Author's Purpose Lesson Plans
Author's purpose lesson plans can help students better understand what they are reading.
By Lesley Roberts
In order to better understand what they are reading, students are taught to identify an author's purpose. There are three main purposes, and those are to inform, to entertain, or to persuade. Teachers can also explain these terms in the following way: to inform usually means providing information, to entertain usually means enlisting emotions and feelings, and to persuade usually means influencing others.
Most teachers know that when an author is writing to inform, it is their goal to enlighten the reader with subjects that are typically real and factual. Few opinions are expressed. Teacher can teach their students to recognize that the facts in an informational passage are used to teach, not to persuade. Examples of informative texts include: cookbooks, encyclopedias, historical accounts, newspapers and news magazines. These examples can be posted in the classroom to give students a real-world example of informative writing.
When authors are writing to entertain, their goal may be to tell a story or to describe characters, places, or events (real or imaginary). Authors also usually try to touch the emotions or feelings of their readers by including expressive or descriptive words in their writing. Examples of entertaining texts include: plays, poems, stories, jokes, or even comic strips. These can be used to strengthen students' ability to pick out intended feelings or emotions.
Additionally, students should learn that when author's write to persuade, their goal is to get the reader to agree with their opinion. This type of writing is opinionated, but the author may provide facts and examples to support the opinion. The author may also be trying to get the reader to take some type of action by using inflammatory language. Examples of persuasive texts include: commercials, advertisements, and editorials. These examples can also be posted in the classroom as examples. Students can use these to predict what the author is trying to get them to do or recognize.
Additional strategies to teach the concept of author's purpose include collecting various writing samples from a number of sources and allowing students to use them grab-bag style to practice identifying the purpose of each sample. Teachers can also collect samples of environmental text to assist readers in determining the author's purpose. Medicine bottles, vegetable cans, cereal boxes, fast food wrappers, book covers, store posters, and newspaper and magazine ads are good sources for this activity. The following lesson plans can be used to help teach author's purpose.
Author's Purpose Lesson Plans:
Students examine newspaper articles, comic books, cookbooks, encyclopedias, and other forms of written materials, discussing the authors' purposes for writing. They read teacher-selected articles and write an explanation of the author's purpose.
Students examine classic fairy tales and their variations. They read and view a variety of fairy tale versions, compare and contrast the author's purpose and use of motifs, and use an interactive website to construct a Venn diagram with their observations.
Students study a biography as part of their exploration of an author's purpose.