Lesson Plan : THE THREE MAIN AUTHOR'S PURPOSE

Teacher Name:
 Mrs. jordan
Grade:
 Grade 4
Subject:
 Language Arts

Topic:
 In this lesson, students will identify and use unique characteristics of texts to determine an author�s purpose as, persuade, inform, or entertain.
Content:
 three main authors purposes
Goals:
 to get finished in 1 period!
Objectives:
 Write only what is in quotations on the white board, in this order: Inform the students, �The time is 12:15 pm.� Entertain the students, �What happens when it rains cats and dogs?� Answer with, �You have to be careful not to step in a poodle.� Persuade the students, �I think wearing yellow is way better than wearing green and you should think that too. You should stop wearing green, and start wearing yellow.� Tell students, "Authors usually write for one of three purposes." Point to the first statement on the white board, repeat the statement, then ask students, "Why did I write this?" Respond, "Yes, that's correct, to tell someone the time. Time is a fact and a piece of information, like an address, your birthday, or a definition. That is also the first purpose authors write." Point to the joke on the white board, repeat it, and ask students, "Why do author's write jokes?" Respond, "Good thinking, to make people laugh and have fun, which are both ways people entertain." Ask, "Are jokes facts?" Respond with, "That's correct, jokes are not facts, but you are right jokes do entertain, which is the second of the three main author's purposes." Read the last statement on the white board, Ask students, "Why would an author write this?" Respond, "Great, that's correct, to try to get someone to change teams, which means they would have to like different stuff, and change their opinions or beliefs about the original team. Is this a purpose for writing?" Respond, "You're right, it is a purpose for writing." Purpose : Tell students, �Today we're going to look at texts with three different purposes . You will learn how the text of each purpose is unique. Then, using what is unique, you will determine if an author's purpose is to, inform, persuade , or entertain." Rationale : Tell students, "When you identify, and use unique characteristics of texts to determine an author�s purpose, you understand how and why authors write. When you categorize texts by the author�s purpose, you can evaluate and prioritize the relevance of the text to your life and the world around you. You need to know how to identify and use unique characteristics of texts to determine an author�s purpose as inform, persuade , or entertain , so students can think critically, and make informed decisions about, what you can read, what you are required to read, and what you want to read." Place the three, large print, authors� purposes printouts, in a row in the middle of the table. Have students make charts with the headings of inform, persuade, and entertain; subheadings of characteristics, purpose synonyms, and types of books and have students fill in the large Explain, �When an author�s purpose is to inform, the author will explain, direct, or teach something to the reader using non-fiction. Characteristics of texts that identify when the author�s purpose is to inform are; the texts may be packed with facts, or give directions, the texts will contain few or no opinions, and may use language highly specified to the topic. The author�s purpose of phone books, reference books, text books, all non-fiction books, historical documents, current events, and how-to books will always be to inform.� Hold up the dictionary, while explaining, point to, and show the students what is being explained about the text, �The dictionary contains factual definitions that inform. You can hear the facts when I read a few of them (read a few definitions aloud to the students). The dictionary is not full of opinions, it is a reference book, and dictionaries do not try to persuade us to buy anything or change our minds. Dictionaries do not try to get us to take any action, and we can clearly observe that by skimming over the pages before the definitions.� Place the dictionary in the inform pile; ask students, �Does everyone agree? Show me by holding your thumb up, down, or to the side for yes, no, or not sure.� Explain, �When an author�s purpose is to persuade, the author tries to reason with and convince the reader to believe or not believe something. Persuasive texts try very hard, using pleading, to get the reader to do something or not do something. Characteristics of texts that identify when the author�s purpose is to persuade are; they often use text in all capitals when not necessary, repeated words or phrases like many questions, texts that focus on selling you something, the text could have actual number prices included in the text, texts that present a strong opinion or emotional one-sided arguments. All commercials and advertisements are persuasive texts as well as editorials and political speeches� Hold up an advertisement from a magazine, while explaining, point to and show the students what is being explained about the text, �Notice this here the text is using all capitals, here they plead with us to buy these shoes, and here the text wants me to believe that the shoes will make me run faster. Place the advertisement from a magazine in the persuade pile; ask students, �Does everyone agree? Show me by holding your thumb up, down, or to the side for yes, no, or not sure.� Explain, �When an author�s purpose is to entertain, the author wants to provide the reader with an enjoyable, interesting reading experience or tell a story that affects emotions. Characteristics of texts that identify when the author�s purpose is to entertain are; a variety of details that paint a picture in the readers� imagination, some have large portion of dialogue, but most do not try to teach or explain information, few or none have high pressure persuasion, they may contain some facts but the majority of the text is a fabrication by the author in the form of fiction. Types of texts that entertain are; comic books, children�s books, novels, poetry, plays, short stories, most fiction, fantasy books, joke books, graphic novels, and comic books or comic strips.� Hold up a children�s book, while explaining, point to and show the students what is being explained about the text, �Notice how the words vividly describe a magical place but they don�t try to convince you that it really exists, notice there are no definitions or facts, and the book is fiction. Place the children�s book in the entertain pile; ask students, �Does everyone agree? Show me by holding your thumb up, down, or to the side for yes, no, or not sure.� Take the next text in the stack, pass the text around the table, instruct, and �Determine for yourself what the author�s purpose is.� After a few minutes hold the text up and ask the students to show a number of fingers for what they have determined the purpose of the text is, one finger for inform, two for persuade, and three for entertain. Put the text in the middle of the table and call on each student, "Defend your answer by pointing at and explaining one of characteristics in the text you used to determine the author's purpose." Repeat this for all students and the rest of the stack of texts. End with a non-example, picking up a thank you card, explain, "This thank you card does not fit into any of the three categories, so remember, these are just the three main author�s purposes we will learn about more later." Give each student a book or a type of text. Instruct the students, "Look at what I gave you for a minute."�Tell us the author's purpose. Show us, and explain to us which characteristics of the text you used to determine the author's purpose.""Why is it important to be able to identify an author's purpose?"
Materials:
 Author�s Purpose Worksheets Author�s Purpose Quiz a variety of texts for examples: newspapers, story books, science books, advertisements, recipes, magazines, a phone book, social studies books, a dictionary, an atlas one sheet of paper with 'inform' typed in huge font one sheet of paper with 'persuade' typed in huge font one sheet of paper with 'entertain' typed in huge font white board and markers student writing materials
Introduction:
 none
Development:
 none
Practice:
 worksheets
Accommodations:
 none
Checking For Understanding:
 ??
Closure:
 leaving
Evaluation:
 none
Teacher Reflections:
 none

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