Tone and Mood by Morgan Wright

I posted about a tone & mood activity last month when I wrote my latest blog post, but it is a concept that is always SO difficult for my 8th graders to grasp.  They can tell me what the terms mean, but when they have to apply it &/or write about it, they completely lose understanding.  But, I have found that linking this concept to something creative seems to help them not only enjoy learning about this concept & standard, but it also helps them retain the information.

First, I had my students take notes about tone & mood in their interactive notebooks.  Then, the activity began.  This activity can be done with virtually any text: poem, song, short story, or even excerpts from a novel.  I chose to do this activity with “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe a few years ago with my kiddos around Halloween time (pre-Covid.)  The idea is to give students a portion of a text and have them identify words or phrases that help portray a given tone.  Students then circle or underline the words that help them determine the tone.  Then, students create a drawing that is tied to the text itself.  I had my students draw & color a picture that related to the story, but you could have your students draw & color a picture tied to the main idea, theme, or anything else you choose.

Using the diagnostic data I pulled from each of my students, I put the students into similar-ability groups.  Then, I assigned each group a different section of the short story.  For my ESOL newcomers & students who scored a lower percentage on the tone & mood diagnostic assessment, I provided them with an excerpt from the text that was easier to comprehend and the “tone words” stood out.  For my students who did well on the diagnostic assessment (85% or higher), I provided them with an excerpt from the story they really had to closely read & analyze to determine words that portrayed the tone.  Lastly, once all students identified the words that portrayed the tone, they had to write a constructed response paragraph that explained how the tone helped create a certain mood.  

Yes, this was a very higher-order thinking concept & activity, but all of my students, even those who were ESOL newcomers, were successful in practicing & learning the associated standards! Sometimes, throwing in a creative component to help practice a concept can help students fully visualize what they need to learn. Whatever gets the kids excited about learning & is also standards-based is a win in my book!

Written by co-author Mrs.Wrights Room