Rosalie Burns Gary Paulson Webquest

Introduction

Gary Paulsen is an American author who writes action adventure books for students. It is our goal to know about the life of our author and how or where he got his ideas for the book Hachet.This webquest is designed to ask students to think outside of the box and collaborate with thier peers to constuct artifacts that yeild the understanding of the text, the author, and the author's life.

This webquest is used in 6th grade reading, with an emphasis on research: more specifically an author study to gain background knowledge needed for students to scaffold.

Standards that are being used during this WebQuest

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.5
Analyze how a particular sentence, paragraph, chapter, or section fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the ideas.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.6
Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text.

Task

TASK

The purpose of this task is to accitivate and connect to background knowledge. When background knowledge is included this can activate the students schema to read strategically (Harvey & Daniels, 2009). This webquest does just that by having students collect information about the author and then conduct research on the author's life and interview the author.

How do writers get the information for their books. Research Gary Paulsen and interview him about how he gets the ideas for his books.

INFORMATIONAL SOURCES

http://www.randomhousekids.com/brand/gary-paulsen/about-gary-paulsen/- this website discusses Gary Paulsen's early childhood

https://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmr/mtai/paulsen.html-booklist of Gary Paulson's other books

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18.Gary_Paulsen- this website is a biography on the author

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/gary-paulsen- this website is a biography on the author

http://www.collierschools.com/ss/Docs/Hatchet.pdf- this website gives examples of the text and asks thought provoking questions.

Process

PROCESS (6th Grade Reading/Author Study)

First choose a Gary Paulsen book that you have read.(Hachet)

Second, Find a biography about Gary Paulsen and a research his background.

What was Mr. Paulsen's life like as a child? Where did Mr. Paulsen go to school? See additional questions below

Third conduct an interview with Gary Paulsen as if he is actually in your presence. The trick is that you must come up with the questions and you must also answer the questions as if you are Gary Paulsen. You must answer how you think he would answer based on your research.

Steps

1) Choose a book

2) Research the author

3) Conduct an interview with the author (make up what you think the author would say, based on what you researched.

GUIDANCE

THESE ARE SOME POTENTIAL QUESTIONS YOU COULD ASK IN YOUR INTERVIEW

What were you like at school?

Were you good at English?

What are your ambitions for your writing career?

Which writers inspire you?

So, what have you written?
(*Include books, novellas, short stories, poems, blogs, awards or anything of interest.)

Where can we buy or see them? (* include American, European and any other relevant links. Free, free promotions or prices can be included)

Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?

What are you working on at the minute?

What’s it about? (*if relevant)

What genre are your books?

What draws you to this genre?

Which actor/actress would you like to see playing the lead character from your most recent book?

How much research do you do?

Have you written any other novels in collaboration with other writers?

Why did you do decide to collaborate and did that affect your sales?

When did you decide to become a writer?

Why do you write?

What made you decide to sit down and actually start something?

Do you write full-time or part-time?

Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured?

Do you write every day, 5 days a week or as and when?

Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages per day?

Do you write on a typewriter, computer, dictate or longhand?

Where do the your ideas come from?

Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?

How do you think you’ve evolved creatively?

What is the hardest thing about writing?

What was the hardest thing about writing your latest book?

What is the easiest thing about writing?

How long on average does it take you to write a book?

Do you ever get writer’s Block?

Any tips on how to get through the dreaded writer’s block?

If this book is part of a series, tell us a little about it?

What are your thoughts on writing a book series.

Do you read much and if so who are your favourite authors.

For your own reading, do you prefer ebooks or traditional paper/hard back books?

What book/s are you reading at present?

Do you proofread/edit all your own books or do you get someone to do that for you?

Do you let the book stew – leave it for a month and then come back to it to edit?

Who edited your book and how did you select him/her?

Tell us about the cover/s and how it/they came about.

Who designed your book cover/s?

Do you think that the cover plays an important part in the buying process?

How are you publishing this book and why?
(*e.g. Indie, traditional or both)

What would you say are the main advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing against being published or the other way around?

How do you market your books?

Why did you choose this route?

Would you or do you use a PR agency?

Do you have any advice for other authors on how to market their books?

What part of your writing time do you devote to marketing your book?

What do you do to get book reviews?

How successful has your quest for reviews been so far?

Do you have a strategy for finding reviewers?

What are your thoughts on good/bad reviews?

Any amusing story about marketing books that happened to you?

What’s your views on social media for marketing?

Which social network worked best for you?

Any tips on what to do and what not to do?

Did you do a press release, Goodreads book launch or anything else to promote your work and did it work?

Did you get interviewed by local press/radio for your book launch?

Is there any marketing technique you used that had an immediate impact on your sales figures?

Did you make any marketing mistakes or is there anything you would avoid in future?

Why do you think that other well written books just don’t sell?

What do you think of “trailers” for books?

Do you have a trailer or do you intend to create one for your own book/s?
(* please provide a link to trailer if you have one)

Do you think that giving books away free works and why?

Did you format your own book?

In what formats is your book available?

If formatted by someone else, how did you select them and what was your experience?

How do you relax?

What is your favourite motivational phrase.

What is your favourite positive saying?

What is your favourite book and why?

What is your favourite quote?

What is your favourite film and why?

Where can you see yourself in 5 years time?

What is your favourite movie and why?

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Which famous person, living or dead would you like to meet and why?

If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why?

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Where do you see publishing going in the future?

Is there anything else you would like to add that I haven’t included?

How can readers discover more about you and you work?

Evaluation

Conclusion

The rational for this webquest is a author study that will help students build and develop reading skills, build critical thinking skills, improve writing skills, increase scaffolding, and expose students to different literary voices and styles.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

Each student will write a reflection of the interview.

The reflection will include a thank-you note to Gary Paulsen thinking him for the interview and listing 5 things that they did not know about Gary Paulsen, writing a book, or how authors came up with the ideas for their books.