Forty Best-practices Instructional Activities

If I Were the Author
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40 Best-practices
Instructional Activities

Procedures: Students read an informational article. They explore questions about the author’s viewpoint, purpose, and style. After analyzing the text, students share their responses, feedback, and evaluations about the effectiveness of the selection. Invite students to summarize their ideas by completing the sentence, “If I Were the Author I would...”

Examples: This activity helps students identify text structures authors use to organize information: chronological, cause/effect, compare/contrast, and description. It can be used to focus students’ attention on how words and phrases are used to convey facts and opinions.

Variations: After collecting facts, ask students to brainstorm ways the information could be shared with a variety of audiences. “Who would benefit from knowing these facts?” “How would you share this information if you were the author?” “What decisions would you make to hook readers’ attention?” “How would you organize the information to be reader-friendly?”

Reading Strategies: Identify Author’s Purpose and Viewpoint, Draw Conclusions, Analyze Text Structure and Styles of Writing, Distinguish Fact From Opinion