Poetry - Mood, Tone and Theme: Lesson 2 Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Ms. Madison Myers

Knowledge Quest Academy: Language Arts Period 4 and 5 (7th and 8th Grades)

Objective for the unit: How do literary elements add greater meaning to a
text?
Todays Objective: How do mood and tone add greater meaning to a text and
how do I differentiate the authors opinions from my own?
Standards:
By the end of today, students will begin to be able to:
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the
impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts. (CCSS: RL.8.4)
Explain how word choice and sentence structure are used to achieve specific effects (such as tone, voice, and mood) (CAS: L.8.a.iii)

Agenda: (52 minutes)

5 minutes: Come into class, grab binders from shelf and sit quietly in their seats. I will take
attendance and give instructions about poetry corrections. Students will receive a stamp for their
homework from the night before. This is a step of completion. Just having the stamp gives them 5
points. We will go over the poems in class together. Anything they write on the poem during class
time, must be done in a red pen (which I will provide.) These notes done in class will account for the
additional 5 points. Students can receive late credit stamps (worth half credit 1 day late), but these
must be done in a different colored pen or pencil on their own time. I will come around and give
stamps while they work on their warmups everyday.
5 minutes: Students will complete journal entry #2. I will walk around and give completion stamps
for their homework.
15 minutes: Go through I Could Not Stop for Death as a group. I will ask students to share with me
their responses from their homework. I will add in notes in red on the projected screen as modeling
for them, completing steps 1 and 2 (Spot the title and read through the poem fully) as well as rereading stanzas 1-4 and writing notes about what is going on literally, why this is happening and
what it could mean.
10 minutes: Mini-lesson on Tone and mood. Notes and powerpoint. I will provide the definitions and
examples of tone and mood. Students will fill in skeleton notes throughout the mini-lesson. At times,
they will share with a partner, write down answers on their notes, then raise their hands and share
with me and their classmates.
2 minutes: Homework Calendars. I will go over the homework for tomorrow with students. They will
be reading i carry your heart with me and filling out steps 1-6 of the Analyzing poetry handout.
13 minutes: Me vs. The Author Activity. We will watch a short youtube video about Emily
Dickinsons life to get students in the mindset of Emily Dickinson. We will return to the poem and
talk about the tone (her perspective and feelings toward her subject) vs the mood (our response and

Poetry - Mood, Tone and Theme: Lesson 2 Wednesday, October 26, 2016
feelings toward the subject.) We will write notes on the poem for tone and mood, completing step 5.
We will specifically look at Dickinsons word choice to determine positive or negative tone.
2 minutes: I will remind them of our learning target today and for the unit. I will remind them to be
mindful of how the speaker influences a text. Just because we feel a certain way or think a certain
way, does not necessarily mean that the was the authors intention.
FA: We will be building and continuing on tone, mood and theme tomorrow. After tomorrow, I will
collect their binders and do an initial check for understanding. I will read their homework answers
from Tuesday and Wednesday night, and see their work from class Tuesday-Thursday. This binder
check will give me a good idea whether students understand tone, mood and theme, or not. I will
know that students get it if they can tell me the definitions of tone, mood and theme in their journals
on Thursday, in their own words, and tell me where they think they saw them present throughout the
poem they read for homework. I will also know that they understand tone and mood if they can tell
me, in their me vs the author activity, that tone is based on Emily Dickinsons life, vs the mood,
which is based on their lives.
Accommodations/Modifications: For students that have IEPs, I am allowing them to complete the
poems in class with blue pen for full credit. This way they are getting the content, and not being
penalized for not understanding the homework, and consequently not doing it at home.
Notes on Today:
We did not have enough time to get through all of the Emily Dickinson video, nor complete the Me
Vs. the Author activity. I was able to get through the entire video with 1st and 3rd period, when it
was taught later, and they had a much better understanding about how the author and the speaker are
usually two different people. I would have emphasized this more with 4th and 5th period if I was to
go back and reteach this lesson. Ashley gave great feedback about talking over them vs. getting their
attention. I was not realizing the amount of yelling that I was doing, and need to be conscious of my
voice level (I often am way too excited and end up talking loudly.) She also suggested that I move
around the room more to encourage more engagement. Proximity is key.