Author's Purpose | Guided Practice
In this 30-minute guided practice lesson, Grade 11 students analyze short texts to determine an author’s purpose—inform, persuade, entertain, or express—and justify their thinking with text evidence. The lesson emphasizes close reading, discussion, and evidence-based explanation.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Author’s purpose | The reason an author writes a text. |
| Inform | To give facts or explain something. |
| Persuade | To convince the reader to think or act in a certain way. |
| Entertain | To amuse, engage, or interest the reader. |
| Express | To share feelings, ideas, or experiences. |
| Text evidence | Words, phrases, or details from the text that support an idea. |
| Tone | The author’s attitude toward the subject or audience. |
Display four purpose categories and read one short sample sentence or headline. Model how to think aloud about purpose using one clue from the wording. Ask students to briefly decide which purpose fits best and explain why.
Individually choose a purpose for the sample and share one reason with a partner.
Read aloud the first excerpt. Think aloud to identify the purpose, highlighting key words, tone, and structure. Write a model response using claim-evidence-reasoning language.
Track the text, underline clues, and copy the model reasoning structure.
Give students a second excerpt. Prompt them to work with a partner to determine the author’s purpose and collect two pieces of evidence. Circulate, ask probing questions, and redirect as needed.
Discuss the excerpt, identify the purpose, and cite evidence from the text in complete sentences.
Provide a more complex excerpt with mixed signals, such as humorous language in an informational text or persuasive tone in a personal narrative. Guide groups to justify whether one dominant purpose or multiple purposes are present.
In groups, analyze the excerpt, identify the strongest purpose, and explain how specific language supports the decision.
Review the four purpose categories and ask students to restate one clue they can use to identify purpose quickly. Invite two students to share a strong evidence-based response.
Write or say one strategy for identifying author’s purpose and one clue they noticed today.
End by reinforcing that purpose is identified through clues in language, tone, and structure—not guesswork. Students should leave able to name the purpose and defend it with specific evidence.