Author’s Style  Author Fair

 Encourage students to use the author’s style to inspire their own work.  Use the author’s work as mentor texts for student writing.  If the work is more complex have them concentrate on a certain aspect of their writing they would like to emulate.

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