Author's Purpose | Small Group
Students work in small groups to identify and analyze an author’s purpose—to persuade, inform, entertain, or express ideas—by examining short texts, sentence choices, and tone. They will justify their thinking using evidence from the text and discuss how grammar and word choice support purpose.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| author’s purpose | The reason an author writes a text. |
| persuade | To convince the reader to think or do something. |
| inform | To give facts or teach the reader something. |
| entertain | To amuse, engage, or interest the reader. |
| express | To share feelings, opinions, or ideas. |
| tone | The author’s attitude toward the subject or audience. |
| text evidence | Words or details from the text that support an answer. |
Display three short sentences and ask students to name which one persuades, informs, or entertains. Briefly review how purpose can be revealed through word choice and punctuation.
Individually label each sentence, then share answers with the group.
Model with one short passage. Think aloud about tone, verbs, facts, and audience. Show how to cite specific words or phrases as evidence.
Listen, annotate the passage, and record clues on the organizer.
Assign each group 2–3 passages. Guide groups to identify the purpose, underline evidence, and write a justification using complete sentences.
Discuss each passage, determine purpose, and complete the organizer with evidence and reasoning.
Ask groups to compare answers and explain disagreements. Prompt students to use evidence and vocabulary terms such as tone and text evidence.
Present one passage response and respond to another group’s reasoning.
Give one new short passage for students to analyze silently. Collect responses for assessment.
Individually identify the author’s purpose and write one piece of evidence.
Review the four purposes and remind students that strong answers name the purpose and support it with evidence.
Share one clue they will look for next time.
Students name one strategy they used to identify author’s purpose and one clue they will watch for in future reading.
Students complete an independent author’s purpose analysis on a new short passage, identifying the purpose and citing one or two pieces of evidence. The teacher checks for accuracy and quality of explanation.