Guess the Author - Using Pseudonyms

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Grade Level

• Middle School

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Subject

• Literature

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Length of Time

• 1 Hour

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Description

• In this lesson, students will write a descriptive paragraph about themselves without revealing their physical description. They will sign their papers with a pseudonym so that nobody will know their identity except for themselves. This will take more than one class period to complete.

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Goals

• Students will learn:
  
  * How to write a descriptive paragraph about themselves without revealing their physical characteristics
  
  * That authors use different names to write stories and books.
  

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Materials Needed

• * Notebook Paper
  
  * Pencils and Erasers
  
  * Pens and Whiteouts
  

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Procedure

• First, you can tell the students that some authors want to write under a different name besides their real identity.
  
  Then, you can have the students write a paper describing their personality, their activities, or their interests, but not their physical description.
  
  After that, students will look over their paper to make sure they have not made any errors. If they have made errors, they need to edit and revise their papers before they submit them.
  
  When all of the students have submitted their papers, you will have them get out a clean sheet of paper so they can write down who they think wrote each paper while you read them.
  
  After you have finished reading the papers, you can have the students trade papers.
  
  Then, you will go back through the papers and ask the students to reveal their identities as you read each one.
  
  Students can check the paper they have and see how many are correct.
  
  
  

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Grading

• You can grade the students on their final paper they submitted. You can grade their sentence structure, punctuation, spelling, and grammar.

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