Author Study

You are the Expert!Grades 7-8

Penny Murphy-Potter505 Multimedia/Internet Educators

Professor Harrison Yang

Introduction Have you ever wondered what it is like to be an author? Have you ever wondered where the author found their ideas for their books? Have you ever wondered if an author has a favorite author? We can become better readers when we know what we like to read and are able to find books that match our interests. How do we learn about an author and how do we find out what our reading interests are? We are going to figure out what the answers to these questions are by learning as much as we can about authors.

Welcome to the Author Studies WebQuest where you learn about authors and become the Author EXPERT!

Task

You will work in student pairs. You will research an author and become an expert on this author. I would like you to select an author that is NOT your favorite. You will use the following guidelines to gather and present your Expert Report.

Guidelines:

1) Research author (author’s website, news paper reviews, books ECT.) from list of authors provided and gather as many facts about the author’s life as you can.

2) Locate a picture of the author, print out picture, save picture on computer for possible later use.

3) Provide a list of books by the author.4) Provide upcoming book signing dates and locations.5) Provide any awards and/or metals the author has won or been nominated

for. (Steps 1-6 information will be incorporated into a Power Point Presentation.)

6) Read at least one book by the author (of your choosing!)7) Present a book talk about the book that you read (can be videoed or done

in person!)8) Design a cover for the book that you read.

Author ResourcesYou may choose an author from the list below. If an author that your teamwould like to research and use for you Expert Report is not on the list; please talk to me and if the author’s books are appropriate, you may add him/her to the Author Resources list.

Neil Gaiman Sharon Flake Christopher Paolini Patricia Polacco Cynthia Leitch Smith Bruce HaleJ.K. Rowling Sherman Alexie Mary Pope OsborneAvi Eoin Colfer Jacqueline WoodsonGary Paulsen Suzanne Collins Louis SacharSharon Creech Laurie Halse Anderson Jane YolenAllen Say Bruce Coville Stephenie MeyerMarcus Zusak Philip Pullman Libba Bray Lemony Snicket James Howe Walter Dean MyersE.B. White R.L. Stine Angela Johnson

ProcessStep 1You and your partner will follow guidelines 1-5; gathering as much Information about the author as you can. You will take this informationand create a Power Point Presentation and present your Expert Report to the class. This presentation will be 3-5 minutes in length, giving eachstudent an opportunity to speak and allowing time for all groups to present.

Guidelines:

1) Research author (author’s website, news paper reviews, books ECT.) from list of authors provided and gather as many facts about the author’s life as you can.

2) Locate a picture of the author, print out picture, save picture on computer for possible later use.

3) Provide a list of books by the author.4) Provide upcoming book signing dates and locations. (if any, can provide

past events that author attended if you cannot find any current ones.)5) Provide any awards and/or metals the author has won or been nominated

for. (Steps 1-5 information will be incorporated into a Power Point Presentation.)

ProcessStep 2 Choose the book you will read. Use the form provided to take notes. Author Analysis Form Use these notes to create a Book Talk presentation. (A Book Talk

is a summary of the book, giving just enough detail about the book to get readers interested in reading the book without giving away too much!

The following link will take you to an example of what a Book Talk “looks like.” The Graveyard Book- Book Talk

Present your book talk to the class (this may be done via video or in person).

**If you choose to video your book talk, we will need to get the video camera

from the Librarian

ProcessStep 3After you have read your book, take a look at the cover. Do you think this cover fits the book? If so, how? If not, how would you change the cover to fit the book? After answering these questions on a sheet of paper. Then,

you are to design your own Book Cover for this book. You may use creative materials that I have provided within the classroom (paper, markers, glue, ECT) OR you may design a Book Cover using Power Point (Clip Art, Word Art, ECT). After you have competed the questions and designed your BookCover you will hand them in for grading.

Evaluation

As you complete the process you will be assessed in two ways, Self Evaluation/Team Evaluation and Teacher Evaluation. You will fill outthe Self Evaluation/Team Evaluation Form on your own and then you willhave a conference with me to discuss my assessment and to receive yourfinal grade. Four extra credit points will be given for answering the

questions on Process Step 3. The maximum amount of points for this project can be

50,including the additional extra credit points.

Self Evaluation/Team Evaluation RubricTeacher Evaluation Rubric

ConclusionI would like to congratulate you on the completion of your Author Studyand becoming an Author Expert. You should now have a better understanding about authors, what authors write, why they write, how

they get their ideas and most importantly; what author and genre you like the best! You also have sharpened your Research skills, Power Point skills,Book Talk Skills and Book Design skills! Way to go!

Teacher PageI would like to thank all the authors that participated in this Author Study for providing such great information, books and pictures.

This WebQuest was created by Penny Murphy-Potter for the class505 Multimedia/Internet Educators call taught by Professor Harrison Yang.

Webliography