While some student are intrinsically motivated during independent writing time, unfortunately that is not the case for all. It is one of those times of the school day where student accountability is most warranted. There are many ways to motivate students during independent writing, and Author’s Chair has always been one of my personal favorites!
Not only does it get students more excited to write, but it also allows them to practice standards-based skills such as speaking and listening, reading fluency, and asking and answering questions.
Whether you’d done Author’s Chair before or are interested in trying it out for the first time with your students, here are some ideas below (as well as FREE printables!) that can be easily incorporated in the classroom.
How Does Author’s Chair Work?
Whenever the kids have completed a piece of writing that they can be proud of (journal writing, final draft of an assignment, etc.), they have the option to sign up to be a featured author. You might have them reserve a slot on an official Author’s Chair sign up sheet:
With my own classes over the years, I’ve had students fill in their name, the title of their writing piece, as well as the genre of their writing. If you prefer a simplified version, I also have 2 other templates with “Name” and “Title” only or just a spot for them to write their name.
I would typically just go down the list in order, and have the featured author read their work aloud to the class during Author’s Chair (a time that was set aside every Friday). No matter when or how often you decide to do Author’s Chair, it’s something that your class will look forward to!
Setting the Stage for Author’s Chair
When a student reads their writing in front of the class, you might have him/her sit in a special designated chair. Any chair will do, but here’s a cute example of one from @saralynnkirby on Instagram (in case you might like something with a little more flair)!
Another idea is to have the featured author use a special class microphone when they read their writing aloud to the class (you can get extra use out of the mic for other parts of the day too, such as Morning Meetings)!
Author’s Chair had always been a hit with students to begin with, but once I added the novelty of the microphone, I do remember noticing a considerable increase in sign-ups. It’s the little things that are always a big deal!
Audience Participation During Author’s Chair
After a student finishes reading aloud their work to the class, you could open it up to a couple of questions or comments to encourage active listening from the audience. When I first started doing this, I noticed that the kids made very similar comments or asked the same types of questions over and over. I wanted to find a way to guide them to more thoughtful responses than, “I liked it” or “It was really good.”
I started having them use Author’s Chair Response cards, and these cards were extremely helpful for the kids in asking different types of questions and giving more meaningful feedback to the author.
I laminated a class set and had the kids keep it in their writing folders. They’d bring their card with them when going to sit on the carpet as members of the audience during Author’s Chair. It makes for a helpful visual reference when it is time to ask questions and give comments to the author.
Where can I find the Author’s Chair resource?
If you’d like to use the student sign-up sheets and response cards for Author’s Chair with your class, they are available right here in my online store and also on TPT. Or, if you’d like them for FREE, click here to sign up for my email list and you’ll be sent a free copy to download.
The resource also includes a digital Google Slides version if you might want to project the questions onto a screen in the classroom:
More Teaching Ideas for Writing
You might also like these blog posts about independent writing in the classroom:
Do you do Author’s Chair or something similar with your students? If so, what are some of your favorite ideas you have implemented with it? And if this is something new you would like to start trying out with your class, I would love to hear how it goes!
