WRITING FOR DIFFERENT AUDIENCES

Transcription

1 TEACHER S GUIDE: WRITING FOR DIFFERENT AUDIENCES LEARNING OBJECTIVES Students will identify different types of target audiences. Students will determine specific factors to consider when writing or speaking to different audiences. Students will edit writing to target different audiences. Estimated Viewing Time: Completing the entire episode will take approximately 8-13 minutes. A breakdown of time by segment follows: WATCH: TRY: APPLY: 4-5 minutes 2-4 minutes 2-4 minutes SYNOPSIS OF THE WATCH SEGMENT Nermal is excited because he is going to present a speech about upcoming school events to teachers, parents, and people in town. As he shares his speech with Arlene and Garfield, they notice that his writing includes a lot of slang terms popular among Nermal s friends. Professor G and Dr. Nova pop up on the hotline to help Nermal learn about writing for different types of audiences. They help him understand that he needs to consider who his audience is, what he wants to say, and how he should say it. Nermal usually gives presentations to one of three types of audiences: friends, figures in the community, or unfamiliar people who are his own age. When thinking about how he wants to communicate his message, Nermal needs to consider his tone and his purpose (does he want to inform or persuade?). He also needs to think about how to get his audience s attention. BUILD BACKGROUND Prerecord (or have someone else record) the following three paragraphs: Mom says Sugar is a Maltese dog. Whatever! I think she s cool and cute. Just hanging out with her is way more fun than anything else. Wanna meet her? My sweet pet dog is named Sugar. She has fluffy white fur and jumps with excitement every time I come home. However, she is well trained and doesn t knock me over when she jumps up. She also knows how to sit when I tell her to. The dog I own is from a very ancient breed known as Maltese. The Maltese dog is known for its lively and friendly personality. My particular dog, Sugar, is cream colored and looks very much like the Maltese dogs that can be found in paintings from the Renaissance. Play each of these in turn for the students.

2 SAY: What is the same about these three short speeches? Possible answers: They re about dogs named Sugar. or The people all love their pets. When you listen to these statements, you might think that the same person said all three about the very same dog, right? So what is different about the three statements? Possible reactions: Students will probably note that they sounded different and that they used different words to say the same thing. If needed, replay the recordings again to help the students get more ideas. Make notes on a whiteboard or other projection system. Our lesson today is about understanding why you might say the same message in different ways to different people. INTRODUCE VOCABULARY Write and discuss the definition of each keyword. Pause after each definition to answer questions and provide examples. Use each keyword in a sample sentence to show students how each is used in context. audience formal informal respect friends community figures unfamiliar tone target audience inform persuade get attention readers or listeners to a presentation correct and proper; the customary way to do things casual; not ceremonial showing honor to others people you know and trust a group of people living in the same area types or categories of people, like teachers, parents, business people, or elected officials strange or not well known style or manner of a presentation the particular readers or listeners you wish to address providing information or knowledge urging or convincing people to do or believe something creating or doing something that makes people notice you GUIDE THE VIEWING OF WRITING FOR DIFFERENT AUDIENCES SAY: Now, we re going to complete an interactive lesson featuring characters from Garfield and Friends. The lesson will help us learn more about writing for different audiences.

3 TRY ANSWER KEY Students drag a short speech excerpt by Nermal to the correct audience in the Audience Assimilator Officer Bob offers prompts and feedback. Correct answers in bold: 1. Hey, guys! I d like to tell you about a cool new club! Target Audience: Friends 2. Today, I would like to talk to parents about a new school program and how it will benefit everyone. Target audience: Figures in the community 3. It s nice to get to know you. I think we share many of the same interests. Target audience: Unfamiliar people your own age 4. It s so cool to hang out with people who love horror movies! Target audience: Friends 5. As supporters of the school, I m sure there are many ways you d like to be able to help. Target audience: Figures in the community APPLY ANSWER KEY Dr. Nova asks students to review Nermal s speech to community members. The students should drag to the trashcan any words or parts of speech that do not look quite appropriate. This section is followed by a section with more appropriate phrases or sentences. The parts that should be dragged to the trashcan are in bold below: Greetings, parents, teachers and community members! My name is Nermal and I wanna thank you dudes for coming to the school to get the 411 on all the awesome upcoming activities! Let s get this party started! There are many exciting and productive activities and events planned this year by several school clubs and organizations. Let s look at the first activity: Drum roll, please! The book drive. Students in the Library League are working very hard collecting books for the media center, and we want to thank everyone in the community for the generous donations. And please keep em comin! Special shout out to my bud and fellow bowler extraordinaire, Otto Octopus, for giving the school his books on bowling. You rock, Otto! The Craft Club is also planning a majorly cool craft fair.

4 And we hope everyone interested can either donate craft materials and supplies or spend some time helping run the booths. And, finally, my very own Warriors of Cheese guild will organize a five-mile Trek for Tech that will also totally help the school. You can sponsor a student in the five-mile walk and the money raised will help purchase new equipment for our computer lab. So, Cheddar Questers unite! Thank you again for your continued support. You guys are the best! Peace! The phrases and sentences should be replaced as follows: I wanna thank you dudes for coming to the school to get the 411 on all the awesome upcoming activities! = I want to thank you for coming to the school to hear about the worthwhile activities we have planned. Let s get this party started! = Let s begin. Drum roll, please! The book drive. = activity, which is the book drive. keep em comin! = continue to donate! shout out to my bud and fellow bowler extraordinaire = recognition to my fellow student You rock = Excellent work majorly cool = fun and interesting totally help = greatly benefit So, Cheddar Questers unite! = Everyone is encouraged to participate. You guys are the best! Peace! = We re lucky to have such an involved community. MONITOR COMPREHENSION Begin a class discussion by asking students what they thought about the story. ASK: Why was Nermal so excited? Answer: He was going to give a speech to community members about school activities. How did Garfield and Arlene react to the first part of the speech? Answer: They thought it might not be a good speech for that particular audience.

5 Dr. Nova and Professor G suggested that Nermal think about his audience. What are some of the things Nermal needed to think about? Answer: His audience, what he wanted to say, and how he wanted to say it What are some different types of audiences? Answer: Formal, informal, friends, figures in the community, unfamiliar people who are your own age What do you think Nermal wanted to accomplish with his speech? Did he want to persuade his audience? Answer: He wanted to inform them about upcoming events at the school. What is a good way to get your audience s attention? Answer: Address them by name, like fellow students or the best teachers and parents. SAY: You ve helped Nermal edit his speech so it s more appropriate for his audience. Now, let s play a game to practice editing for different audiences. CONSOLIDATE LEARNING Give each student a large index card. Tell the students to place the cards vertically on their desks and to draw a line across the middle. Ask them to write a text message to a friend about a brainstorm they ve had for something new at school like creating a new club (it can be serious or silly). They should write this in the upper half of the card and should not include their names. Collect the cards and hand them out randomly to the students (if someone gets his or her original, it s okay). Now, ask them to rewrite the text message as a morning announcement for the school s intercom or broadcast system. They should write this on the lower half of the card and should not include their names. Again, take up the cards and pass them out randomly to the students. The final assignment is for the students to take the first two pieces of writing and rewrite them on the back of the card as a formal request to the principal. Again, they should not include their names. Post these cards where students can read them. EVALUATE Ask the students to pick the best example of a text message, a morning announcement, and a formal request. Give blue ribbons for each of these pieces of writing. Administer the Writing for Different Audiences Quiz to assess whether students have met the learning objectives for the lesson. After evaluating the assessment results, you may wish to revisit any learning objectives that the students did not grasp.

6 QUIZ ANSWER KEY 1. Why is it important to consider your audience when writing or speaking? a. How you speak to your audience will affect how they respond to you. 2. Which of the following is something you can do when writing for an audience? b. Name your audience (for example, a lot of parents or most students ). 3. Which of the following would be an appropriate way to address people in the community? b. Many people in our community Imagine you are giving a speech to a group of your fellow volunteer soccer coaches who are your own age but who you don t really know. Which of the following is an example of how to write for this audience? c. If you re like me, the first thing you do is to help your players feel like a team Answers will vary.

7 QUIZ: WRITING FOR DIFFERENT AUDIENCES NAME DATE MULTIPLE CHOICE Circle the choice that best answers each question. Choose only one: 1. Why is it important to consider your audience when writing or speaking? a. How you speak to your audience will affect how they respond to you. b. They ll like you better as a person. c. You should write only for people who have the same interests as you. d. All of the above 2. Which of the following is something you can do when writing for an audience? a. Write about things that only you would want to hear about. b. Name your audience (for example, a lot of parents or most students ). c. Always speak formally. d. All of the above 3. Which of the following would be an appropriate way to address figures in the community? a. My good friends... b. Many people in our community... c. Experts such as yourself... d. None of the above 4. Imagine you are giving a speech to a group of your fellow volunteer soccer coaches who are your own age but who you don t really know. Which of the following is an example of how to write for this audience? a. Hey, guys and gals! I ve got some awesome ideas that will really kick up your team s game! b. There are several new coaching strategies proven to be successful in improving a team s cooperation and skill. c. If you re like me, the first thing you do is to help your players feel like a team. d. None of the above SHORT ANSWER Rewrite each sentence so it is either informal for your best friend or formal for your teacher. 5. FRIEND: School is super awesome! TEACHER:

8 NAME DATE 6. TEACHER: The best part of the playground is the slide. FRIEND: 7. FRIEND: I m totally going to enter the school s cool walk-a-thon! TEACHER: 8. TEACHER: Snow days are a fun surprise every winter. FRIEND: 9. TEACHER: Being a student can sometimes be a difficult job. FRIEND: 10. FRIEND: Man, there s way more homework than anyone can handle! TEACHER: