The Author’s Chair is a teaching strategy in which students get the opportunity to present books that they have written themselves to their class. Before students can present their work to their class, their work is peer-edited or edited by the teacher during Writer’s Workshop. Students can also add illustrations to their books. To read more about Author’s Chair, read Nancy Jang’s blog post on Scholastic. I have it linked below.
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/blog-posts/nancy-jang/celebrate-writing-and-young-authors/
What I like about this strategy is that it works across grade levels. You can do this with younger students and older students. Even middle schoolers and high schoolers can do this. Author’s chair would look different across grade levels. For example, older students may not use illustrations for their stories because they would write longer stories that are more age-appropriate. These stories would of course be short stories because there’s not enough time to read a novel to the class. Regardless of age, this strategy gives young writers the opportunity to celebrate their creative writing. When students feel like they are being celebrated for their writing, and when they write about topics they are passionate about, they can foster a love of writing. That love of writing is something I believe is important because it is a form of self-expression. Author’s Chair not only lets writers express themselves, but when they read their writing aloud, they can express themselves to others.
While thinking about how Author’s Chair would work for older students, one potential drawback that came to mind was that older students may not be eager to share their writing like students in the primary grades. In fact, they may be too shy to share their writing in front of their peers. As students get older, they resent being in the spotlight because they learned about its potential for humiliation. Students in the primary grades have yet to learn what that humiliation is, so they are excited to just express themselves and share what they made with the world. With this concern in mind, I would argue that as long as teachers have a positive attitude about writing and make students feel comfortable about their writing, this is an obstacle that can be overcome. In my senior year of high school, I took a creative writing class because I realized how much fun making your own stories can be at a young age. My teacher had us share our mystery stories with the class, and I was very shy in high school. At the same time, I was so proud of my mystery that I could not wait to share it with my classmates. I didn’t go first, but I was ready. My teacher created that atmosphere in which we could all share our writing in a non-judgemental way. The classroom felt like we were sitting around the campfire telling stories. My story was so long that it went into the next class, and one thing my teacher told me was that I had her interested in what would happen next. As shy as I was in high school, I could not wait to share next class. Next class, I had everyone’s attention, and nothing made me feel better. When the story was over, I got so much praise from my classmates that I would be happy to share another story. The moral of this story is that as long as a teacher can create that “community of writers” mentality, older students will be more than happy to share their work. I know if I had the opportunity to share a story I was really proud of, I would do it again. If teachers can build that community of writers, I’m sure students of all ages would be proud to share their writing.
