Close Reading Seminar · Lesson 8

Seminar: who is this for, and how do we know?

The class determines audience and purpose for a shared text, requiring textual evidence for each proposal.

Other teaching approach: Independent Reading Workshop →

Before you plan from this: the lesson body below is currently near-identical to the other route's. This panel describes the intended difference, which is not authored yet — so choose either route on topic and year band, not on this pitch. Both routes are kept and will be differentiated; neither is being retired.

Year 7 English · Reading & Viewing / Comprehension

Lesson 8: Evaluating Text Purpose & Target Audience

Building confident, active readers through Te Ao Māori perspectives, comprehension strategies, and rich Aotearoa texts.

🎯 Ngā Whāinga Akoranga | Learning Intentions

🧠 Students will know:

Authorial purpose (to inform, persuade, entertain, instruct, explain), target audience profiling (age, background, interest), and how tone/language adapt for different audiences.

✏️ Students will demonstrate:

Determine author purpose across various text formats (advertisements, news reports, poetry, pūrākau), analyse tone, and profile target audiences.

🎥 Media Anchor & Pedagogical Scaffold

Author Purpose (PIE) & Audience Analysis

Video: kaiako to select — guidance below.

🎬 Kaiako: Select and embed a video here

Suggested search: "Author Purpose (PIE) & Audience Analysis"

Search YouTube for a short clip (5–10 min) on this topic. Verify it is age-appropriate and plays correctly before embedding. Add data-oembed-verified="true" only after verifying via YouTube oEmbed.

🧠 1. Before Viewing (Activate & Predict)

How does an author change their choice of words when writing a video game review for teenagers versus a scientific letter to a mayor?

👁️ 2. During Viewing (Watch With a Job)

  • Early in the clip: Apply PIE framework: Persuade, Inform, Entertain (plus Explain & Instruct).
  • Midway: Analyse register: formal academic language vs informal slang vs conversational tone.
  • Later in the clip: Identify visual design elements (fonts, colours, imagery) tailored to specific target audiences.

🗣️ 3. After Viewing & Kaiako Move (Process & Apply)

Kaiako Move: Display 4 different media texts covering the same topic (conservation) targeting children, scientists, politicians, and tourists.

Immediate Task: Complete Section 8 of your Reading Journal: Purpose & Target Audience Analysis Grid.

⚡ Whakaoho | Do Now: Reading Warm-Up (10 mins)

Review key reading vocabulary, strategy definitions, and context clues for Lesson 8. Connect previous reading reflections to today's text analysis.

📖 Activity 1: Guided Reading & Strategy Practice (25 mins)

Read selected Aotearoa non-fiction, School Journal articles, or pūrākau passages in pairs. Apply active reading strategies, highlight text evidence, and complete graphic organizers.

📝 Activity 2: Year 7 Reading Journal & Reflection Scaffolding (20 mins)

Draft your formal Reading Journal entry for Lesson 8. Use specific text quotes and reading strategy terminology (e.g., schema, context clues, main idea, evidence-based inference, cause/effect, pūrākau metaphor, author bias, text synthesis) to justify your answers.

🏫 Kaiako Planning & Pedagogy Notes

Year 7 Curriculum Alignment: Te Mataiaho English Phase 3 — Reading and Viewing for meaning. Builds core comprehension, critical literacy, and cultural connectedness through Aotearoa literature and pūrākau.