1. Welcome: If I Was an Author…
Description: After researching influential people in Literature, students will pick a
persona they would most like to embody, give a presentation on them, and explain why
they chose that person.
Grade Level: 9-10th Graders
Curriculum: Reading/Language Arts/Literature
Keywords: authors, famous, biographies, literature, reading
Introduction: Imagine if you were a famous author. Who would you be? Today you’re
going to be able to decide! Students will research different people who are influential to
Literature today and place themselves in their shoes. Students will give a presentation to
the classroom about their persona, and then explain why they chose that particular
person
Task:



use the following website to research their author, poet, etc:
http://www.thefamouspeople.com/writers.php
with the above link, research additional information to be used to create a
presention (Prezi, PowerPoint) (Min 8 Slides)
after a few days in class, give visual and oral presentations to the class
Process:



You will use the following website to choose a specific author for your persona
You will do additional research and put together a presentation (Min 8 Slides)
explaining why you chose your persona as well as background information about
them
After creating a presentation, you will present it to the class
Evaluation:
Collecting
Data
Visual
Presentation
Oral
Presentation
Excellent
I collected
sufficient
data
I exceeded
the
minimum
amount of
slides
My oral
presentation
was well
Good
I collected a
fair amount
of data
I met the
minimum
amount of
slides
Satisfactory
Poor
I didn’t collect I collected
much data
little to no
data
I didn’t meet
I had less
the minimum than half of
amount of
the amount
slides
of slides or
none
My oral
My oral
My oral
presentation presentation
presentation
could’ve
was not well
was not
Score
10
20
20

2. rehearsed
and
coincided
with my
visual
presentation
been better
rehearsed,
and could’ve
coincided
slightly
more
rehearsed and
did not go
along with my
visual
presentation
at all
rehearsed at
all and
barely
coincided
with my
visual
presentation
Total:
50
Conclusion: You did it! Through this assignment, you were able to take on a different
persona and feel famous for a day. Hopefully you learned much about your author and
hopefully were inspired by them to follow in their footsteps and do great things.
For Teachers: This Webquest was designed to enhance student’s ability to conduct
research as well as enhance their ability to make and present an oral and visual
presentation. This assignment would work well for students who have already done
visual and oral presentations, but would also be great for practicing these skills as well.