Determining What the Author's Purpose REALLY Is [During]

1. The teacher will provide the students with the URL to the "Be an Inventor" slides via the chosen learning platform (Schoology, Google Classroom, etc).

2. The students will access the URL and click on "Launch." The teacher will access the "Be an Inventor" presentation and show it on a screen or interactive TV. 

3. Once everyone has accessed the URL and pulled up the presentation, the teacher will read the overview aloud and have students read along. 

4. The teacher and the students will follow along with the slides on the "Be an Inventor" presentation.

a) The teacher will show the video provided on the 3rd slide. Do not have the students click on this link. Show the video on a projector or interactive TV. 

b) On slide 4, have students choose their Lexile/reading level. This should have been provided to students before the lesson. Students will click on the owl to choose their correct level. Clicking on the levels does not work. 

c) On slide 5, the students will spend time reading their passage about Thomas Edison. The students will click "continue" at the top of the slide when they are done reading the passage. 

d) Have the students signal when they are done reading and have clicked continue. 

e) Explain to students that they will go back and read the passage a second time, and this time, they will highlight words and phrases that they think help them determine why the author wrote the passage. Remind students that the author's purpose is the reason he/she wrote something. 

f) The students will read their passage (by clicking on the owl) and use the highlight feature to highlight words and phrases and sentences that help them figure out why the author wrote the passage about Thomas Edison. The students will click on "Highlight It" and then use the mouse to highlight words. They will then click on the yellow highlighter button at the top of the passage to begin highlighting. Make sure students know they can click the "undo" button if they highlight the wrong thing. The teacher will give the students time to complete this activity. 

g) When the student is done highlighting, he or she will click "Submit" on the right side of the slide. The teacher will give the students time to complete this activity. 

h) The student will then use the box at the bottom of the slide, and type an answer in the box to tell why they think the author wrote the passage about Thomas Edison. The teacher will give the students time to complete this activity. 

i) The teacher and students will proceed through the slideshow. 

j) Give students a few minutes to explore slides 9 and 10. Students will look at the wall of inventors and see if they can guess what items they invented. 

k) On slide 11, have students study the timeline. Have students pick their favorite invention and tell a partner why it's their favorite. 

l) Guide students in answering the questions on slide 12 and have them write their answers on a piece of paper or sticky note. Have them check their answers on slide 13.

m) On slide 14, have students try to answer the question. They can then click on the answer to see if they got it correct. 

n) Read slide 15 together and then point out inventions on the timeline below the passage. On slide 16, read each question aloud and have students try to answer them. Remind students they can refer back to slide 15 for help.  

o) Show students the video on slide 17. They do not need to watch this video on their computers.

p) On slide 19, test students' memories and see if they can remember what each person invented. Answers can be checked on slide 20.

q) Students will complete the activity on slide 21 by clicking "Visualize It" and creating a picture of themselves and naming something they would like to invent. 

r) Allow students time to watch the videos on the remaining slides (22-28) to learn more about these inventors.