Framework for Author Studies (LeJeune, 2011)
- Consider an author who can “grow” with a reader—someone who writes for a span of ages
- Consider an author who may specialize in specific genres, but who writes about a broad spectrum of issues or in multiple styles to appeal to a wider audience in your classroom.
- Consider an author whose quality work may still be unknown to many children and parents.
- Consider an author who is still actively writing today and will have both print and online resources available that discuss his/her creative process (writing habits, inspiration, research, process, etc.)
- Consider authors you know and love, but also remember to always be expanding your knowledge of children’s literature and those who write for children and young adults…and that not all authors you love will be appropriate “co-teachers.”
Sample/Mentor Author Study: Kimberly Willis Holt
All of the resources in today's powerpoint were found and linked from Kimberly Willis Holt's website.
You can also find more resources about Kimberly Willis Holt on Facebook and on her Blog.
You can also find more resources about Kimberly Willis Holt on Facebook and on her Blog.
Browsing Time One Resources: Themed Author Studies
1) If you are interested in Author Studies for Boy Readers, here are a few resources you might explore to find author resources...
-Guys Read (guysread.com) is an amazing wealth of information about books for boys, guy authors, resources to inspire boys as readers and
writers, etc. Spend some time browsing this information and resource packed site.
-Ralph Fletcher. You may remember that we did a lot of writing responses in our first professional development based upon Ralph Fletcher's work on getting kids writing. Ralph's website has many great resources and tips for encouraging young writers and features links to some of his popular books about boys and writing, including his book for teachers--Boy Writers: Reclaiming their Voices and his book for younger guy writers---Guys Write.
-Read Kiddo Read (readkiddoread.com) is not entirely devoted to boy readers and writers, but is dedicated to getting reluctant readers and writers involved with books. This site has some amazing resources, including links to books for boy readers.
-A few favorite boys authors (aka guy writers) to explore: Adam Gidwitz, Gordon Korman, John Scieszka, Jeff Kinney, Tom Angleberger and here is an entire list of amazing guy author websites from Guys Read.
2) What about authors that feature particular cultural themes in their writing? Authors whose work is steeped in multicultural themes include: Gene Yang, Pam Munoz Ryan, Linda Sue Park, Monica Brown, Jacqueline Woodson, Rita Williams Garcia, Alma Flor Ada, and Cynthia Leitich Smith.
3) What about authors that specialize in a specific genre? The following authors concentrate on poetic verse and poetry (although there are many content area tie ins in these pieces across the curriculum such as science and poetry, etc.). These are really some amazing sites for teachable content on writing and research: Joyce Sidman, Laura Purdie Salas, J. Patrick Lewis, and Bob Raczka are a few of my favorites that have amazing content to get kids writing and studying poetry and poets!
4) Or...pick a few favorite authors that you love to teach...and your students love to read. Google them and explore what resources are available on these authors and their writing or research process. What could your students learn from the resources available? How could you bring some of this content into your classroom?
-Guys Read (guysread.com) is an amazing wealth of information about books for boys, guy authors, resources to inspire boys as readers and
writers, etc. Spend some time browsing this information and resource packed site.
-Ralph Fletcher. You may remember that we did a lot of writing responses in our first professional development based upon Ralph Fletcher's work on getting kids writing. Ralph's website has many great resources and tips for encouraging young writers and features links to some of his popular books about boys and writing, including his book for teachers--Boy Writers: Reclaiming their Voices and his book for younger guy writers---Guys Write.
-Read Kiddo Read (readkiddoread.com) is not entirely devoted to boy readers and writers, but is dedicated to getting reluctant readers and writers involved with books. This site has some amazing resources, including links to books for boy readers.
-A few favorite boys authors (aka guy writers) to explore: Adam Gidwitz, Gordon Korman, John Scieszka, Jeff Kinney, Tom Angleberger and here is an entire list of amazing guy author websites from Guys Read.
2) What about authors that feature particular cultural themes in their writing? Authors whose work is steeped in multicultural themes include: Gene Yang, Pam Munoz Ryan, Linda Sue Park, Monica Brown, Jacqueline Woodson, Rita Williams Garcia, Alma Flor Ada, and Cynthia Leitich Smith.
3) What about authors that specialize in a specific genre? The following authors concentrate on poetic verse and poetry (although there are many content area tie ins in these pieces across the curriculum such as science and poetry, etc.). These are really some amazing sites for teachable content on writing and research: Joyce Sidman, Laura Purdie Salas, J. Patrick Lewis, and Bob Raczka are a few of my favorites that have amazing content to get kids writing and studying poetry and poets!
4) Or...pick a few favorite authors that you love to teach...and your students love to read. Google them and explore what resources are available on these authors and their writing or research process. What could your students learn from the resources available? How could you bring some of this content into your classroom?
Browsing Time/Resource Set 2: Nonfiction Author Studies/Genre Studies
Author Studies and/or Genre Studies can focus on authors who write informational texts, which can have enormous amounts of content area curriculum and standards embedded within them. Additionally, informational text writers often talk about how they come to be interested in researching and analyzing content area topics, how they strive to accurately represent information, etc. These authors and the texts they write are amazing mentors for students as researchers and writers of content area themes.
Browse a few of the following resources that might be useful in creating an author study on a Nonfiction Author and/or a Genre Study of Informational Texts:
1) Authors who specialize in scientific informational books: Nic Bishop, Diana Hutts Aston, Karen Fox, Steve Jenkins; you might also want to check out this amazing continuing series which has multiple authors and has one many awards--the Scientists in the Field Series. I encourage you to visit the National Science Teachers Association's annual list of the best science books for children and young adults, found here (check out some of the frequent authors here for potential studies) and finally a great online resource blog for the best women science writers around, which would be a great resource for secondary science classrooms.
2) Authors who write top notch biographies for children and adolescents are: Deborah Hopkinson, Candace Fleming, Kathleen Krull, David Adler.
3) If you wanted to do a collective genre study of various authors who write informational texts and learn about their process, you might start with these awards and their amazing book lists (and authors)---The Orbis Pictus Award, The Sibert Medal, and The YALSA List of Best Young Adult Nonfiction.
4) This blog has some amazing resources to looking at the formats that nonfiction can take and how to scaffold kids into writing similar types of nonfiction.
5) Finally, a great resource for exploring Nonfiction Authors is I.N.K.---Interesting Nonfiction for Kids. This site has amazing authors, podcasts, book lists, and information about why authors choose to write nonfiction for young people. Great tie ins to classroom standards for teaching expository reading and writing as well!
Browse a few of the following resources that might be useful in creating an author study on a Nonfiction Author and/or a Genre Study of Informational Texts:
1) Authors who specialize in scientific informational books: Nic Bishop, Diana Hutts Aston, Karen Fox, Steve Jenkins; you might also want to check out this amazing continuing series which has multiple authors and has one many awards--the Scientists in the Field Series. I encourage you to visit the National Science Teachers Association's annual list of the best science books for children and young adults, found here (check out some of the frequent authors here for potential studies) and finally a great online resource blog for the best women science writers around, which would be a great resource for secondary science classrooms.
2) Authors who write top notch biographies for children and adolescents are: Deborah Hopkinson, Candace Fleming, Kathleen Krull, David Adler.
3) If you wanted to do a collective genre study of various authors who write informational texts and learn about their process, you might start with these awards and their amazing book lists (and authors)---The Orbis Pictus Award, The Sibert Medal, and The YALSA List of Best Young Adult Nonfiction.
4) This blog has some amazing resources to looking at the formats that nonfiction can take and how to scaffold kids into writing similar types of nonfiction.
5) Finally, a great resource for exploring Nonfiction Authors is I.N.K.---Interesting Nonfiction for Kids. This site has amazing authors, podcasts, book lists, and information about why authors choose to write nonfiction for young people. Great tie ins to classroom standards for teaching expository reading and writing as well!
Browsing Time/Resource Set 3: Field Studies/Applications of Content
-The Jason Project offers immense amounts of scientific content that has accessibility for students in grades K-12. This project, combined with the above Scientists in the Field, could provide amazing resources for a scientists in the field study. There are multiple videos, science curriculum, and live events hosted from the website that make science tangible to students.
-The PBS STEM Resource Center has valuable information linking careers, technology, and educational resources for promoting education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, again with K-12 resources available to teachers.
-A variety of resources for examining mathematics in the field exist to promote both mathematical thinking in students and the realization that math careers exist and that mathematical thinking and skills are important in many job fields. Check out: "We Use Math", Math Profiles from the Mathematical Association of America, and there are quite a few short You Tube videos that highlight mathematical careers in the field. Here is just one example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X59pYR8UUdI.
-Or, consider how a "field study" might work for content in your classroom. Spend some time searching for topics you might want to explore---on how content applies to real life applications, in the field, in careers, to discover new information or create new resources. How could a field study influence your students' applications of content area standards? How could you use short mini lessons or technology clips/resources to enhance and affirm content area teaching?
-The PBS STEM Resource Center has valuable information linking careers, technology, and educational resources for promoting education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, again with K-12 resources available to teachers.
-A variety of resources for examining mathematics in the field exist to promote both mathematical thinking in students and the realization that math careers exist and that mathematical thinking and skills are important in many job fields. Check out: "We Use Math", Math Profiles from the Mathematical Association of America, and there are quite a few short You Tube videos that highlight mathematical careers in the field. Here is just one example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X59pYR8UUdI.
-Or, consider how a "field study" might work for content in your classroom. Spend some time searching for topics you might want to explore---on how content applies to real life applications, in the field, in careers, to discover new information or create new resources. How could a field study influence your students' applications of content area standards? How could you use short mini lessons or technology clips/resources to enhance and affirm content area teaching?
Sample Author Studies Online
Although some of you will be creating your own author studies (or genre/field studies) for the optional graduate credit, there are also many sample author studies available online for you to use in your classroom as a resource of study. Below I have linked to a few author studies I have found online, but there are many more available as well. These may serve as good mentors as you think through your own author study assignment.
-This author study of Monica Brown has great resources embedded within the Powerpoint for most of Monica Brown's books.
-This publisher produced author study of Candace Fleming has valuable links and ideas embedded.
-The Writing Fix Website (one of my favorites) has some interesting links to various ways to approaching author studies, across a range of grade levels and interests.
-This author study of Monica Brown has great resources embedded within the Powerpoint for most of Monica Brown's books.
-This publisher produced author study of Candace Fleming has valuable links and ideas embedded.
-The Writing Fix Website (one of my favorites) has some interesting links to various ways to approaching author studies, across a range of grade levels and interests.
Additional Resources to Consider
-This blog, The Classroom Bookshelf, is one of the most useful resources I've found for discovering new books and new authors. In each review, they also link to multiple amazing resources for accessing the authors work and using books to grow readers, writers, and thinkers. A must read!
-This is a great list of potential authors and illustrators (with links to their websites) for potential author studies.
-This is an overview of the author study research process and includes some of the tips we've covered and additional great information.
-This is a great list of potential authors and illustrators (with links to their websites) for potential author studies.
-This is an overview of the author study research process and includes some of the tips we've covered and additional great information.