Introduction

The Literary Agent WebQuest was developed to address New York State ELA Learning Standards for middle school.  It was created for sixth grade, but is easily adapted for other grades as well. Students explore the job of fiction writing as they take on the dual roles of literary agent and publisher as they read research and persuasively present a client and judge others' presentations. They develop reading writing speaking and listening skills.

Implementation Overview

Students should have some background knowledge of authors from book talks and discussions in class.

1. Introduce the unit with a discussion of the process by which a written work becomes a published book. A guest speaker, if possible, would bring life to this topic.
2. The class brainstorms the criteria that make good literature. Inspiration or other idea mapping software may be used to create a graphic of the brainstorm that the students can use to refer to for  the project.
3. The WebQuest should be introduced as a whole class activity on a large screen if possible as the teacher explains the process. The Introduction and the Task may be read together. The Process section is the one students will use to organize their work step by step.
4. Students explore the authors on the New York Public Library's Recommended Books List and choose an author. They must clear their choice with the teacher  before continuing.
5. Students print out their contracts from the Process section and fill them out with due dates for the subsections of the project.  Students teacher and guardians sign the contracts.
6. Student read their book selections and conduct research on their author using the resources provided on the WebQuest site.
7. Students prepare their presentations using the PowerPoint Storyboard template. It is important that they fill this in before they begin using the presentation software.
8. Using the PowerPoint QuickGuide, students complete their presentation. A tri-fold version of the QuickGuide is also available for teacher to print out and distribute. It needs to be printed on both sides. You must either have a duplex printer or print one side and then feed the paper back into the printer being careful to feed it in the right way. A trial run is advised. Students should be reminded to place only speaking points on the slide and to use the Notes section to elaborate on what they want to say in the actual presentation.
9. The teacher schedules the presentations and divides the class into Publishing Teams. Students have different roles on the teams. Each student listens for specific information which they then discuss in the team as they come up with a decision on which books to publish. Use the Publishers Notes to form teams and direct students.
10. The evaluation rubric can be used to assess student work. The rubric should be shared with students at the beginning of the project as well.

Curriculum Standards

This webquest addresses the NYS English Language Arts Learning Standards:

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.

Students will be reading a variety of texts including a novel,  and print and electronic research sources. They will write notes on their research, and analyze and synthesize information from these different sources. They will then write speaker notes and summary text for their presentations.

Students  will take notes from listening to presentations by peers, discuss their impressions with others in a group and come to a  consensus on the author's value.

Standard 2 - Language for Literary Response and Expression

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression.

Students will read a novel and conduct research and reflect on the merit and style of an author. They will choose a powerful or representative  excerpt and read it aloud to the class.

Standard 3 - Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation.

Students will use discussion to generate a list of criteria for judging literature. They will listen to peers' presentations and take notes in order to create an evaluation of the authors' work.

Standard 4 - Language for Social Interaction

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.

Students will participate in small and large group discussions.

Students will give a persuasive presentation to the class.

Students will listen to peers' presentations and use and build on the information to draw conclusions.