Tone and Mood Emoji Plate by Morgan Wright

We are officially underway with the 2020-2021 school year, and this week I was finally able to jump into content with my 8th graders! The first few weeks of school consisted of benchmarks, Lexile assessments, diagnostics on standards, and all of the other “boring” beginning of the year to-dos, so it was nice to do a fun and engaging activity with my students.

The first unit of study in 8th grade ELA in my district is focused on literary reading and argumentative writing.  For my students, this means reading and analyzing poetry and writing claims with evidence for support.  In this first unit, students also must study the tone and mood of texts and be able to explain their reasoning. This always seems to be a complex topic for my students to understand, so I try to make this lesson as interesting and engaging as possible. 

To tie in all of the mentioned standards and concepts above, I began class by showing my students this visual and explained the similarities and differences between tone and mood. 

Then, to continue the discussion of tone and mood and maintain student interest, I showed this video that describes how tone and mood can be analyzed in both literature and media (movies, TV shows, etc.).

After the video and discussions with students, we began reading “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe to use as our mentor text to practice the concepts of tone and mood.  I played this audio of the text while students followed along on printed copies of the poem. After we read the poem, we discussed the literary elements in the poem (setting, characters, conflict), and we also verbally analyzed the tone and mood of the poem as a class.

To complete independent practice, I showed this presentation to my students.  I gave my students a paper plate to complete practice.  On one side of the plate, students had to pick an emoji to draw and color to represent the mood of the poem.  I let them search up emojis that they thought matched the mood of the poem, but I also told them they could draw another symbol if they wanted to.  On the other side of the plate, students had to write a literary response/constructed response paragraph that explained the mood of the poem.  At my school, students use the Jane Schaffer writing method.  If you’re not familiar with this writing process, I highly recommend it! It helps all students, especially those who have a hard time understanding what to write, write constructed responses, paragraphs, and essays.  For my ESOL students and those who needed additional support for writing, I provided sentence starters. As students finished their drawing, they brought it to me so I could check it before they began their paragraph so that I could check for understanding.

After students completed their emoji plate, they then had to write a Jane Schaffer paragraph about the tone of the poem using this writing prompt.  In my classroom, students complete notes and writing practice/application in an interactive notebook.  Before we began this activity, students took notes in their notebook.  Then, after the discussion at the beginning of class and the emoji plate, students were to complete the writing prompt in their interactive notebook. 

I’ve found after doing this activity for a few years now that students feel more comfortable and confident in their knowledge of writing a paragraph which analyzes the tone of a text after the friendly approach with the emoji plate.  My ESOL students did great with this assignment as well, even with the complex topic of tone and mood.  All students seem to forget they’re writing two paragraphs in a class period when I approach the concept and standard(s) with something that is relatable to them, which in this case was emojis. 

 I’ve also had some ask me why I use paper plates with this activity.  The answer is because it’s different! Students typically either write a paragraph on paper or on the computer via a Google Doc.  Changing the medium in which students complete the assignment seems to excite and engage them in what they’re doing. All students took their time on this assignment and were truly invested in what they were doing.   Spending $3 on paper plates to engage my students in an activity is totally worth it! 

Here are some examples I received this week.  My students knocked it out of the park! **Black circles on images are to keep the names of students private.** If you’d like more information on how to implement this lesson, feel free to reach out to me! My Instagram handle is @mrswrightsroom.

Article written by Morgan Wright.