Author Study: Language Arts Lessons

As a middle school English teacher, I'm always looking for good ways to have students read on their own. Book reports are always a good way to force students to pick a book, read it, and do something with it. The traditional book reports usually have students keep a reading log and then write a summary or an analysis of what they read. I was looking for something a little bit more and a little bit different from the plain old book report. I came up with a great author study that takes an entire quarter and gives students an opportunity to take a look at an author and how their lives affect their art. The assignment is as follows:
Part I: Author Biography

For this portion of the assignment, the students must choose an author from a list that I have provided. A great resources for finding books are the school librarian, national book lists, and other teachers. I allow students to add a new author if they haven't read them before and if all of their books are not in a series. I want students to experience the author writing about different stories and subjects.

An author like J.K. Rowling would not be allowed, because she doesn't have more than one series or storyline. After the students choose an author, their first assignment is to research their author and write a biography about their life, to give them some background information before they begin reading. I chose to have them write their biography in the form of a forward to one of their books. We looked at book forwards, pinning down their voice and style. The students must include at least four sources and include it with their biography.

Part II: Double Entry Reading Journal

For the second portion of the assignment, the students must choose two books by the author. While they read them, they must complete a double entry reading journal. This is a format for summary and response. For this they split their paper into two columns. In the left hand column of their reading they include summary, important quotes, and images. In the right hand column, they place responses, questions, and predictions about what they have summarized and chosen from the text. They also keep track of the date they read and the page numbers. They do this for each novel.

Part III: Final Project

For the final portion of the project, the students get the opportunity to be creative. They use the information they've gleaned from the author bio and their double entry journals to create a creative project. I allow them to choose what they wish, as long as it includes the right information. They are required to compare and contrast the author's style from novel to novel, look at the influences the author's life has on their writing, and give a brief summary of the novels they read. Some ideas that I provided were to make a poster display, collage, mobile, write an infomercial or series of poems, create a movie or power point presentation, or anything else they would like to do, as long as they OK it with me first. They then present their work to the class.

This project is a great way to help students look more in depth at an author, their life, and their writing. It takes quite a bit of time to do, but it's definitely worth it. Your students will have a great time getting to know someone new.