At a Glance:

Grades:2, 6, 7
Subject:ESL/ELL (English Language Learning)
Topic:Author’s Purpose
Lesson Length:30 - 45 mins

Standards / Framework:

What will students learn in this activity?

In this lesson students will be able to determine the author’s purpose of a text.

What should students know before this activity?

You will need a variety of texts for students to read. This lesson can be used to reinforce the language to explain the author's purpose. Teachers can utilize comics to assess student understanding and ability to determine author’s purpose.

How can teachers introduce this lesson?

  • Read and discuss the sample comic. Share examples of different author’s purposes, e.g., to entertain, to inform, or persuade.

What will students do?

  • Have students choose a text on their independent reading level.

  • Have students create a comic that introduces the text and explains the author’s purpose. 

  • Encourage students to explain how they determined the author’s purpose.

  • Have students find three texts with different purposes and create a panel for each purpose, e.g., to entertain, persuade, and inform.

How can teachers wrap up the lesson?

  • Have students share their comics with the class or with a partner.
  • Display the comics on a bulletin board as a reference.

How can teachers differentiate this activity?

  • Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
  • Allow students to use the voiceover feature to read their comics aloud.
  • Allow students to work in pairs or groups as needed.

Related Resources:

  • Comic to print or display: Comic.