"I'm going to be an author just like Mo Willems!" When I heard this declaration from one of my students last year I realized just how powerful author studies can be. I longed to provide my students with the experience of studying more inspirational authors, but lacked the books necessary.
I teach in an urban public school with a diverse student population.
My students live in neighborhoods all over the city and come together every day to work with and learn from each other. I am inspired everyday by the drive my little ones have to explore the world around them.
One of my main goals as a first grade teacher is to foster a passion for reading and writing in my students that will last a lifetime. One of the ways I get the kids excited about reading and writing is by sharing high quality children's literature with them every day.
My Project
In my classroom, I teach my students not just how to read and write, but how to become authors. Everyday, the children participate in a writer's workshop, where they have time to write stories, poems, and other pieces of their own choosing. Through the writer's workshop, the children gradually begin to see themselves as authors.
One of the ways to foster the children's identities as authors is to help them study the works of published authors. Reading and discussing collections of books by individual authors allows us to study the tools that author uses, identify the characteristics that make that author's work unique, and begin to incorporate some of the author's tools and characteristics into our own writing.
My current collection of sets of books by individual authors is limited. I would love to open up our world of author studies to include such powerful writers as Leo Lionni, Nikki Grimes, Peter H. Reynolds, and more.
"I knew I wanted to be an author when I studied the work of Nikki Grimes in first grade." This is what I can imagine hearing 20 years from now from a published author and one of my former students.
Regardless of whether the children grow up to become writers or not, I know that through their participation in these powerful author studies, my students will build a love and respect for books and learning that will last with them throughout life.
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