Knowing why a media message is being sent is important because it gives us a context for interpretation and clues for how to respond. Students begin their exploration of motive by generating ideas about why people communicate and organizing them in the three basic categories that media scholars identify: to inform, to persuade or to entertain. They will then choose one topic and create three media texts that communicate that topic in one of the three ways: informing, persuading and entertaining. By stimulating the process of questioning motivations of media messages, this activity prepares students for the following activities and an understanding of the deeper motivations of power and/or profit.

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NOTE: This lesson plan is one of 25 cornerstone lesson plans for media literacy education available in Five Key Questions that Can Change the World, published by the Center for Media Literacy. To access the full collection, click here