Lesson Summary: For pre-assessment, the teacher will read selected lines from stories or poems that illustrate different tones. The teacher will point out details that help establish that tone. The teacher will then project a line on the board and ask students to read it in various tones of voice. The teacher will take one example of a specific tone, speculate about a scenario, and brainstorm details that might establish mood. The teacher will explain that authors use words and phrases to establish mood and tone. The teacher will project a selection and ask a gifted reader to read it, after which the class will identify mood and tone as well as the details that help establish mood and tone. For guided practice, students will return to the line read in various tones of voice at the beginning of class and create the beginning of a story that surrounds that tone. For independent practice, students will finish their stories. Advanced Learners will create stories of their own that express mood and tone. Struggling Learners will draw one of their characters with details that suggest mood and tone.
Lesson Objectives:
The students will know…
- the meaning of mood and tone.
- that key words and phrases establish mood and tone.
- identify mood and tone in writing.
- create mood and tone in writing.
Learning Styles Targeted:
x / Visual / x / Auditory / x / Kinesthetic/Tactile
Pre-Assessment: Ask students to read a line from a story or poem in their anthology and tell what kind of voice do they imagine is peaking to them. Is it serious? Funny? Angry? Select examples that will illustrate each of these tones. Point out words and phrases that help establish tone.
Whole-Class Instruction
Materials Needed: Notebook; pens and pencils
Procedure:
1)Project the following line on the board:
Hallie, I really need you to come inside now.
2)Challenge students to read the line three times with each of the following voices: cheerful, angry, and calm but serious.
3)Clarify that, for each example, the speaker used a different tone. Explain that toneis like a voice that is speaking to you. Point out that tone effects meaning, how you are to interpret or understand what is going on in a story or poem. Explain that a tone may be lighthearted or happy, serious, or even angry, just like the voice calling Hallie.
4)Explain that tone is related to mood. Ask, if the voice calling Hallie is happy, what might the mood inside the house be? Accept that it might be happy or lighthearted. Brainstorm with the class to think of details that would establish a happy mood: the voice calling Hallie is her mother and she has prepared Hallie a favorite meal; an old friend has called Hallie on the phone; Hallie’s mother has just gotten a promotion at work and wants to celebrate; even the family dog seems excited and happy.
5)Explain that authors create mood and tone by the details that they include. Project the following on the board. Ask a gifted reader to read it.
"Hello, Kira," smiled Max. He walked over to give Kira a hug. "I have been waiting all week to see you. Tell me what is happening in your life."
Kira looked away, out the window. Dark clouds were blowing toward the house. She did not want Max to see her face. Her brother sounded calm and happy. How could she tell him the news?
6)Ask students to identify the mood or tone of the selection. Accept that it is tense, that Kira has something upsetting to tell Max. Ask how does the word choice that the author uses establish tone and mood? Accept that the “dark clouds were blowing towards the house” establishes that something bad is going to happen.
7)For guided practice, have students begin a story based on Hallie. Recall the varieties of tones of voice. Challenge them to invent a speaker, identify who Hallie is, and identify her relationship with the speaker. Have them imagine a situation that might lead up to and immediately surround the speaker calling Hallie in that tone of voice. Tell them to imagine telling the story to someone. What kinds of details would they include? Remind students to think about facial expressions and other clues that people use to express their mood.
8)Ask gifted readers to read their stories in class. Ask listeners to comment on tone.
9)For independent practice, have students finish their stories. Challenge them to maintain the tone that they used for the beginning.
Advanced Learner
Materials Needed:Notebook; pens and pencils
Procedure:
1)Challenge students to write a story of their own. Challenge them to use a tone that will help a reader understand what is going on in the story. Is it serious? Is it lighthearted? Ask students to write a paragraph identifying their tone and explaining why they used it.
2)If time permits, have students exchange stories. Encourage questions and feedback.
Struggling Learner
Materials Needed: Notebook; pens and pencils
Procedure:
1)Review with students how appropriate movies and television shows establish mood and tone. Elicit that devises such as lighting, music, and the words and actions of the actors portraying characters can establish a serious, scary, or lighthearted mood. Establish that authors establish tone and mood in literature by the words and details they include.
2)Distribute copies of the following selection and read it slowly to the class.
Lola sat on the old, lumpy couch crying. She could let it all out here, alone in her mother’s small, quiet apartment in Galesburg, Illinois. The familiar walls were covered in rose pink wallpaper. Goldie, her mother’s eleventh fish, seemed to stare sympathetically at Lola through the fishbowl sitting on the counter. The smell of her mother’s vanilla candles comforted her aching heart.
3)Ask what is going on in the scene. Accept that a girl named Lola is crying alone in her mother’s apartment. Ask how does she feel about being there? Accept that she feels comforted by being in her mother’s apartment.
4)Ask students to identify the mood in the scene. Establish that it is sad but comforting. Ask students to circle words and phrases that establish that mood.
5)Review student responses. Accept that details such as “the familiar wallpaper,” the fish that “stares sympathetically” and the vanilla candle that comforts Lola add to the mood of the scene.
*see supplemental resources
Copyright © 2010 Study Island - All rights reserved.