Katharine M. Liphardt
Lesson 1 : Mini-lesson on tone
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Define the word tone: tone is a way of expressing feelings or attitudes that will influence how the reader feels about characters, events, and outcomes of the story. Writers only have words to use to express tone, while speakers have voice tone and gestures.
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Give examples of tone in conversation. Example: How someone will say "no" when they are angry, vs. how they would say "no" in an emergency situation.
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Discuss how tone affects meaning and brainstorm about how an author could convey meaning using tone.
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Lesson 2: Identifying tone in text
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Choose passages that illustrate how a writer uses tone to convey meaning. Make overhead copies of passages, and read/discuss with the class.
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Ask students what tools the author used to show tone.
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Write student responses on board or chart paper: Images: words, pictures; Details: facts, important to what is included; Language: slang, jargon, etc; Sentence structure: short and long sentences, punctuation.
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Lesson 3: Theme mini-lesson
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Use Think - Pair - Share (Lyman, 1981).
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Have the students think individually about a definition for theme (THINK).
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Have the students pair with partners to discuss their definition and come up with one definition for the pair. (PAIR).
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Have the students share their definition with the class (SHARE).
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Define the word "theme": main idea, or message, of an essay, paragraph, or a book. The message may be about life, society, or human nature. Themes may be implied rather than stated explicitly.
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Lesson 4: Identifying theme in a text
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Read a selection aloud to the students. I usually read "Smoky Night" by Eve Bunting.
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Demonstrate how to determine the theme by identifying the general topic from the text. Once they give some basic responses such as "rioting" or "crime", I begin to push them toward some more ideas presented in the text. Once they arrive at some more abstract ideas such as "segregation" or "prejudices" we compile a list from the entire class.
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Put students into groups and give each group a picture book or poem and have them identify themes and share with the class.
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