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In the lesson, What’s the Author’s Purpose? Animal Shelter, students scaffold their thinking and draw conclusions about the author’s purpose while using a 2-column chart.

Students can then identify which statements made in a video segment are inferences in the lesson, What Do You Infer?: Animal Shelter.

Social studies, social responsibility, animals

The following Frame, Focus and Follow-up suggestions are best suited for elementary or middle school students using this video in an English language arts lesson. Be sure to modify the questions to meet your students' instructional needs.

For an ELA lesson on inference:

• Frame: If I spoke to you in a cold manner and avoided making eye contact with you, it might infer that I was angry with you. If I came in with a friendly smile and looked at you, what might that infer? What is an inference, or what does it mean when someone infers something?
• Focus: We can make inferences from texts that we read or view. Watch this short segment and see what you think the music and images are inferring about animal shelters or the dogs you see.
• Follow Up: What message did you infer from the segment? Why did you make this inference? What images or sounds support your inference? What does this tell you about making inferences about other texts you read or videos you view?

For an ELA lesson on author's purpose:

• Frame: Think about the various types of writing generated by various authors. Have you ever thought about the author’s purpose for writing in these various formats? What is an author's purpose for writing commercials and advertisements? What other reasons might authors have for writing?
• Focus: Determine the author’s or filmmaker's purpose in making this video.
• Follow Up: What might have been the author’s purpose in creating this video? What clues lead you to your conclusion? Discuss steps you could take to change this video or strategies you could use with this video "as is" to portray other purposes. For example, how would changing the background music or changing the ending affect the audience's response?

For a social studies lesson:

• Frame: What do you know about animal shelters? Do you have one in your community? Have you ever paid a visit to an animal shelter? If so, why?
• Focus: As you watch the video, think about why we have animal shelters in our society. What purposes do they serve?
• Follow Up: Why do communities have animal shelters? Are the practices of animal shelters ethical? Are their practices necessary? Devise an alternative plan to solve the problems that animal shelters aim to solve.