Form=Audience+Purpose Goals The goal of this lesson is to inform students about whom are they writing their informative essay for and what the purpose is for them writing it. Another goal of this lesson is to have students understand that asking these two questions are essential for successful inquiry. Rationale This lesson is appropriate during this research project because it will enhance student’s awareness of why and whom they will be creating this project for. Also, having a lesson on audience and purpose will give students the knowledge and the resources when deciding which particular genres they will include in their overall project. Not only will this lesson be helpful for students writing this first required genre of the informative essay, but it will also be helpful for them in determining which other three genres work best for them in terms of audience and purpose. Assessments I will assess the students based on a handout that I will provide that is centered on Form=Audience+Purpose. It will have excerpts of some informative essays and students will have to fill in who the audience might be for this piece and what purpose it was written for. The handout will be completed by the end of the hour. I will also assess on participation points when going over the handout as a large group. Standards Standard 1.3 Standard 1.5 Objectives Students will be able to: • Understand why audience and purpose are important when writing an informative essay. • Identify who and why a certain piece was written via previous student samples. • Effectively write an informative essay on their chosen topic while keeping audience and purpose in mind. Tasks 1. Students will be asked the question, “Why is audience and purpose important to consider when writing an informative essay?” 2. I will then give them a few minutes to jot down some ideas about why this is important (5 minutes). 3. I will take volunteers to answer this question and to get ideas generating in their heads. 4. Give students the worksheet with the sample excerpts from previous student informative essays. 5. We will do the first example together as a class. This will model the activity for the students. 6. Give students about 15 minutes to complete the worksheet with partners. 7. Come back together to discuss the answers they came up with and what a good focus on audience and purpose look like in one of these essays. 8. Introduce the informative essay genre and give them the handout. 9. After reading through it and answering any questions, have them start on their own informative essay for their chosen topic. 10. I will also give students an outline that they can use to organize their information and research on before they start writing if it makes sense for them to use it.
Materials • Copies of Form=Audience+Purpose handout for all students • Copies of informative essay handout for all students • Copies of the outline handout • Blank lined paper To-Do List • Get together previous student sample informative essays References “Multi-Genre Criteria and Examples from Mr. Kappas's Advanced English Class.” 23 April 2009. http://www.kfalls.k12.or.us/ponderosa/staff/kappasm/jessica/page2.html. Nicolini, Mary B. “Pictures of an Exhibition: Senior Graduation Exit Projects as Authentic Research.” The English Journal. The National Council of Teachers of English, 1999: 1-8. Smagorinsky, Peter. Teaching English by Design: How to Create and Carry Out Instructional Units. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2008. Handouts (Please refer to the “Handouts” tab) Form=Audience+Purpose Worksheet