E Reading Worksheets
Tone: Voice of the Speaker
Tone and mood are easy to use interchangeably—and yet they are very different elements of literature. Help middle schoolers discern between the way a speaker feels about his or her subject and the way the audience is meant to feel with a...
Curated OER
Same Setting, Different Moods: Voice and Word Choice Using Lord of the Flies
Whether it's dark, delightful, or somber, set the mood with William Golding's Lord of the Flies. High-schoolers practice descriptive writing by creating the appropriate mood for an original scene, starring one of the book's main characters.
Simon & Schuster
Classroom Activities for The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo is the featured text in three classroom activities. The first activity asks readers to analyze the description of Edmond Dantes in Chapter XVII, paying particular attention to Dumas' word choice...
Curated OER
The Tone Map
Poems are meant to be heard. Hearing a poem being read enriches one’s understanding of the tone and mood of the piece. Introduce your class to the sounds of poetry with a packet that not only details how to use poetry recordings in the...
Curated OER
Setting the Tone with Figurative Language
Explore figurative language with your secondary class. Extending a language arts unit, the lesson plan prompts middle schoolers to examine how an author's word choice establishes a story's tone, possibly using metaphors, similes,...
Prestwick House
"Because I could not stop for Death" -- Visualizing Meaning and Tone
Emily Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death" provides high schoolers with an opportunity to practice their critical thinking skills. They examine the images, diction, rhythm, and rhyme scheme the poet uses and consider how...
Portland Public Schools
Teaching Tone to Teenagers
Tone is a tough topic to teach to teenagers. But never, fear, help is here in the form of a unit plan that takes advantage of their interest in music to set the stage for a series of activities that lead them to understand how setting,...
Curated OER
Poems with Tone and Mood
Learners examine the use of tone in poetry. In this literature lesson, students read "We Real Cool," by Gwendolyn Brooks and use the provided graphic organizer to chart the poem's tone and mood.
Curated OER
Active and Passive Voice: Finding Examples Online
Incorporate technological fluency with a search for examples of active and passive voice in online resources. Discuss how use of active or passive voice influences mood or tone and contributes to author's purpose. List of...
K20 LEARN
It’s My Party and I’ll Hear What I Want To: Gatsby’s Party Playlists, The Great Gatsby and the Sense of Sound
Young scholars consider how film soundtracks can help support not only the mood but also the tone of a scene. After viewing two very different trailers for the same film, class members create their own soundtracks for two party scenes...
EngageNY
Jigsaw to Analyze Mood and Tone in To Kill a Mockingbird (Chapter 8)
We have an appointment! Scholars meet with another discussion appointment to discuss the text structure of the poem "Incident" by Countee Cullen. They use a Note Catcher to guide their thinking and compare the structure to chapter 8 of...
Curated OER
Is Perception Reality? Writing Paradoxes in Poetry
Explore the paradox of the universe - or, at least, of popular music - with this lesson. Using the songs "Inaudible Melodies" by Jack Johnson and "She" by Green Day, your class will complete a graphic organizer to help them understand...
Literacy Design Collaborative
Words Matter: Diction and Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant"
Watch your tone! Scholars analyze how diction in George Orwell's Shooting an Elephant contributes to the tone of the text. Readers watch a video, participate in a word splash, and work through a PowerPoint lesson to help them determine...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Reading Literature - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Ambrose Bierce’s short story, is used to model how structural moves, the decisions an author makes about setting, point of view, time order, etc., can be examined to reveal an author’s purpose. Groups...
Curated OER
Bring Read-to-Learn Activities into Your Classroom
Shift your instruction from teacher-centered to student-centered, which requires learners to do the heavy lifting.
Curated OER
Understanding Tone
Eighth graders define tone and determine the tone of a particular passage making a web of tone words on Inspiration. They write a journal entry expressing how a piece of music makes them feel and create a PowerPoint to share.
Curated OER
Slices of American Pie: The 1960s Through Music
Eleventh graders examine political, cultural, and social movements through music. For this 1960s American history lesson, 11th graders explore the music of the decade in order to better understand the complexity of the time period....
Curated OER
Getting Ready to Write
Students watch an online slideshow that shows Cornelia Funke's transition from an illustrator to a writer. They discuss her writing process from the way she gathers ideas to how and where she writes. Next, they work in groups to choose a...
Curated OER
Latino Literature: Poetry
Under construction, this lesson focuses on Canto Familia, a collection of poetry about Gary Soto's experiences growing up in California's Imperial Valley. Representative of the experiences of many Latinos, the poems also address themes...
Curated OER
MTV's Poetry
Learners use several strategies in poetry to convey tone and speaker. In this language arts lesson, students read and build vocabulary as they gain a larger understanding of how to write poetry. Learners then work in groups in order to...
Curated OER
Literature Through Silent Movies
Students participate in an engaging, alternative assessment activity: making a silent film of an Edgar Allen Poe story. This project offers them an additional way to demonstrate their mastery of the topic.
Anti-Defamation League
Understanding and Analyzing “The U.S. of Us” by Richard Blanco
Current immigration issues and the rhetoric surrounding the controversies come into focus with a lesson that uses Richard Blanco's anthem, "The U.S. of Us," written after the August 2019 attack in El Paso, Texas, to open a discussion of...
Virginia Department of Education
Developing an Essay: Word Choice
Grading essays after reading a novel written by a lyrical master (think Nabokov, Morrison, Chabon) is a deflating experience. Why can’t your student’s display the same skill in diction as your favorite writers? Because you did not use...
Curated OER
What Kind of Ladybug Are You?
As a class, read different sentences prepared by the teacher, identifying the punctuation that is needed for the appropriate expression. In small groups, have each child assume the role of one or more character in The Grouchy Ladybug by...