WHAT IT IS:

From The Writing Strategies Book (Serravalo, 2017), Author’s Day is a sharing and publishing strategy for featuring student writing throughout the school year.

HOW IT WORKS:

The primary goal of the Author’s Day strategy is to feature student writing in a special and honoring way. Plan periodic Author’s Days at regular intervals (monthly, for example) during which a handful of students (3-5 is recommended) are featured as “Authors of the Day” (or month, etc.). To spread the word about the event, have students create marketing and promotional materials to share around the school or with family.

At the event, have the featured students perform activities such as:

• reading excerpts from their favorite writing (consider having students select from various genres)
• signing books (or printed manuscripts or class anthologies)
• author Q & As where audience members ask about writing process challenges or inspiration for writing (provide possible questions)
• and more! (remember, the goal is making the featured authors feel special and celebrated!)