The Purpose of Author's Purpose

Prior to winter break, one of my fourth-grade reading groups studied author's purpose: the reason an author writes about a topic.  Sounds pretty simple.  After all, in fourth grade, we only covered three reasons: to persuade, to entertain, and to inform.  Yikes.  I couldn't have been more wrong!

I introduced the topic with posters, briefly explaining each one.  We discussed different ways that an author's purpose could be portrayed.  From there we moved to task cards where students identified the author's purpose. They rocked it!  We moved on to text at their reading level, and once again, they rocked it.   I felt so successful.  They were able to identify the author's purpose and provide evidence from the text to support their thoughts.   It just seemed too simple, too good to be true.  And then it hit me.  It WAS too good to be true. (Sigh.)  I realized two different things: the students did not understand the purpose of understanding author's purpose, and they were unable to generalize author's purpose into the world around them.

First, I explained the purpose of author's purpose, emphasizing that it was more than persuading, informing, and entertaining.    I stressed that they needed to be reflective readers.  They needed to think about their reading; they needed to be thoughtful.  By being cognizant of an author's purpose, they could pace their reading.  They could slowly and carefully read informative text while reading text meant to entertain a bit more freely.

Second, the students needed to gain a better perspective of how the purpose could move beyond written text and into the real world.  To engage the students, I found 15 different videos, each represented by a QR code.  They were given a sheet on which they recorded what the purpose of the video was.   After viewing the videos, they discussed them with each other, asking each other questions and using evidence to support their answers.  They loved it!

If you would like to check out this product, you can find it at our TpT store.  Included in the pack are posters, a pre/post-test, 15 QR links to videos, and a recording sheet.

What sources do you use for author's purpose?  Why do you like them?