Grade Level/ Subject: 9th Grade/ English
Materials: Day Book and Index Cards with different audiences written on them ( yourself, newspaper, best friend, significant other, parent, and teacher)
I have used this lesson plan for other classes before, but I found it really worked well. I think this activity is great as a warm-up for English classroom. Inform students that they will need to take out their day books or journals and work independently on the next assignment. Tell the students that they will be writing a few paragraphs in their journals, while keeping in mind what specific audience they are writing too. Students will pick one type of audience blindly out of a bag filled with the index cards. Students will then have time to write a few paragraphs to their specific audience on a specific topic: What did you do for Christmas? All students will respond to the same topic, but will have different audiences The class will then reconvene as a whole, and discuss what they have written. Students will get the chance to share their writing and listen to others. The discuss will focus on sharing, but also what elements they included or excluded in their writing based on their specific audience. This activity is quick to do and is a great way to encourage students to explore their writting and discuss it.