Determining Author's Purpose with Excerpt from Fast Food Nation

Objectives

Students will be able to ...

• listen to a reading passage and take notes
• determine an author's message
• evaluate the message and agree/disagree giving reasons

Procedure

1. Do Now: In Reading Workshop - One a scale of 1 to 10, how bad is fast food for you? Explain your reasoning/answer.

2. Discuss Do Now

3. Remind students that we are working on improving their listening comprehension. Tell them that it is important that when they have to listen to a passage or lecture, that they listen for a purpose. For the reading we are doing today, they're purpose will be to figure out what the writer thinks about fast food and to find the reasons he thinks this.

4. I will read the passage while students take notes (on looseleaf).

5. After readings, students will answer the questions (on looseleaf):

- What does the author think about fast food?

- What are some of his reasons for what he thinks?

- Do you agree with him? Why/why not?

6. Students will share and discuss their answers.

Assessment

Looking at the discussion and the students' written notes and responses, I will be looking that they take notes utilizing the purpose I assigned to them. I will also look there to identify if they are able to understand his point of view and communicate their own.