Author's Chair (not just for primary school students)

I'm always keen to learn ways to help my students become better and more confident writers. Although my students are studying in their second language and are at the university level, I often find that primary and secondary school (K-12) teaching strategies also work with my learners - with adaptations. After all, we don't all suddenly start learning in a new way once we graduate from high school.

So when I came across the idea of Author's Chair last year I was curious to try it out with my students. Author's chair has been a part of primary school classrooms since the 80s and it involves a student sitting in a comfy chair or beanbag reading aloud their writing in front of the class. There is often a time for the listeners to reflect on what they heard, connecting it with their own experiences or asking the author questions.

What are the benefits of Author's Chair?

• Students get to hear what other students are writing
• Students write for an audience (rather than just the teacher)
• Students feel a sense of ownership and pride in what they write
• Writing becomes more social and less lonely
• It encourages listening and critical thinking
• It encourages more conversations about writing
• Students' confidence and motivation grows as they increasingly see themselves as authors

I believed my students would benefits from all of these.

How I started Author's Chair in my class

1. I introduced the concept of the Author's Chair at the end of one of our lessons. This gave the students time to mentally prepare to read their writing to the class (something they hadn't done before). 
2. Before the lesson, I contacted a few students individually to ask them if they were willing to be a "reading author" in the following lesson. All of them expressed a desire to do so.
3. When it was time for Author's Chair, I put up this slide: 
   
   (This was an online class, thus the virtual chair). I invited the "reading authors" one by one to turn on their mic and read aloud. This did not take a long time because the writing task was short.
4. Then I invited any other students to volunteer to read aloud. A couple of them chose to do so. 
5. After each student shared, class members were prompted to give a few words of encouragement and/or ask a question to the author. These ranged from a few comments in the chat to longer discussions about writing or life. 
6. I repeated the session once a week for the rest of the semester.

The results

Author's Chair sessions took between 15 and 30 minutes depending on how many authors read aloud. One of my concerns was whether the students would think Author's Chair was a valuable use of time. 

Through informal feedback in class and my end-of-course survey, I found that Author's Chair was actually many students' favourite part of our writing lessons. They commented that they appreciated the chance to share their writing in that space and also that they enjoyed hearing what others had written. 

Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

Author's Chair fosters conversations about writing

All of us who write come across challenges like choosing topics, expressing ideas, procrastination, writer's block, selecting details to include, research, paragraphing, and many more. Author's Chair often prompts conversations about writing, helping students learn from each other and showing them that they aren't alone in their struggles. 

"How did you come up with the idea to write about that?"

"What do you guys think about this character in my story? Is she believable?"

"I actually had a really hard time writing this paragraph."

"That sentence was really great!"

Author's Chair fosters rapport among students

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

The interactions and discussions that came about during Author's Chair were rich and meaningful. I got to know the students more and built rapport with them. Meanwhile, they also benefited from getting to know each other through their writing. As time went on and trust was built, some students felt more willing to share personal stories of hardship and heartbreak. It was inspiring to see the students encourage and support their classmates both as writers and as humans.

Author's Chair became a much-loved part of my writing course. It's not just children who benefit from sharing their writing through reading aloud and listening to others. It was well worth the time and I look forward to continuing it with my next batch of students.

• Could Author's Chair work in your situation?
• How do students share their writing with others in your class?