Author Study Unit
Background Information:
This author study is designed using the Reading/Writing workshop model. Each class session is usually made up of 3 parts:
- Opening: 7-12 minutes (teacher-focused)
- Work time: 30-40 minutes (student-focused)
- Closing: 10-15 minutes (combination of teacher/student-focused)
Sometimes there is not a work time if there is heavy content to present to the students. The closing usually acts a reinforcer
of the content learned and also provides oppoturnities for the students to share their work. The teacher can then give
feedback on the student's work to help the students learn from their friends' work.
The expectations for the students are based on the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS).
These unit plans are meant to be a starting point and should be adjusted based on the student's background knowledge and
based on their interests and needs.
More books are available other than the 6 books used in the plans. The book Boy: Tales of Childhood is a biography
written for children. His website and fan website also have lots of information and resources.
Some materials that are needed every day are blank chart paper, markers, easel or board, dry erase markers, and all charts previously
made should be on display for reference.
Day 1:
Introduce the author unit, but don't tell who the author is. Tell the students that they'll be reading several books by
this mystery author. Tell them that you're going to read a short story called The Wish (on pages 15-18) to them written by the author an think about what you know
about the author based on the short story.
After reading, ask them what they can guess about the author. Write their speculations on the board/chart paper.
After all their speculations, ask them to guess who the author is. If they don't guess, tell them who the author is. Tell
them that some of his books have been turned into movies, but that we will be focusing on his books.
Show them some of the different books that are written by Roald Dahl that they might have read before (not the ones that
they will be reading).
Have them write some reactions to The Wish in their Reader's Notebooks.
(Materials: The Wish)
Day2:
Today you will introduce the titles of the five books that they will get to choose from. The students will write down their
top 3 choices and tell why next to each one. They should also write down if they've read any of them before.
Before having them choose, read a little blurp about each one (see pages 19 and 20). In addition, tell the reading level
for each of the books in case they want to make sure that the book is not too challenging for them.
The reading levels are as follows:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: R
Danny the Champion of the World: T
The BFG: U
The Witches: R
Matilda: S
If you have several students that are below grade-level in reading, you might want to use one of the following books:
The Magic Finger: N
The Enormous Crocodile: N
George's Marvelous Medicine: P
Fantastic Mr. Fox: P
James and the Giant Peach: Q
Look at the student's choices and try to match them with their first choice. If they've chosen one that you know will be
too difficult, you may want to match them up with another book.
It would also be an option to have the upper reading levels choose between the top list and the lower reading level choose
between the bottom list. It's important that the students feel successful reading their book so that they find the experience
to be enjoyable instead of being frustrated.
(Materials: All of the books, introductory statements about the books)
Day 3:
Re-read The Wish and then have the students respond to a topic in their Reader's Notebook. It's
a good idea to give them an approximate length to write. It might be 2 to 2.5 double spaced pages (composition notebook size
pages).
Topics:
Write about the character of the boy, talking to or about him.
Write about how the story reminds you of your own life.
Write about Roald Dahl and how the story is like or different from other Roald Dahl stories you've already read.
At the end of the period, collect the notebooks and evaluate the entries using a 3-point scale. A check says it is the
required length ("You did it."). A check minus says it was not long enough ("You did not do enough."). If the entry is the
required length and the student did a good job of citing textual evidence to support their comments, give it a check plus ("You
did a fabulous job!")
Make an overhead of the great examples for the students to see what they should shoot for.
(Materials: The Wish, topics written on the board)
Day 4:
Today you will set the expectations for students while working in small groups. Begin a discussion about how they should
expect to work in their small groups. Make a chart to hang in the room that lists the expectations that you come up with.
Group Work expectations:
Members agree to be respectful and polite to all members.
Members agree on a signal they will use to stop the reading and have a brief guesswording conversation.
Members will take turns reading aloud. Reading aloud can take 2 forms:
- Students take turns reading aloud a few paragraphs at a time
- Students take different character parts and narrator part (in parts of the text where there's a lot of dialogue)
Make a chart for things that each group needs to complete each day. Group Recording Rituals:
Members should have a brief conversation at the end of the Work Time and be prepared to share with the class
A member will be a "scribe" and write down the items to be added to the class attribute chart.
A member will be a "scribe" by writing down words/phrases to be added to the class language chart.
(Materials: books, charts)
Day 5:
Today you will introduce a guesswording activity to help the students know how to have appropriate conversations when they
come to words they don't know in their books.
Give each small group a list of words (see page 26) and the guesswording sheet (see page 27). The words are in the book
they are going to be reading. They should find the word in the book and write down the sentence it was used in on the form.
Using the context clues, they should decide on a definition for the word and write it on the form. They should then look
the word up in the dictionary to make sure that they were correct.
By doinf this activity, the students should be ready to attack words when they're reading by using context clues and helping
each other.
The students reading The BFG will have playful language and should not get hung up on it. They could make a list of
the BFG language to use as a reference as they read.
(Materials: books, charts, vocabulary words, copies of guesswording sheets)
Day 6:
Today the groups will begin reading their books after an introduction to the atrribute chart. (Note: The groups should be
able to read about 15 pages a day for the next 13 class days). Tell the students that at the end of this class period they
should be able to fill in the main character and start to fill in the other characters as they are introduced to them.
The parts of the attribute chart:
The name of the main "kid" character
The names of characters who are bullies, meannies, or just plain silly or selfish
The names of characters who are good and helpful
A statement of the main conflict in the story
A statement of the resolution of the conflict in the story
Brief statements of unfair/silly situations in the story
Let the students get into their reading groups and circulate the room to assist and facilitate when needed.
(Materials: books, charts)
Day 7:
Today you will create the language chart to be used throughout the author study. You could have one main chart on butcher
paper or separate charts for each of the books.
Introduce the language chart(s) to the students by telling them that good writers use different types of language that makes
the story more interesting and entertaining to read. Good readers notice the use of language and notice that it makes the book
a good book to read.
Discuss the "vivid verb" section and give some examples. Ask the students for some examples.
Discuss the comparisons/similes and images section and give some examples. Ask the students for some examples.
Dicuss the Language We Liked category and give some examples. Ask the students for some examples.
Make sure that they know that sometimes some phrases might be able to fit in more than one category. They don't need to argue
about where to put it. It's just important that they can recognize good language.
You might also want to point out that some words are spelled slightly different in England than we spell them. If they see
any other different spellings, they can take note and share with the class.
Some examples are:
color = colour
tire = tyre
favorite = favourite
rumor = rumour
jewelry = jewellery
Let the students get into their reading groups and circulate the room to assist and facilitate when needed.
(Materials: books, charts)
Day 8:
Today's focus will be identifying the main conflict in their books. (Note: they should have read about 30 pages by today)
Tell the students that the conflict of the story is sometimes called the problem. Ask them what the conflict was in
The Wish.
Tell them that while reading today, they should begin to discuss and try to identify the conflict in their books. They
should also begin to record unfair or silly situations they've read about and the other parts of the attribute chart.
Let the students get into their reading groups and circulate the room to assist and facilitate when needed.
(Materials: books, charts)
Day 9:
Today's focus will be on writing responses in reading notebooks about the book they're reading.
Tell the students that they will have their small group reading time as usual and that at the end of the time when the
class usually meets together they will write a response to the book they're reading. Tell them that the topics are on the
chart or give them a copy.
Let the students get into their reading groups and circulate the room to assist and facilitate when needed.
When it's time to write responses, tell the students that they should write about 2 to 2.5 pages double-spaced. They should
label their paper with their name, which topic they are writing about, the title of the book they're reading, and the date.
They should turn in their papers and these should be graded in the same 3-point scaled mentioned earlier. Make
overheads of the good examples to share with the class the next day.
Response Topics:
Prediction: Write what you think might happen later in the book. Explain in detail why you think that. What has
happened so far that makes your prediction likely?
Personal Response: Write about something in your book that reminds you of your own life. Explain what is similar in your
life to the events or ideas you read about in the book.
Character Response: Write about one of the characters in your book; talk either to or about this character. Clearly
explain your thinking.
Author Response: Write about Roald Dahl and how your book is like or different from other Roald Dahl books or stories you
already know. Also, you can talk about the way Roald Dahl writes, commenting on his plots, the language used, characters,
settings, etc.
Interpretative Questions: Use some of these sentence starters to explore your thinking about what you have read so far:
Why did...? How could...? I wonder if... What if...? Why would...? Is this because...? What will happen when...? I like
the idea of... I was surprised...
*When you use these, continue writing by exploring some possible answers to your questions. Use examples from your book
to explain why these answers might be possible.
Note Taking/Note Making: Copy an important sentence or two from your book and then write your response about them. You
can choose sentences simply because you like the writing, or you can choose a sentence that you think is important and tell why.
Open Mind: Inside the outline of a human head, put words, phrases and drawings to show what you think might be inside a
character's head at an important part of your book. Then, write and explain why those thoughts and images would be in that
person's mind at that point.
(Materials: books, charts, photocopied list of response topics or written on a chart)
Day 10:
At the beginning of the lesson, share the good examples of responses that were done the day before. These good examples
should have done a good job explaining their thinking and citing text details.
Then, go over the Response Topics again and tell them that they'll have another chance to write a response and have it graded.
Let the students get into their reading groups and circulate the room to assist and facilitate when needed.
Tell the students that it's time to start their responses for the day. They should choose a different topic than the one they
chose the day before.
They should turn in their papers and these should be graded in the same 3-point scaled mentioned earlier. Make
overheads of the good examples to share with the class the next day.
(Materials: books, charts)
Days 11 and 12:
Continue working on reading the books and adding to the attribute chart. Every part except for the Resolution of the Main
Conflict should be filled in or partially filled in on the attribute chart. (Note: The students should be half way through
their books tomorrow)
Open the lesson with any instruction that seems to be needed at this point.
Let the students get into their reading groups and circulate the room to assist and facilitate when needed.
(Materials: books, charts)
Day 13:
Today's focus will be on reading with expression.Tell the students that reading aloud well takes practice and there are some things they should remember when reading aloud.
They should try to do these strategies while reading aloud today.
Read aloud strategies
Pay attention to the punctuation- pause at commas, pause longer at periods.
Pay attention to the content in the sentences- if a character is surprised, excited or sad, reflect that emotion in how
you say their words.
Read the dialogue so that it really sounds like people talking- read aloud so that a listener can hear a difference between
the dialogue parts and the author's narration.
Let the students get into their reading groups and circulate the room to assist and facilitate when needed.
(Materials: books, have chart called "Read Aloud Strategies" prepared, charts)
Day 14:
Today the students will be writing another response and turning it in at the end of the period.
Tell the students that they will be writing another response today and turning it in to be graded. They will need to
choose a response topic that they haven't chosen yet. Compare the response topics with the reading/literature standards.
Let the students get into their reading groups and circulate the room to assist and facilitate when needed.
Tell the students that it's time to start their responses for the day. They should choose a different topic than the one they
chose the day before.
They should turn in their papers and these should be graded in the same 3-point scaled mentioned earlier. Make
overheads of the good examples to share with the class the next day.
(Materials: books, charts, reading/literature standards)
Days 15 and 16:
Today the students will continue to work on reading their books. Some groups may have finished theirs and be ready to start
another one. Have other books available for those who do finish their book early. If a group has more pages than they can read
in the next four class periods (more than 60 pages), then they need to put in extra time reading their book and decide as a
group when they'll do that (during recess, lunch, HW).
At the beginning of class, let the students who got a check plus on their responses share them. Have the rest of the
class point out the things that they did well.
Let the students get into their reading groups and circulate the room to assist and facilitate when needed.
(Materials: books, extra books, charts)
Day 17:
By today, the students have either finished their books or will finish by tomorrow. They will do their last response in
their notebooks today.
Tell the students that they will do a response at the end of class today. They should plan on choosing a topic that they
have not written about yet. Tell them that they will be taking the responses they're writing and using them as a resource
to write a final essay.
Ask the students what they need to do to earn a check plus on their responses.
Let the students get into their reading groups and circulate the room to assist and facilitate when needed.
Tell the students that it's time to start their responses for the day. They should choose a different topic than the one they
chose the day before.
They should turn in their papers and these should be graded in the same 3-point scaled mentioned earlier. Make
overheads of the good examples to share with the class the next day.
(Materials: books, charts)
Day 18:
Today the groups will start to work on their presentations. All books must be finished by today.
Return the graded responses to the students and let anyone who hadn't gotten a check plus share theirs with the class.
Then, tell the students that they will start working on their presentations today.
The presentation has 2 parts:
- A group member should read the attribute chart for their book to the class.
- The group will do a Reader's Theater on a certain part of the book. This part should be one that does a good job of
illustrating the characters in the book or an important event in the book. They will read this part aloud to the class.
Tell the students that during class today they should choose which part of the book they will use for the Reader's Theater.
They should also decide who is going to read each part. After that, they should practice reading the parts together. They
will present the Reader's Theater the next day (you may allow another day for rehearsal if necessary).
Let the students get into their reading groups and circulate the room to assist and facilitate when needed.
(Materials: books, charts)
Day 19:
The Reader's Theater presentations are taking place today. The order of the groups should have been decided yesterday.
After each group presents, let the class give them feedback on their presentation.
After all of the presentations, discuss the books as a class. See what similarities the books seem to have.
Let the students get into their reading groups and circulate the room to assist and facilitate when needed.
(Materials: books, charts)
Day 20:
Today's focus will be to identify the themes of the different books with supporting evidence.
Tell the students that after hearing about these books, that they should know some things about Roald Dahl as a writer.
There are certain messages he's trying to tell the reader in his books. Ask them what themes he's trying to convey to the
readers.
Themes/Generalizations Shared by Roald Dahl's novels: (these are some- see pages 59 and 60 for more details)
All who are mean and treat children badly are evil, and therefore, must be punished.
Orphans or only children appear often in his books. They start off weak, but by being brave, kind, and honest, with help
from a good, friendly, and helpful other, they become heroes.
Childhood can be lonely and frigthening, and there are some mean and rotten adults in the world.
While good prevails in all his novels, they are not sentimental tales of childhood. Some drastic and extreme consequences
happen to the villains.
It is okay to be different, and you can be happy even if you're different. The important thing is to be loved by
someone.
He does not say positive things about school. He implies that children can learn more from books and helpful adults.
If an adult is a parent or a grandparent, they should be a "sparky" one.
The highest and best qualities of a person's character are courage, practicality, and "sparkiness."
Children long to be treated fairly.
(Materials: books, charts)
Day 21:
Today will focus on preparation for the final Response to Literature.
Tell the students that today they will prepare to start writing their final Response to Literature tomorrow. The final
response should show evidence of all they've learned and their thoughts. Tell them that there are two main topics that they
can choose from.
Topic 1: Focusing on the themes
What do you think about what is on some of the themes?
How do some of the Roald Dahl books fit or illustrate one or two of the themes?
How are most of the Roald Dahl books alike? What are their similarities?
How do the themes in the books reflect what you know about being a kid? How do they reflect what you know about life?
How are some of the events that happen in the books similar or different from what has happened in your own life?
Topic 2: Focusing on the author & the literature
What do you think about the plots and settings in the books?
What do you think about the characters in the books?
What do you think about the words, phrases, sentences, and images found in the books?
Which books do you think are better? Why?
Are there any differences among the books?
What do you think about Roald Dahl? What questions do you have about him, and why?
Discuss each of the topics and the sub-questions. Then, tell the students that they should re-read all of their responses.
They should choose which topic they want to respond to. They can then start highlighting things they wrote that they can use
in their final response. After highlighting, the students can cluster, map, or outline their responses as a brainstorm before
starting their final response.
(Materials: charts, responses)
Day 22:
Today the students will write their first draft of their Response to Literature.
Start the class by telling the students that they will start writing their first draft today. They should use the charts
in the room to help them as well as their previous responses. Tell them that they should have gone through their responses
yesterday and highlighted things that they're going to use in their final response. They should also have an outline, web, or
some other brainstorm before they start writing.
Tell them that they should be sure to answer each of the questions under the topic they choose. Each question should be
answered with their thoughts and with examples from 2 of the books. Tell them that they might organize it into paragraphs by
using each question as a separate paragraph with an introduction and closing paragraph too.
Let the students get to work on their rough drafts and circulate the room to assist and facilitate when needed.
Afterwards, tell the students that tomorrow they'll meet with a partner to get feedback before they continue writing. If they
did not write enough today, they can take it home and work on it for homework.
(Materials: books, responses)
Day 23:
Today the students will receive feedback from a partner and continue their first draft of their Response to Literature.
Explain to the students that when they are ready to conference with a partner, there is a certain process they should
follow.
Partner Process:
- One person reads their response.
- The partner listens carefully and responds to the following:
- Does the piece make sense? Are there places where a reader might get confused or not understand what the writer is
saying?
- Have most of the questions in that topic been addressed? Are there important questions in that topic that the writer
hasn't talked about yet?
- Are there at least two examples and details from his books used to support each answer to the questions? What are some
obvious examples that could be added?
- The partners talk together about the writing. The partner helps the writer find the places where more needs to be added
and where changes need to be made.
- Now, the other person reads their response and the partner does the steps above.
After those working with partners finish with their conference, they should continue working on their response. Those who were
not ready to meet with a partner at the beginning may be ready during class and can find someone else who is ready to conference.
Afterwards, tell the students that tomorrow they should start class with their first draft finished. If they did not
finish today, they can take it home and work on it for homework. Tomorrow they will look for mistakes in spelling, punctuation,
capitalization, and grammar.
(Materials: books, responses)
Day 24:
Today the students will edit their first draft of their Response to Literature.
Start the class by telling the students that they will be editing their response for mistakes in spelling, punctuation,
capitalization, and grammar. They will also need to make sure that they have separate paragraphs for each of the different
questions in their topic.
After they have finished editing, they should re-write their draft to be their final published copy. If they do not
finish their final draft at school, they will need to finish it for homework.
When they turn in their final copies, they should staple the first draft behind their final copy along with their brainstorm.
Instead of grading this on a 3-point scale, a 5-point scale will be necessary for these final responses. See the rubric
provided on pages 76 and 77 that you may use (it correlates with the standards for reading/literature). Before grading any
responses, look at the example papers and teacher commentary provided in the back of the book.
After grading the responses and returning them, have the students write a letter to you answering the following questions.
Reflection on My Response Questions:
Did they get the grade they expected?
Why do they think they got that grade?
What, if anything, do they now realize that they should have done differently?
What will they do the next time they have an assignment like this?
(Materials: responses)
Day 25- Last Day:
This lesson should take place a day or two after the students get their graded responses back. The purpose is to wrap
up the author study and bring the class full circle back to the standards for the next unit of study.
Ask the students what they think of this author study. How was it different than seeing the movies? How was it
different than reading one of his books on your own?
Then, go over the standards and ask the students to quietly reflect on their progress with the standards. Have them meet
with their groups again to share their thoughts about their progress on the standards. Walk around and also give your
input as the groups talk.
Then, have the students write a letter to you telling you about their progress with the standards.
Reflection on the standards:
What standards do you think you've achieved?
What standards do you need to work on?
What standards are you unsure of and don't really understand?
Have them turn in this letter to you and in addition to the previous letter and the graded responses, you have feedback
about which things the students still need to learn the remainder of the year.
After the letters are turned in, read a chapter from Boy: Tales of Childhood, a memoir written for children about
Roald Dahl. After reading this excerpt, announce the name of the next chapter, "The Great Mouse Plot," and see how many
students decide to read the book!
(Materials: excerpt from Boy: Tales of Childhood, which is found on pages 70-74)
Other Additional Activities:
Rewrite the stories by changing the characters, setting or events.
Explore his website that is very entertaining.