That How an Author Feels About His Or Her Subject Constitutes Tone

Reading Lesson: Style, Tone, and Mood / Grade Level: 7
Lesson Summary: The teacher will establish the distinction and relationships between style, tone, and mood. Students will engage in a writing exercise about their day. Students will swap papers and identify style, tone, and mood. Students will then analyze the selection in terms of these elements. For practice, students will complete exercises presented on PowerPoint slides and extend the selection by writing another paragraph that builds on the tone and mood of the first. Advanced learners will extend those paragraphs into a short story. Struggling learners will draw an illustration and identify details that show tone and mood.
Lesson Objectives:
The students will know…

that authors choose key words and phrases to create their own style of writing.
that how an author feels about his or her subject constitutes tone.
that how a reader feels about the author’s subject constitutes mood.

The students will be able to . . .

identify words and phrases that define style, mood, and tone.

Learning Styles Targeted:
Visual / Auditory / Kinesthetic/Tactile
Pre-Assessment
Procedure:
1)Have students recall a story or poem with a definite style. (A good example is the Robert Frost poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”)
2)Then have them identify words and phrases that set mood and tone.
3)Take note of students who have difficulty with the terms style, tone, and mood.
Whole-Class Instruction
Materials Needed: PowerPoint slides*, copies of the selection*, paper and pencils
Procedure:
Presentation
1)Have students write spontaneously for five minutes about how their day is going so far.
2)Group the students in pairs and have them exchange papers. Ask each reader to circle words and phrases they like. Explain that these words and phrases contribute to style.
3)Then ask readers how these words express the author’s feelings about how the day is going. Is it a good day? A bad day? Ask them, as specifically as possible, to sum up how the author feels about the day in one word. Explain that how the author feels constitutes tone.
4)Finally, ask readers to think about how they felt after reading the passage. Did it cheer them up? Did it bring them down? Ask them to sum up in a word how the passage made them feel. Explain that that how the reader feels constitutes mood.
5)Choose a gifted reader to read the selection*. Ask students to identify and record the piece’s style, tone, and mood. Share reactions and discuss.
Guided Practice
6)Display and discussPowerPoint slides*.
Independent Practice
7)Have students continue the selection by writing an additional paragraph, building on the mood and tone of the first.
Closing Activity
8)Ask students to identify one key detail in the selection that established tone. Respond to that detail by defining mood.
Advanced Learner
Materials Needed: paper, pencils, and copies of the selection*
Procedure:
1)Have students develop the selection and their addition provided in Independent Practice into a short story. Have them supply details as to what the narrator’s past was, why he or she felt “sorry for a lot of things,” and what resolution might occur to resolve that conflict.
2)Have them develop tone and mood, but note that tone and mood can change depending upon the resolution of the story.
3)Have students share stories and discuss style, tone, and mood of each.
Struggling Learner
Materials Needed: paper, drawing materials, and copies of the selection*
Procedure:
1)Have students sketch the scene described.
2)Ask students to identify details contained in their sketches.
3)Have students discuss how these details relate to tone and mood.
4)Ask students how the mood and tone could be changed in the selection (a sunny day, happy music, anticipation of going somewhere fun or interesting).

*see supplemental resources