Who Is My Reader? Audience Analysis as a Craft Move

Teacher reads two openings of the same topic — one for kindergarteners, one for the school principal. Children identify which is which and why.

• Read both versions aloud
• Ask 'who is the reader?' and 'how do you know?'
• Affirm specific audience markers (vocabulary, tone, complexity)

Today you meet AUDIENCE AWARENESS — the craft move that signals you respect your reader enough to consider them. The MG-7 audience-analysis card has 4 questions. WHO is my primary reader (peer / teacher / parent / younger student / community member / public official)? WHAT do they already KNOW about my topic? WHAT do they NEED from my essay (information / persuasion / story / instruction / reflection)? WHAT TONE fits this reader (formal / informal / warm / urgent / playful / scholarly)? Watch teacher fill MG-7 for an essay arguing 'school should start at 8:30am': WHO: school principal and parents. WHAT-DO-THEY-KNOW: they know mornings are busy and bus schedules exist. WHAT-DO-THEY-NEED: evidence that later start improves learning. WHAT-TONE: respectful, formal, evidence-led. Now watch teacher fill MG-7 for the SAME topic with a DIFFERENT audience — peers: WHO: 5th grade classmates. WHAT-DO-THEY-KNOW: they already want to sleep more. WHAT-DO-THEY-NEED: confirmation their experience matches research. WHAT-TONE: warm, urgent, casual but not unprofessional. Notice: SAME TOPIC, DIFFERENT AUDIENCES, DIFFERENT CARDS — and the essay will need different word choices and structure. Audience-awareness is a CRAFT MOVE, not a side thought. Mentor texts: Kelly Yang writes Front Desk for fifth-grade readers — her tone is warm, first-person, urgent. Sharon Draper writes Out of My Mind for the same age but with a different perspective (a child unable to speak) — Draper's tone is patient, careful, inviting empathy.

• Audience is not 'whoever might read it.' Audience is a SPECIFIC primary reader, and your card matches your essay choices to that reader.

  model See narrative — same topic, two audience cards, two different essay approaches.

  prompt Teacher fills MG-7 for the same topic with two different audiences.

• What are the 4 audience questions?
• Why does the SAME topic need DIFFERENT word choices for different audiences?

M-5-F-WR-07-A Chart

Reproduction of MG-7 at 11x17: 4-question card (WHO blue / WHAT-DO-THEY-KNOW orange / WHAT-DO-THEY-NEED red / WHAT-TONE green). Two side-by-side worked-example panels: one for school-principal audience, one for peer audience, same topic 'should school start at 8:30am'. Print-ready, dyslexic-friendly font.

MG-7 Chart

Audience-analysis card anchor: 4-question card. WHO (blue, top): 'Who is my primary reader? (Peer / teacher / parent / younger student / community member / public official.)' WHAT-DO-THEY-KNOW (orange, middle-top): 'What does this reader already know about my topic?' WHAT-DO-THEY-NEED (red, middle-bottom): 'What does this reader need from my essay? (Information / persuasion / story / instruction / reflection.)' WHAT-TONE (green, bottom): 'What TONE fits this reader? (Formal / informal / warm / urgent / playful / scholarly.)' Worked example for an essay arguing that school start times should be later: 'WHO: school principal and parents. WHAT-DO-THEY-KNOW: they know how busy mornings are. WHAT-DO-THEY-NEED: evidence that later start times improve learning. WHAT-TONE: respectful, formal, evidence-led.' Bottom rule: 'Fill the card BEFORE you draft. Re-check the card at revision.' Print-ready 11x17.

• Fill the MG-7 audience-analysis card for YOUR essay. Name your primary reader specifically.

  scaffold MG-7 anchor at desk; audience-prompt cards; tone-word bank
• Share with a partner. Partner asks: 'Does your tone in your draft match your audience card?'

  scaffold Sentence frame: 'My audience is ___. They know ___. They need ___. The tone fits ___ because ___.'

M-5-F-WR-07-B Illustration

Reference image of a Grade-5 child's MG-7 card filled by hand: 'WHO: my classmates and our school principal. WHAT-KNOW: they know my topic from the morning announcements. WHAT-NEED: they need evidence why my argument matters. WHAT-TONE: warm but evidence-led.' Card visibly stapled inside writer's notebook front cover. Print-ready 8.5x11.

MG-7 Chart

Audience-analysis card anchor: 4-question card. WHO (blue, top): 'Who is my primary reader? (Peer / teacher / parent / younger student / community member / public official.)' WHAT-DO-THEY-KNOW (orange, middle-top): 'What does this reader already know about my topic?' WHAT-DO-THEY-NEED (red, middle-bottom): 'What does this reader need from my essay? (Information / persuasion / story / instruction / reflection.)' WHAT-TONE (green, bottom): 'What TONE fits this reader? (Formal / informal / warm / urgent / playful / scholarly.)' Worked example for an essay arguing that school start times should be later: 'WHO: school principal and parents. WHAT-DO-THEY-KNOW: they know how busy mornings are. WHAT-DO-THEY-NEED: evidence that later start times improve learning. WHAT-TONE: respectful, formal, evidence-led.' Bottom rule: 'Fill the card BEFORE you draft. Re-check the card at revision.' Print-ready 11x17.

• Show your filled audience-analysis card. Staple it inside the front cover of your essayist's notebook.
• Move status-tile to PLAN or DRAFT.

• Star your audience-analysis card.
• Predict: tomorrow we revisit grammar — conjunctions, prepositions, interjections.

• At home tonight, find one TV ad and one newspaper article. Name the audience for each. Bring notes tomorrow.