{"id":4105,"date":"2022-05-29T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-29T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itslitteaching.com\/?p=4105"},"modified":"2022-08-02T10:28:51","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T15:28:51","slug":"author-study-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itslitteaching.com\/author-study-project\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Teach the Best Author Study Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Coming up with a final project for the Creative Writing class you’re teaching can be tough. How do you create a project that is engaging and rigorous?<\/strong> How do you incorporate differentiation and enough mentor texts? One solution to this problem is having your students complete an Author Study Project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Author Study Project, at least the way I’ve done it, asks students to study one author’s writing style in-depth.<\/strong> After they have a thorough understanding of their author’s style, they must then replicate that author’s style in an original work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you like the idea but want to skip the prep work, grab my Author Study Project here<\/a>. Otherwise, you can use the steps below to create your own!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author Study Project Step 1: Let Your Students Explore Authors <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first step in doing an Author Study Project with your students is to have them choose authors to study.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a truly successful Author Study Project<\/a>, do some prep work first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prep Work<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you ask a class what authors they’d like to study, you’ll probably get a lot of blank faces. Instead, give them the opportunity to explore some different ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recommend having a list of authors from which students can pick.<\/strong> This should help prevent overwhelm in students and speed the process along. You can also make sure that a wide variety of authors are chosen this way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recommend avoiding having students study novelists, or at least, authors who are exclusively novelists.<\/strong> Poets and short story writers are better options if you want students to be able to finish this project in a timely manner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you specifically want students to write poetry, then limit their options further to just poets. Conversely, if you want every student to write a single short story, then only let them choose from short story writers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a student feels strongly about studying a particular author, you can always approach this on a case-by-case basis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let Students Explore Their Author Options<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Then explain the project to your class. They need to understand that they’ll be reading and studying this author in-depth and for a while. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’ve been studying any authors in class, remind students of these names.<\/strong> For example, if you’ve been doing poetry analysis as a daily warm-up<\/a>, you can list all of the authors you’ve read on the board. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, give your students time to explore their author choices. When I did this, I set up a kind of book tasting.<\/strong> Students could walk around the room and each table had a different selection of authors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This took a whole class period. I walked around the room discussing possible options with students. If there was a particular poet I thought a student would like, I made an effort to show them that author’s work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this, I recommend getting your school’s librarian involved if you have the privilege of having one in your building.<\/strong> My librarian was super excited to make me some delicious piles of poets and short story authors. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\""How<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Author Study Project Step 2: Have Students Study Their Author In-depth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once students have chosen an author, they need to start studying that author’s style. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s helpful to give students parameters for this step.<\/strong> What exactly should they be examining? What should they be looking for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’ve covered any literary terms during your class, now is the time to review those. Have students identify their author’s favorite types of figurative language techniques, mood and tone, diction, and structure. Don’t forget to have students look for any common themes, genres, or topics in their author’s work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This step will take as long as you let it. Students may have to do some reading outside of class depending on how long your class periods and semesters are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n