University of North Carolina
Audience
Challenging pupils' perspectives by having them walk in the shoes of the reader. An informative resource discusses how to identify an audience and anticipate their needs before writing an upcoming argumentative essay.Â
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
Pearl Harbor Activity #4: Who is the Audience?
Young historians use the prompts on a worksheet to analyze President Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech. They identify the intended audience for the speech, the devices FDR used to persuade his audience, the responses promoted, and the...
Scholastic
Choose Your Words Wisely (Grades 9-12)
Words, words, words. The function of words in persuasive writing is the focus of a group activity that asks members to analyze how words advertisers use are designed to influence targeted audiences.
National Council for the Social Studies
Analyzing a Product or Political Advertisement
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...
Curated OER
Radio News
Part of a larger unit from the Media Awareness Network on media literacy, this particular lesson plan focuses on the medium of news radio. Small groups participate in discussions on their radio listening habits as well as the...
Media Smarts
Advertising All Around Us
Here is a set of advertising lessons, explore language, techniques, representation, and target audiences. Discuss the impact ads have on our daily lives. What do we see and how do they make us feel? Observe ads from around the world and...
Media Smarts
The Newspaper Front Page
Hot off the presses! A perfect instructional activity idea for a journalism class or even a language arts class looking to incorporate some informational texts. Young writers analyze the front pages of various newspapers to determine the...
Deer Valley Unified School District
Close Reading: Analyzing Mood and Tone
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...
Curated OER
PETA Pressure
Students examine what a "target audience" is and evaluate the PETA website for tactics that exploit the characteristics of their target audience. They read and discuss a handout, analyze the PETA website in small groups, and participate...
Scholastic
Analyzing Media Messages
Telling young people to just say no can be difficult in a world that inundates them with messages to just say yes. A lesson on media messages encourages teenagers to analyze song lyrics and advertisements that mention drugs and/or...
Curated OER
Target Audience
Young scholars explore and describe various persuasive tools used in advertisements, analyze advertisements provided by teacher, and identify target audiences. Students then work in groups to find advertisements aimed at assigned target...
Curated OER
Deconstructing an Advertisement
Ethos, logos, and pathos. Class members use an inventory analysis to deconstruct the effects of an advertisement. They identify the target audience, the persuasive and color appeals used, as well as the diction, images, and tone.
Curated OER
Ads R Us: Understanding Target Marketing
Students build awareness of the way in which advertisers shape ads for specific audiences. They analyze the target audience intended for an advertisement and create their own targeted ads to demonstrate their understanding. They discuss...
Curated OER
Magazine Production
Analyze magazines as a class, looking carefully for the target audience, advertisements, and topics presented. Small groups then work as a publication team and receive a magazine that they have to "sell." Each individual has a different...
EngageNY
Analyzing the Structure and Content of an Essay to Inform
Outlines are a great asset to essay planning. Scholars read and analyze a model essay about the importance of daily reading and consider how it would look in an outline format. Next, they outline their own informative essays about rules...
Complete College America
The Marshmallow Reading/Writing Project
Which option would most children choose: One marshmallow now, or two marshmallows in 10 minutes? Learners watch the social experiment on video and discuss their observations. They then read articles and work in small groups to analyze...
Southern Poverty Law Center
Analyzing Gender Stereotypes in Media
Why might toy advertisers use gender stereotypes to sell their products? Young people think critically about media messages and its role in gender stereotyping with a thought-provoking lesson.
Newseum
Persuasion Portfolios
After class members brainstorm a list of current social and political issues, groups each select a different topic from the list to research. Teams create a portfolio of at least 10 examples of stories about their issue, stories that...
Jackson School District
An Introduction to Satire
What is satire, and what are its characteristics? A handy handout provides young satirists with all the information they need to analyze a satire or to craft their own.
Facing History and Ourselves
The Nazis in Power: Propaganda and Conformity
The Nazis used the power of propaganda to encourage confirmative views and the discrimination of Jews. A social studies resource illustrates these issues through discussion, image analysis, and a writing exercise.
Curated OER
The Portrayal of Women in Media
This is an awesome exercise. Learners use this worksheet as they examine an advertisement from a past decade (you need to provide). They answer five questions that aid them in analyzing the ad and the portrayal of women from that time...
Curated OER
Data Analysis Challenge
For this data analysis worksheet, young scholars work with a partner to collect information for a survey. The information is then compiled into a graph. Students must indicate their survey question, the target audience, predict the...
Curated OER
Sports Personalities in Advertising
During a series of four activities, class members examine and deconstruct advertising that features famous athletes. They determine target audiences, analyze ads, explore "emotional climate," and role play a meeting between a sports...
Curated OER
Organizational Strategies for First Year Composition Writers
Identify and analyze deductive reasoning through genuine texts. Compare cultural practices and beliefs about national ID cards. Look for another example of a deductive argument and prepare a brief paragraph analyzing the audience,...