Emily Anders

11-22-16

Dr. McKool

Lesson 1: The three purposes of writing

Common Core State Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in

which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Objective: Students will read three passages and determine the purpose of each.

Materials:

● 2 examples of persuasive writing

● 2 examples of entertaining writing

● 2 examples of informative writing

Procedure:

Introduction

1. “Good morning writers, today we are going to introduce the topic of different types of writing.

When writing, there are 3 purposes. One is to entertain, one is to inform and one is to persuade.

State objective and purpose

1. Today we are going to learn about these three types of writing. The first purpose of writing is to

entertain.

2. When a writer wants to entertain their readers, they write about something fun or entertaining, not

something this is meant to persuade or inform readers of anything. Can someone give me an

example of something that is entertaining to read? Good! An example could be a funny story or

article.

3. The other purpose for writing is to inform readers. When the author wants to inform their readers

they are writing to convey some form of information. An example of this could be an article

about Disney World and all of the different attractions it has to offer.

4. The last purpose for writing is to persuade readers. In persuasive writing the author is trying to

persuade your opinion on something. An example of this could be an article on why there should

be school uniforms in all public schools.

Teach and model

1. “Let’s look at some examples of the three different purposes. The first one is the following (these

will be displayed on the whiteboard):

(Persuasive)

A “Comfy Mattress” is the most comfortable bed you will ever sleep on. You’ll feel as if you are sleeping

on a cloud! Come into our store and give the best mattress in the world aa try today!

“By reading this passage, I would say that the author's’ purpose is to persuade the reader to buy a “Comfy

Mattress” from the store. The author is arguing that the comfy mattresses are the best in the world thus

persuading the reader to buy one. This is an example of a persuasive passage.”

“Now let’s read another passage and figure out what the author’s purpose is.”

(Informative)

The bald eagle is a bird of prey belonging to the fish and sea eagle group. Bald eagles are the only eagles

that can only be found in North American. Despite their name, they are not actually bald. They are named

bald eagles because of their white head. The word “bald” actually meant “white headed” many years ago.

Bald eagles can up to 14 pounds and have a wingspan of 72 to 90 inches.

“From this passage I came to the conclusion that the author’s purpose is to inform the reader. This is

because the author provides us with so much information about bald eagles in order to teach us about

these amazing birds. This passage is not persuasive because the author is not arguing that bald eagles are

the best birds or he is not entertaining us about how interesting bald eagles are. The author is simply

stating various facts about bald eagles.”

“Our last passage is as follows.”

(Entertainment)

“The boys were happy when they woke up to find that it was windy outside. It would be a perfect day to

fly a kite. They grabbed their kites and went to the park. They spent the whole day there having kite

contests and races. The best part was that no one broke or lost his kite.”

“This passage’s purpose is to simply entertain the reader with a short story about some boys flying a kite.

The purpose was not to convince or persuade the reader to go fly a kite or to inform the reader of how fun

kites are.”

“Now that I have shown you all how to find the purpose of a passage let’s go through some together.”

Guided practice

1. “On the whiteboard I have three other passages that have the purpose of entertaining, persuading

or informing their readers. Let’s go through them together to determine the purpose of each.

(Entertainment)

Ted was anxious to try out for the basketball team. He had practices and knew he was ready. Tryouts

made him a little nervous, but when he found out he made the team he knew that all the work paid off.

“Who can tell me what the author’s purpose was in writing this short passage? Right! It was to entertain

because it was about a boy who was anxious and nervous about something. The author is not trying to

convince us that we should go out for basketball or teach us about basketball but rather that a boy was

trying out for the team.

“Who would like to read aloud the next passage?”

(Informative)

Florida is a state in the southern United States. The capital is Tallahassee. Their state flower is the orange

blossom. The state bird is the mockingbird. Florida became an official state in 1845 and was the 27th

state. There was thousands of beaches and cities in Florida.

“From this passage, what can we conclude is the author’s purpose? Correct, it is to inform the readers

about Florida. What in the text made you think that? Good, because the author gives us a few facts about

Florida not to persuade us to go there or entertain us by simply inform us.”

(Persuasive)

Do you want to be an artist? Just enroll in “The Awesome Artists” program. Don’t let this opportunity or

your talent slip away. We guarantee you will be painting like the masters in two weeks for a low cost of

$59.95.

“What is the author’s purpose in this passage? Right, to persuade readers to enroll in “The Awesome

Artists” Program. Its main purpose it not to entertain the readers or inform them but rather to persuade

them to participate in this artist program.

Independent practice

1. “Now that we have gone over the purposes of writing together I would like everyone to go back

to their seats where you will independently complete a quick hand out about the purposes of

writing. The hand out gives you a sample sentence, the author’s purpose and to explain your

answer in one or two sentences, similar to what we just did.”

Assessment:

The students will have met the objective if they can accurately complete the handout thus validating that

they understand the differences between the three purposes of writing.

Independent Practice:

Name: ___________________________

Author’s Purpose Activity

Directions: Read the descriptions of each item and determine the author’s main purpose (to entertain,

persuade or inform). Then, in a sentence or two, explain your answer.

1. A story about a family trying to stick together and survive through the Great Depression in the

Midwest in the 1930s.

Author’s Purpose: ______________________________________

Explain your answer in one to two sentences:

2. An article where the author argues that an iPhone is better than an Android phone.

Author’s Purpose:______________________________________

Explain your answer in one to two sentences:

3. A medical report about the nervous system and how it keeps the human body alive.

Author’s Purpose:_____________________________________

Explain your answer in one to two sentences:

4. A pamphlet urging people not to eat animals or use products made from animals or animal suffering

because the author thinks that is cruel and unnecessary.

Author’s Purpose:___________________________________

Explain your answer in one to two sentences:

Lesson 2: Determine a topic, establish an audience, thesis statement and supporting details

Common Core State Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in

which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Objective: Students will select a topic for a persuasive essay, construct a thesis statement including the 3

reasons for their argument.

Materials:

● Persuasive Essay template (electronic and paper copies)

● Computer

● Projector

● Whiteboard

Procedure:

Introduction:

1. “Good morning writers yesterday we talked about the three purposes of writing. Can someone

remind us what they were? Right! To persuade, inform and entertain. Today we are going to be

focusing on persuading our readers.

State objective and purpose:

1. “Today you will select a topic for a persuasive essay, write your thesis statement, including your

three reasons of why you are persuading the reader. The topic you choose is going to persuade

someone or a group or people to agree with your position or opinion, your audience.”

Teach/model

1. “For example, if after some brainstorming I decided I want to write my essay on why there

should be school uniforms in our school I would start to think about who my audience would be.

It could be the principal or even the superintendent. Because my audience would be someone

very important, I would write my essay in a way that it would correctly address the principal or

superintendent.”

2. “After establishing my topic, I would begin thinking about my thesis statement. Your thesis

statement is one sentence starting with, “I think” that clearly states what your argument is. In my

case, my thesis statement would be, ‘I think there should be school uniforms in schools because it

gives students more time to get ready in the morning, saves parents money and reduces bullying

in school.’ On the whiteboard there is a persuasive essay template that I will fill out for my own

essay and that you all will use for your own essays (at this point, fill out the part of the persuasive

essay template that says ‘I think’).”

3. “Each reason needs to be supported by a example, evidence or details. Therefore, I would then

come up with at least one example for each of my reasons. (Fill each supporting detail or example

in the designated sections on the template) A supporting detail for my first reason (gives students

more time to get ready in the morning) if a students were to have school uniforms it would take

them less time to get dressed in the morning therefore allowing for more time for breakfast, any

homework they did not finish the night before, and time to spend with their parents or siblings

before school.”

4. “For my second reason (saves parents money) a supporting detail or example would be that some

parents are unable or struggle to buy their children new school clothes every year. If there were

school uniforms in our school, parents would only need to buy one or two outfits for the entire

school year. (This supporting detail will be recorded in the template displayed on the board).”

5. “For my last reason (reduces bullying in school) if every student is wearing close to the same

thing in school than it would be very difficult to bully a student about their clothes when they are

dressed just like you (This supporting detail will be recorded in the template displayed on the

board).”

6. “Now, that I have demonstrated what your supporting details or examples should look like, let's

pick a topic together and come up with reasons and supporting details.”

Guided Practice

1. “Now let’s pick a topic to write about together. What is something you are passionate about

persuading someone on? Is it having phones in school or having no homework, or no school on

Fridays? Good! Our topic will be no homework is given. Based on this topic, who do you think

your audience would be? Right, you would want your target audience to be someone in charge of

our school, such as our principal or superintendent.”

2. “What are our three reasons there should be no homework given? Good, one could be that it puts

too much stress on students, does not allow students much time for extracurricular activities, and

there should be enough time in the school day for all work to be completed. So our thesis

statement could be what? Right, our thesis statement could be, ‘I think there should be no

homework given because it puts too much stress on students, does not allow students much time

for extracurricular activities, and there should be enough time in the school day for all work to be

completed.’”

3. “Now let’s come up with our supporting details or examples for each reason.”

4. “For our first reason (too much stress on students) who can give me a supporting detail or

example to “backup” this reason. (Depending on student’s answer respond to them accordingly)

5. “Now for our second reason (does not allow students much time for extracurricular activities)

what would be a supportive detail or example of something to reinforce this argument?”

(Depending on student’s answer respond to them accordingly)

6. “For our final reason (there should be enough time in the school day for all work to be

completed) would be a supportive detail or example of something to further support our

argument?” (Depending on student’s answer respond to them accordingly)

Independent Practice

1. “Now that we have gone through how to complete the persuasive essay template, I would like

you all to think of a topic to write your own persuasive essay on, write your thesis statement

including your three supporting reasons and three example or supporting details. Based on the

topic you choose, think about who your audience would be, who you would be potentially writing

this persuasive essay to.”

Assessment:

Students will complete handout that includes their thesis statement, three reasons and supporting details.

Persuasive essay template (electronic version for teach/model and guided practice, paper version for

independent practice)

3. Constructing persuasive essay using thesis statement, introduction, conclusion and three reasons

Common Core State Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in

which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Objective: Students will use their thesis statement, introduction, conclusion, and three reasons and begin

to construct their persuasive essay

Materials:

● Persuasive Essay Graphic Organizer (electronic and paper copies)

● Whiteboard

● Projector

● Computer

Procedure:

Introduction:

1. “Good morning writers, yesterday we talked about choosing a topic we are passionate about for a

persuasive essay, we then constructed our thesis statement that included the 3 reasons for your

argument. Can I have someone remind all of us how we start our thesis statement? Good! With ‘I

think..’”

2. “Who can tell me what paragraph our thesis statement goes in? Right! It is the last sentence of

our introductory paragraph.”

State objective and purpose:

1. Today you are going to learn about what components go into our introduction and conclusion

paragraphs. We will then use a graphic organizer to organize our information for our persuasive

essays.”

Teach/model

1. “I am first going to show you how I would construct my own persuasive essay using the same

argument I made yesterday about having school uniforms in school. To help you fill out this

graphic organizer, you should use the template we used yesterday to write down our thesis

statement, 3 reasons and some of our supporting details.

2. Using our graphic organizer on the board, I would write my thesis statement in the ‘opinion

statement’ section. Remember my thesis statement from yesterday, ‘I think there should be school

uniforms in schools because it gives students more time to get ready in the morning, saves

parents money and reduces bullying in school.’ Also, opinion statement is another way of saying

thesis statement.

3. I then need to think about the other two components of an introduction paragraph, the attention

grabbing beginning and the description of the issue. In order to grab the reader’s attention I want

to start my essay off with something catchy or interesting to make them want to keep reading.

4. For my own persuasive essay, I am going to grab the reader’s attention by starting with, ‘What if

you never had to think about what you wear going to wear to school ever again?’ I started my

introduction paragraph off with a question for the reader in order to grab their attention. There are

certainly other ways to grab reader’s attention. One could use a fact supporting your argument, a

quote relating to your argument or a question like I did. I then will fill in this question in the

attention grabbing beginning section.

5. Next I am going to describe the issue I am going to discuss in my essay. In my case, I could say

something like, ‘There has always been a fight of whether or not school uniforms benefit or

hinder (hurt) students, parents and schools as a whole. I am writing this persuasive essay, in order

to convince you that school uniforms should be placed into our schools.’ I have clearly stated my

the reason why I am writing this essay and I have introduced my opinion statement before

completely telling it to the reader.( fill this part into graphic organizer)

6. Then I would continue with my thesis statement and because I have already filled that in I can

move onto my second, third and fourth paragraphs.

7. Because I already have my three reasons for my argument from yesterday, I can write those on

my graphic organizer. For my first reason I will write for paragraph two is ‘[school uniforms]

give students more time to get ready in the morning.’

8. I would then begin to list my evidence or supporting details or examples. One of my examples

from yesterday was [school uniforms] allows for more time for breakfast, any homework students

did not finish the night before, and time to spend with their parents or siblings before school. I

would place this reason among any others I can think of in the evidence to support section in

paragraph two.

9. For the third paragraph under reason two, I would write ‘[school uniforms] save parents money.’

I am then going to list out my evidence or supporting details or examples. One of my supporting

details from yesterday was some parents are unable or struggle to buy their children new school

clothes every year. If there were school uniforms in our school, parents would only need to buy

one or two outfits for the entire school year. I would place this reason among any others I can

think of in the evidence to support section in paragraph three.

10. For the fourth paragraph under reason three, I would write [school uniforms] reduce school

bullying. Now I am going to list out my evidence or supporting details or examples. One of my

supporting details from yesterday was if every student is wearing close to the same thing in

school than it would be very difficult to bully a student about their clothes when they are dressed

just like you

11. After listing out as many supporting details or examples I can think of for my reasons, I am then

going to move onto my concluding paragraph. First, I am going to restate my opinion. Keep in

mind that I am not going to say my opinion or thesis statement exactly the way I said in the

introduction paragraph. I am simply going to change it a little. Instead I could say, ‘In my

opinion, our school should have school uniforms because it saves parents money on clothes

shopping, decrease the chances of bullying and allows students more time to get ready in the

morning. I still stated my opinion and listed my three reasons for my argument just in an alternate

way.

12. For the next section of summarizing our three reasons, I am not going to complete that section

and I want you all to ignore that part because within our thesis statement, we summarized our

three reasons.

13. For the last aspect of the conclusion paragraph, I need to think of a ‘call to action’ or closing

statement. This sentence or two should be your one last chance to make the reader agree with

your opinion. My closing statement could sound something like this, ‘In conclusion, I strongly

believe that school uniforms could drastically change our school for the better and improve the

lives of our students and their families.’ (write this in the section provided) This sentence is your

last chance to either get the reader to change his or her mind and agree with you or validate their

the reader’s agreed opinion.

14. Now, that I have demonstrated what your graphic organizer should look like. Let’s fill it out

together.”

Guided Practice

1. “We are going to use our thesis statement from yesterday to fill out the graphic organizer

together. Who remembers our thesis statement? Right, it was ‘I think there should be no

homework given because it puts too much stress on students, does not allow students much time

for extracurricular activities, and there should be enough time in the school day for all work to be

completed.’

2. Now let’s write that sentence in the opinion statement of our graphic organizer. What is a

sentence, quote, question, fact about our argument the twill grab the reader’s attention?

(Depending on student’s answer respond to them accordingly) Let’s write that in the attention

grabbing beginning section of the graphic organizer (write on whiteboard)

3. What would be a good description of our issue? (Depending on student’s answer respond to them

accordingly) Let’s write that in description of issue section on the whiteboard.

4. Now that the introduction paragraph is done, let’s move onto the paragraphs about our reasons.

5. Because we already know our three reasons from yesterday we can write those into the

designated boxes. For my first reason we will write for paragraph two is [homework] puts too

much stress on students.

6. Next we are going to list our evidence or supporting details or examples to back up our reason.

What are some supporting details or examples to support this reason? (Depending on student’s

answer respond to them accordingly) (Write response designated section on board)

7. For the third paragraph under reason two, we will write [homework] does not allow students

much time for extracurricular activities. (Write response in designated section on board)

8. Then we will list our evidence to support our reason. Can someone tell me some supporting

details to back up our reason? (Depending on student’s answer respond to them accordingly)

9. For the fourth paragraph under reason three, [homework should not be given because] there

should be enough time in the school day for all work to be completed. (Write response in

designated section on board)

10. Then we will list our supporting examples or evidence to back up our reason. What are some

supporting details to back up our last reason? (Depending on student’s answer respond to them

accordingly)

11. Now that we have completed the supporting paragraphs. We will move onto our last paragraph,

the conclusion.

12. To start the conclusion, we need to think about how we are going to restate our opinion and

summarize our three reasons (remember we are combining these two components into one or two

sentences) Who can help me come up with a sentence or two to restate our opinion? (Depending

on student’s answer respond to them accordingly)

13. Lastly, we want a sentence or two that is going to leave our reader to think possibly changing his

opinion to agree with ours. What is a sentence that will leave the reader with a changed opinion

or a more validated one that agrees with ours? (Depending on student’s answer respond to them

accordingly)

Independent Practice

1. “Now I want you to individually or with a partner to work on filling out your graphic organizer

with the components listed. Keep in mind that you want the first sentence of your introduction

paragraph to grab the reader’s attention and make them want to keep reading. Also, remember

that your closing statement is your last chance to convince with reader to agree with your

opinion.”

Assessment

Students will complete the Persuasive Essay Graphic Organizer in order to organize their thoughts before

writing their rough draft. The students will be assessed on how accurately and complete they fill out the

graphic organizer.

Persuasive Essay Graphic Organizer (electronic version for teach/model and guided practice, paper

version for independent practice)