As a teaching librarian, one of my favorite things to ask authors is what brought them to the table. How did you become a writer? Why did you become a writer? And one of my favorite reads are writer trade secrets - thing like Stephen King's On Writing. And Strunk and White's Elements of Style is my go-to graduation gift. Thank you Ms. Warren for sharing your thoughts on what makes you write. Here's hoping it gets some other young writers to the table! |
English/Language Arts
Explore classic literature
Social Studies
Explore the connection between literature and history
Research Skills
Introduce and Reinforce Search Strategies
Explore classic literature
- Have student explore other works by Dickens. What are they familiar with? A Christmas Story? Oliver Twist? Don’t forget to point out some modern re-telling of classic Dickens tales, like David Levithan and Brian Selznick’s Marly’s Ghost. Or for the younger set, remind them of Disney's animated Oliver & Company.
- Author Warren encourages students to look to the history of their favorite writers. Have students take that journey. What else has their favorite writer written? Can they find information about a favorite author’s childhood or path to writing? Have students compare writer’s journeys exploring for correlations and connections
Social Studies
Explore the connection between literature and history
- Have students explore the era when Dickens wrote. Many of his stories are against the backdrop of poverty and the social systems (or lack thereof) in British society. Challenge students to see if they can uncover a link between political change and the publication and widespread appeal of Dickens's writing.
Research Skills
Introduce and Reinforce Search Strategies
- Combine this skill with the exploration of Writer’s craft outlined above. See if students can identify some strategies for finding out about authors’ personal histories. This is a logical time to introduce the strategy of looking for “About” links or “Bio” links on personal websites. This strategy will be useful in future searching as students look for validating credentials when evaluating the quality of information found on personal websites and blogs.
- Have students search for print books in the library on writers and writer’s craft. Challenge them to figure out the subject heading that will unlock the results they seek (FYI - It’s Authorship). Explore the 808 section of your library, or look for autobiographies by authors.
© Karen Sterling, 2017 - May be used for educational purposes without written permission