In his book Good Choice, Tony Stead outlines strategies that foster successful independent reading in grades K-6. In this week’s Quick Tip, Tony talks about author studies as a way for students to reflect on their own story writing and to encourage reflection about their reading.
Specific author studies are a valuable means of strengthening students’ understandings of plot, setting, recurring themes, connections, and literary devices such as mood, voice, and author craft.
As a classroom teacher, each year I would select a specific author and provide my children with copies of the author’s books to explore. The author study would take from one to three weeks, and we would spend between twenty and thirty minutes daily studying the works of that author. The authors I chose depended on the suitability of their materials, which was based on the interests and the reading levels of my children. For instance, an author study on Eric Carle was terrific for first graders because most children were able to read his books independently, and many of his books were about animals and insects, which are of high interest to first-grade children. Note: Author studies can be on books that children cannot read independently. In this scenario, the teacher can read the author’s books to the children, which will provide the springboard for discussions.
First, I collect as many copies of the author’s publications as possible. In addition to publications I already own, I also collected books from the school library and my local public library. When implementing an author study be sure to have enough books for each child to have access to his or her own book. If this is not possible, then two children can share one book and the children can buddy read. An assortment of the author’s publications are best, rather than having twenty-seven copies of the same book, because I want my children to look for recurring themes and author craft. After I have amassed enough books, I place them into several baskets and label the baskets with the author’s name.
I begin the study by reading one of the books to the class to immerse them in the author’s works and promote discussions. After the reading, the children can talk about the book based on discussion areas I provide. I place these headings on a chart and record children’s observations.
Over the next few weeks, the children read different books by the selected author, either individually or in pairs. At the end of each session, I bring the children together to discuss what they have discovered and add their findings to the chart. For the section titled “About the Author,” the biographical details in the books, together with researching websites about the selected author, provide the children with a wealth of information.
It is also useful to write a class letter to the author and send this to the author’s publisher. I tell the children that the author may not reply because he or she is busy writing or illustrating new books, but we usually receive a letter from the publisher. Most well-known authors have someone to handle letters from children; sometimes a signed letter from the author will arrive. The children are thrilled when this occurs. This chart acts as a great springboard for children to examine their own story writing and the craft they are using to hook their readers. I also encourage children to conduct their own author studies of their favorite authors and give them an organizer to assist them with the task. Refer to Appendix H for a copy.
Discussion categories can vary and will differ depending on the grade area taught. I found that when conducting author studies with children in upper elementary school grades, the categories became more specific about the author’s craft and included mood, voice, use of suspense, recurring themes, character traits, and emotions the author evoked. For children in lower elementary school grades, the categories were simple and dealt primarily with likes, dislikes, reactions, and connections.
December 8th, 2009
Lynne Dorfman, coauthor of Mentor Texts and Nonfiction Mentor Texts, shares some of her Hanukkah memories, along with some great books for the holiday.
When I was growing up in a household where both Hanukkah and Christmas were celebrated, Hanukkah always took a back seat. It never could live up to the festivities of the Christmas season at my grandparents’ house: the selection of a tree, the decorations, the smell of pine wreaths, baking butter cookies in the shapes of reindeer, Santas, and bells, leaving a plate of treats and a glass of milk for Santa, and the excitement of waking up and running into the living room to see a mountain of presents. At home, we weren’t allowed to have a tree, and the little menorah sitting on the windowsill in our own living room made a poor substitution for a grand evergreen tree.
Although I was raised in the Jewish faith, I had a healthy dose of Christianity, accompanying my nana and grandparents to church and eventually driving my best friend to early mass every Sunday morning before going to the stables. I haven’t been a practicing Jew since childhood, but lately I’ve been wondering if I should start to attend synagogue again. Children’s books gave me the opportunity to reacquaint myself with the Jewish traditions; and truthfully, I’m delighted! I started with Hanukkah after reading Stephen Krensky’s Hanukkah at Valley Forge. The story of Hanukkah, retold to General Washington through the character of a Polish soldier, inspired me as it had inspired Washington. I wanted to learn more.
In writing workshop I am always looking for good examples of anecdotes to enrich informational and persuasive pieces. It isn’t always easy to teach intermediate and middle school students how to effectively use the anecdote, and it’s such a wonderful way to build content! This historical anecdote related in Krensky’s book can show students how history and past traditions can be brought to life. In addition, this historical fiction pieces transitions smoothly between two time periods as the soldier relates the story of the origin of Hanukkah to General Washington. Furthermore, it is a perfect segue into primary source documents as the anecdote can be traced to a Revolutionary War era diary.
The last weekend of September was spent in Newport, Rhode Island. I stood inside the first synagogue in our country, the Touro Synagogue. On one of its walls was a handwritten letter enclosed in a glass case – a letter written to the people of Rhode Island that praised the inhabitants for their tolerant views and acceptance of all religions. I saw the hidden room beneath the altar where Rhode Island Jews had helped African-American slaves escape to Canada and freedom. I thought about Krensky’s book and how important it was for the Jewish soldier in Washington’s army to burn a candle on Hanukkah. I thought about how important it is for children to read and write about heroes, past and present.
In Eve Bunting’s story, One Candle, Grandma relates how she had burned a candle on Hanukkah while imprisoned in a Nazi death camp; and like Krensky’s book, the pages differentiate between two time periods – present day and World War II era. Bunting’s story is a tale of perseverance and strength. It reaffirms the values of tradition and family. We can all learn from Bunting – how she helps her young readers learn about a difficult period in the world’s history – with a story of the human spirit that is always at its best at the worst of times. After reading about Hanukkah, I realized that the miracle in Bunting’s story was the survival of Great-Aunt Rose and Grandma who long ago, had celebrated another miracle while facing the most difficult of circumstances during the darkest hours of the Holocaust.
Hanukkah, now and forever, will hold a new meaning for me – one that I will treasure – that by keeping traditions alive and celebrating past miracles, there can be hope for the future. Small and great miracles happen every day. Here are some other books that you might consider sharing as a read aloud or as a mentor text for writing:
Aloian, Molly. (2009). Hanukkah: Celebrations in My World. NY: Crabtree Publishing.
Bunting, Eve. (2002). One Candle. NY: Joanna Cotler Books.
Heiligman, Deborah. (2006). Celebrate Hanukkah. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.
Kimmel, Eric (ed.). (1998). A Hanukkah Treasury. NY: Henry Holt & Co.
Kimmel, Eric. (1985). Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins. NY: Holiday House.
Krensky, Stephen. (2006). Hanukkah at Valley Forge. NY: Dutton Children’s Books.
Polacco, Patricia. (1996). The Trees of the Dancing Goats. NY: Simon & Schuster.
December 7th, 2009
This week’s poem comes from Steven Layne, whose new book Igniting a Passion for Reading: Successful Strategies for Building Lifetime Readers, is now available for full preview online!
Aliteracy Poem
Steven Layne
Mrs. Thompson’s second graders are amazing!
The principal says they can comprehend anything—
even a medical textbook.
Mrs. Thompson’s second graders are incredible!
The superintendent says their oral reading is completely seamless—
like the gentle flow of an eternal spring.
Mrs. Thompson’s second graders are fantastic!
The P.T.A. president says they finished the reading workbook and
the phonics workbook before the end of the Third Quarter.
Mrs. Thompson’s second graders worry me.
you see, i’m the aide who works in Mrs. Thompson’s classroom,
and i know something that the others don’t.
Mrs. Thompson’s second graders don’t like to read.
From Life’s Literacy Lessons: Poems for Teachers by Steven L. Layne. Copyright 2001 by
the International Reading Association. www.reading.org.
December 4th, 2009
“The focus on skills testing is unparalleled. It is also, in my opinion, unconscionable because it quietly propagates the idea that if we can identify weaknesses in skills and correct them, America’s reading troubles will be abated.”
Steve Layne travels the country visiting schools and helping teachers foster a will and desire to read. In his new book, Igniting a Passion for Reading, Steve distills his inspiring message and provides practical classroom-based solutions for administrators and teachers of all grades to engage kids and create a school culture that stirs passion for books and authors.
Steve presents a collection of key practices—interest inventories, book chats, read-aloud, teacher modeling, reading lounges, and author visits— drawing on his classroom experiences to provide nuts-and-bolts advice on implementing them. An award-winning children’s book author, Steve calls upon fellow authors—Mem Fox, Karen Beaumont, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Sharon Draper, Neal Shusterman, and more—to introduce each chapter by reflecting on the teachers who most inspired them as readers. The final chapter organizes all of the ideas into a quarterly plan that can be used as a starting point for purposefully teaching the love of reading.
Print copies of Igniting a Passion for Reading will start shipping in mid-December. You can preview the entire text online now!
December 2nd, 2009
In her book Inside Words: Tools for Teaching Academic Vocabulary, Grades 4-12, Janet Allen merges recent research and key content-area teaching strategies to show teachers how to help students understand academic vocabulary. One of these strategies is the Focused Cloze, and in this week’s Quick Tip, Janet explains what it is and how to use it in your classroom.
Focused Cloze
December 1st, 2009