Break an article down with a SOAPSTone chart. Class members determine the speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, and tone. The chart includes a question for each of these elements, provides some clarifying text for each, and...

The multi-lesson, 47-page packet contains everything you need to ensure kids can recognize the clues provided to identify the type of text, the intended audience, and the author's purpose in writing the passage.

After discussing the narrative structure, intended audience, and purpose of Chapter 1 of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, class members draft their statement of purpose for a Common College Application prompt that distinguishes them from...

How do advertisements evoke specific thoughts and feelings? Class members find out through the exploration of the Internet, videos, television, magazines, radio, and posters. Learners investigate commercial advertisements, political...

Middle schoolers aren't too young to feel strongly about politics, social issues, consumer rights, or environmental problems. Demonstrate the first steps toward social change with a project about action-oriented writing. Eighth...

Just because a story is on the news doesn't mean it's being presented fairly. Analyze news broadcasts with a lesson focused on evaluating television journalism. At home, kids watch a news show and note the stories presented, including...

Budding poets choose a topic for a sensory-filled poem. Authors describe that topic using detailed language based on the five senses. Then, switch the senses to create a fanciful poem intended to add a touch of fun to the objective. 

Intended for younger audiences, children identify the main characters, setting, problem, events, and solution in a graphic organizer.

The classroom might not be the best place for informal language, but it's a great place to teach middle and high schoolers how to identify the correct language register for their audience. A short lesson on formal and informal language...

Picture books aren't just for children; they carry strong, valuable messages for adult as well. Explore the audience for Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince with a lesson that compares picture books to literature...

How does NASA transport people and cargo to planets? The five-lesson unit breaks down the transportation system that scientists use to transport cargo to space. Pairs team up in order to devise a transportation system that will...

What would it take to live on the lunar surface? Small groups build model rockets in order to simulate launching a habitat into space and rebuilding it. Divide the class into groups to design and build a model of a lunar habitat. The...

What does it take to get stuff to the Moon? Design teams create subsystems for a space transportation system to go to the Moon. The teams study Earth transportation components along with historical space transportation systems to...

Invite your learners to take a look at life during the term of United States president George Washington through analysis of an interesting primary source. The document summarizes American manufacturing capacities, as detailed...

Invite your learners to research three different websites that pertain to a topic focused on in your syllabus. Students fill out a chart by answering questions about each site. Then, they compare how useful the sites are to one...

Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron" engages adolescents with its theme about the dangers of complete societal equality. Learners complete a graphic organizer to track literary elements in the story, as well as an inference...

This mini-lesson about informal letter writing is packed with a lot of information about writing a friendly letter. Class members begin by working in pairs to answer questions after reviewing letter models. Then, take part in a grand...

Introduce learners to allegorical art with four bronze sculptures by Francesco Bertos. After modeling how to recognize bias and allegory in Bertos' Africa, class groups examine the other three sculptures in the series before creating...

The AP Literature and Composition exam is all about close reading. Test takers are presented with a passage and asked to analyze how an author uses literary devices to create a desired effect. Prepare your students for the exam with a...

This lesson features several weather videos, both real and created, to help students understand how information and the tone changes based on the audiences and the purposes for the presentation.

This lesson will help you evaluate changes in formality and tone within printed texts written for specific audiences and purposes. It focuses on writing produced during the Great Depression. RL.9-10.4 Word choice, Tone

In this lesson, you will learn to analyze persuasive speeches, those that are intended to sway the audience to agree with the speaker. You will examine the impact of rhetorical structure and the use of devices in famous speeches.

[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] When you revise your persuasive essay, you need to make sure that the essay organization is appropriate to the audience, purpose, and context of your essay. Your message will...

Handout that leads students through an exploration of the visual and audio elements of a video advertisement as well as the effect these elements have on the intended audience and the community as a whole.