An Equation to Remember: Form= Audience + Purpose

Day 5

Goals
• Students understand the idea of Form = Audience + Purpose (F = A + P) and
significance of each component.
• Students apply Form = Audience + Purpose to newspapers and newscasts as a tool
to compare and contrast these genres.

• Illinois Standards Met: 1.B.4a; 1.B.4b; 1.B.4c; 1.C.4c; 1.C.4d; 1.C.4e; 2.A.4c;
2.B, 4b; 2.B.4c; 4.A.4a; 4.A.4b; 4.A.4c; 4.A.4d

Rationale
• Students will be more likely to engage with a presentation by a peer if it is on a
topic of interest. By ranking topics, students are given the chance to work with
people who have a similar interest and may have resources to share. This will
also aid in forming presentation groups.
• Understanding the ideas present in Form = Audience + Purpose is extremely
important and a necessary part of the unit because it is the way in which every
genre will be compared and contrasted. The idea of Form = Audience + Purpose is
one of the unit goals, and this will provide the students with an effective, efficient,
and reliable way to engage with and be critical of a text. The handout given to the
students is the same form that will be completed for each genre discussed
throughout the unit. The format for analyzing a certain genre using F = A + P will
be consistent throughout the entire unit; this consistency will be extremely helpful
to students because when the analyze new genres in the future, they will be able to
do so with a familiar format, therefore making the task less menacing.
• Previously, students have worked with newspapers. It will be beneficial if
students are able to work with a genre they are familiar with (newspaper) when
practicing and applying a new idea. This first genre will model for the class how
to use Form = Audience + Purpose. Newscasts, although present in the media, are
new in respect to F = A + P, therefore students will draw on their earlier
experience to complete the F = A + P chart.

Assessments
• Students demonstrate uptake during the discussion of Form = Audience + Purpose
through active listening and critical questioning.
• Students thoughtfully complete the F = A + P chart for the newspaper and then
transfer this knowledge to the F = A + P chart for the new genre of a newscast.

Objectives
• Students will be able reflect upon their interests in order to rank other topics in
order of interest.
• Students will be able to understand how the elements of Form = Audience +
Purpose inform and interact with each other.
• Students will be able to apply their knowledge of F = A + P to critically view a
 newspaper.
• Students will be able to transfer their knowledge of F = A + P to critically view a
newscast.

Tasks
• Introduction: While I walk around to check in your Research Journals, rank the
following topics in order of interests. A “1” indicates you have a high interest in
the subject. A “5” indicates that you have other interests than that particular
topic. These rankings will help me determine how I form the groups you will
present your final project to. I will try to honor your highest interests as best I
can.

• Activity 1: Research Journal Check in and Topic Ranking (5 minutes)

o Pass out Topic Ranking sheet.

o While students fill out the Topic Ranking sheet, check in their research
journals.

• Transition: The same information can be conveyed in many different forms. The
creator of these forms must consider whom he or she is targeting with the
information and why he or she is conveying this information. It is with these
three main ideas in mind that we examine different genres.

• Activity 2: Form = Audience + Purpose (20 minutes)

o Students discuss what “form” means to a genre.

 The HOW: The way and genre in which a text is created and
published.
o Students discuss what “audience” means to genre.
 The WHO: Intended readers/viewers or people meant to engage
with the text.
o Students discuss what “purpose” means to a genre.
 The WHY: the reason that the text is created.
o Students discuss the relationship these three elements have to each other.

• Transition: After having a basic understanding of how these three elements

inform our understanding of a text, we can use them to help us compare different
genres. To begin, we will examine a genre we are all familiar with, a newspaper
article, under the F=A + P scope.

• Activity 3: Newspaper vs. Newscast (30 minutes)

o Students are given the F = A + P handout.

 This sheet will be used as a graphic organizer for each genre.
o A newspaper article is analyzed for its form, audience, and purpose.
 The class completes the top chart on the F = A + P handout.
 What questions do you think the author of the article began with in
 order to conduct research that would lead to a story?
o The class watches a newscast and then analyzes it for its form, audience,
and purpose.
 The class completes the bottom chart on the F = A + P handout.
 What questions do you think the producer of the segment began
with in order to conduct research that would lead to a story?
o In partners, students compare a newspaper and a newscast based on the 3
components of focus (form, audience, and purpose).
o Once partners have compared the two, the class discusses the differences
between the two.
 Why are these differences important?
 What information do you learn from one that you do not learn from
the other?
 In your opinion, which is more reliable? Why?

• Homework: Continue to research topic

Materials
• Topic Ranking sheet
• F = A + P handout
• Sample newspaper
• Sample newscast
• Computer (with Internet access)
• Projector (connected to computer)

To Do
• Create Topic Ranking sheet
• Create F = A + P handout
• Make copies of the Topic Ranking sheet and the F = A + P handout
• Find a sample newspaper
• Find a sample newscast

References
• “FDR Ends Gold Standard in 1933.” YouTube.com.
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_ex0sTsb_I
• Taylor, Nick. “A Short History of the Great Depression.” New York Times
archive.
o http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/g/great_de
pression_1930s/

All relevant handouts

• Form = Audience + Purpose handout
• Copy of the newspaper article