S’MORE WRITING The Right Voice: Task, Purpose, and Audience
LESSON OBJECTIVE LitCampers will consider task, purpose, and audience as they write sentences appropriate for casual, somewhat formal, and very formal occasions.
MATERIALS • Writing paper, pens, pencils
• Copy of the You’ve Got Style chart (p. 3) to model; copy of the You’ve Got Style A&B charts (p. 4) for each camper.
examples, and to respond with “casual,” “somewhat formal,” or “very formal”: Say: Let’s say you need to text (task) a friend (audience) about homework (purpose). What’s your style? (casual) What if you need to email (task) a teacher (audience) about an assignment (purpose) ? What’s the style? (somewhat formal) And what if there’s a community issue that’s important to you (purpose) , so you write a letter (task) to the editor of your local paper (audience) ? Style? (very formal). You’ve got it! Now let’s practice a few sentences together. Model using the You’ve Got Style chart. Note that the tasks and purposes for writing are the same in both examples, but that the audiences are different. As you model the first one, say: These are text messages from someone who needs to let different people know that she missed the bus. So, I know the writer’s task is a text, and the purpose is to tell people she missed the bus. In the first example, the writer texts her sister . Here, her style is casual. In the next example, she texts her friend’s mom. Here, her style is more formal. And in the third example, she texts her employer. Now her style is quite formal. Invite campers to point out how the messages are similar (they all say that the writer missed the bus) and how they are different (the way she addresses each person; the amount of detail she gives to explain why she missed the bus). Follow the same routine for the second example. Help campers see that the greeting, word choice, level of politeness, punctuation, and depth of explanation vary in each message.
INTRODUCE LESSON: Explain to campers that this lesson focuses on understanding the task (what you’re writing), purpose (why you’re writing), and audience (to whom you’re writing) to determine how to style your writing—how casual or formal it needs to be. TEACH: Say: Campers, today were going to talk about how to style our writing—how casual or formal it should be. Picture a formal occasion, such as a wedding or a school concert. You’re dressed in your best shoes and clothes, and you’ve paid some attention to the way your hair looks. In other words, you’re showing your fanciest self. You’re probably also quieter than usual. That’s because you’re showing respect and how serious you can be. Next, picture yourself at home or with close friends. You’re probably very casual in the way you dress, behave, and speak. But what if you were with your friends’ parents or your teachers? You would probably be somewhere between casual and formal. Your writing is like that, too. Depending on the situation, you might be formal—dressing up your words and taking a more serious tone—or casual—using slang and not worrying about punctuation. To figure out how casual or formal your writing needs to be, you need to ask yourself: What am I writing? Why am I writing? and To whom am I writing? In other words, you need to understand your task, purpose, and audience. Ask campers to identify the task, purpose, and audience in each of the following
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