Meet the Author

Many teachers have students prepare "Meet the Author" reports to deliver to the class as a way of sharing author studies. Examining multiple works by the same author allows a student to notice similarities and differences, identify elements of style, and clarify personal reading preferences. Understanding an author's educational, cultural, and historical context can be essential in understanding that author's work.

Recording "Meet the Author" reports as podcasts allows the classroom community of learners to construct a library of peer-produced author biographies that could be used in a variety of extension activities after the fact. A student, in the same class or in a different school, could use the "Meet the Author" library as a resource for comparing and contrasting different authors. The library could also be used as a resource for genre study, and for discussions about the role of culture and historical events in the writing of a particular author or group of authors.

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