Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes, 412 words
Primary Audience: K-8 teachers, literacy coaches
What do you do when browsing at a bookstore or library? If you’re like me, you pick up the ones whose covers catch your eye, read the blurb, and check out the author bio. I love getting to know the author just a little bit through their bio–it often helps me decide if the book I’m holding is coming home with me or returning to the shelf.
The Context: After weeks of generating ideas, trying on new strategies, drafting potential pieces, choosing one to revise, and then editing, it’s time to publish! Publishing looks different depending on your grade level, but there is a publishing strategy that works for any age: adding an About the Author or Author Bio page.
Here’s Why: Adding an About the Author or Author Bio to a piece is an authentic publishing practice. The majority of published writing includes an author bio, from novels to textbooks to newspaper articles. Writing an author bio is one more way we can build students’ identities as authors.
Another reason to add an About the Author page is that it’s fun! Students love to write about themselves, and their readers enjoy reading it. It’s a strategy that keeps students engaged at the end of a unit and sneaks in a little more writing at the end of the writing process.
One Small Shift: If your students are ready for it, you can teach students how to write an author bio to compliment the piece they have written. Teach them that author bios serve to establish an author’s credibility and create a connection between the author and readers. Gather some examples of author bios that match the genre they are with–think non-fiction authors whose bios tell about their degrees and experiences related to the topic, novelists who share a fact about themselves that relate to a character or theme in their story, and journalists who tout prizes they have won. Ask students to think about what they could share that about themselves that connects to the piece they are publishing and add that into their About the Author page. Here’s an example of a 5th grade About the Author page that goes with a persuasive essay about why the author thinks hoodies are better than jackets:
Go Deeper: If you want more ideas on this topic, check out Betsy Hubbard’s post “Starting With Publishing in Mind: About the Author.”
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