Erin Koerselman

Grade: 6
Standards:
Literature, Craft and Structure: Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word
choices shape meaning or tone.
Writing, Text Types and Purposes: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of
substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
Objectives: Determine the tone and mood of poetry through analyzation of word choice and
write an opinion piece on the tone and mood.
Materials: smart board, Mood & Tone PowerPoint presentation, copies of “Lost Generation,”
“Noon,” and “Heat” worksheets and Mood & Tone Wordlist
Essential Question: How does word choice help us analyze tone and mood? What evidence can
we use to describe a poem’s tone and mood?
Personal Objective:
I can analyze the author’s word choice to determine a poem’s tone and mood.
I can clearly state my claim on my analysis of a poem’s tone and mood using valid reasoning and
relevant evidence.
Vocabulary: tone, mood, infer

Phase I: Exploration and Explanation/Concept Development

1. Assess prior knowledge while building background, as needed.
• Project slide 1
Today we are going to talk about how to differentiate between tone and mood as they are
closely related and often used together, but very different. Then we’ll explore how we can
determine tone and mood in poetry. Then at the end you will be expected to analyze tone and
mood in poetry. Raise your hand if you know what tone is. Ask someone with their hand raised if
they would explain to the class what tone means.
• Project slide 2 (tone)
Raise your hand if you know what mood is. Ask someone with their hand raised if they would
explain to the class what mood means.
• Project slide 3 It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. – “Come here, Sally.”
• Ask for 3 volunteers. Give each a tone word: serious, enthusiastic, and affectionate.
Students take turns saying the phrase in their respective tone. Have the other students
 guess the tone. Talk about how we can infer tone by how something is said (tone of
voice).
The literary elements tone and mood are important because they help create the meaning of a
story or poem.
• Project slide 4: clip from Jaws; talk about how they felt during the film clip- what mood
did the filmmakers create? What were you feeling as you watched it? How did they
create mood?
• Project slide 5: (mood)
• Next, ask how we can determine or infer tone and mood if we are reading something (we
can’t hear it/ we’re not watching a movie).
• Project the slide 5, “The leaves swirl around the yard.” 1. Ask students if they can tell
what the attitude is toward the subject, Autumn; this is tone. 2. Does it make them feel
any way in particular? Does it create mood? (It lacks both. Why? There are no descriptive
words.)
• Slide 6: “The decayed leaves eerily swirl around the damp, darkening yard.” 1. Despairing,
gloomy, heavy. 2. Gloomy, eerie. How do you know? Get students to point out specific
words that created tone and mood.
• Slide 7: “The lively leaves gleefully swirl around the honey-hued yard.” 1. Carefree,
gleeful, joyful. 2. Happy, joyous. Again, how do you know?
• Slide 8: “The maddening leaves furiously swirl around the raked yard. 1. Annoyed,
irritated, exasperated. 2. Angry, infuriating, annoyed. What words create tone and
mood?
For the last 3 slides you gave me very different descriptions of tone and mood. So, what helped
you determine the tone and mood of each? Word choice. Yes, we infer tone through the use of
descriptive words and phrases. Other literary elements help as well like rhythm and structure,
but today we are focusing on an author’s diction- their word choice.
• Pass out Mood & Tone Wordlist letting them know it can help to have a list of words.
We are going to read a poem called “Lost Generation” by Jonathan Reed. I want you to pay close
attention to the author’s attitude toward his subject. What do we call this? Tone. I also want you
to pay attention to how the author’s attitude makes you feel. This is called? Mood.
• Project slide 9 (copy of student graphic).
• Pass out copies of “Lost Generation” and read out loud.
• Together, go through the poem again underlining words and/or phrases that help
describe the author’s tone or attitude.
• Ask them how this describes the tone. What is the tone? Write tone word down on
board. Ask them to write what the tone is and provide examples.
• Roam room to scaffold as needed.
Now, what is the poem’s mood? How does it make you feel? Now write about the poem’s mood
(model on the board where to write and provide a sentence stem: The mood of “Lost Generation”
is ….)
• Write/Pair/Share: Share with the person across from you what you wrote about the
poem’s mood/how it made you feel. Remind them to take turns sharing and what it looks
like when we listen to someone else: our voices are off, we are looking at the person
talking, our bodies are still. Roam room to listen and scaffold as needed.
• Ask a few students to share what they wrote about mood. Discuss.
Now I am going to show you a quick video of the poem being read by students. (Slide 11)
• Play the video of “Lost Generation” by Jonathan Reed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWSYPDh7O5Q
• Stop half-way through after the first reading. Tell them to pay attention, they’re in for a
surprise (the poem is read in reverse creating a very different tone and mood).
Look again at the words and phrases in the poem you underlined. How does their meaning
change after hearing the poem in reverse? Write on your paper under “2nd Reading” what the
new tone and mood are.
• Write-Pair-Share. Share with your partner what the tone and mood are now. You have
two minutes. Roam room and listen to student answers. Ask some to share with the class
and discuss.
Transition to Phase II:
• Review as needed what tone and mood means. What can we look at to determine tone
and mood?
• Tell students we will read a poem together. Students will then work independently to
look for words that help describe the author’s tone and the poem’s mood.
Phase II:
• Pass out the worksheet with the poem “Noon.”
• Read the poem and clarify any unknown meanings of words.
You will now re-read the poem to yourself. As you read, underline descriptive words that help
convey the tone and mood. Then write a paragraph explaining what you think the tone and
mood is and why by providing evidence.
• Roam room and scaffold as needed.
Transition to Phase III:
• Review tone and mood as needed.
• Explain what students will do next.
You will now read a poem on your own, underline words that the author uses to establish tone
and create mood, and write a paragraph describing the poem’s tone and mood. You will need to
provide examples.
• Pass out final worksheet.
Phase III:
• Students read the poem “Heat” by Hilda Doolittle. They need to underline descriptive
words that the author uses to convey her tone and create mood. Students then will write
a paragraph explaining the author’s tone and the mood by providing evidence.
Differentiation:
• Students support each other in pairs.
• Work one-on-one with a small group as needed.
Lost Generation by Jonathan Reed Author’s Word Choices
I am part of a lost generation.
And I refuse to believe that
I can change the world.
I realize this may be a shock, but
"Happiness comes from within"
Is a lie, and
"Money will make me happy"
So in thirty years, I will tell my children
They are not the most important thing in my life.
My employer will know that 1st Reading:
I have my priorities straight because
Work Tone (Author’s Feelings About or Views on the Subject)
Is more important than
Family The tone is: ___________________________________________ .
I tell you this:
Once upon a time Mood (Reader’s Feelings About the Writing)
Families stayed together
But this will not be true in my era. The mood is: _____________________________ . It makes me feel
This is a quick fix society
Experts tell me
_________________________________________________________
Thirty years from now, I will be celebrating the tenth
anniversary of my divorce.
I do not concede that __________________________________________________________ .
I will live in a country of my own making.
In the future, 2nd Reading:
Environmental destruction will be the norm.
No longer can it be said that The tone is: ___________________________________________ .
My peers and I care about this Earth.
It will be evident that The mood is: _____________________________ . It makes me feel
My generation is apathetic and lethargic.
It is foolish to presume that _________________________________________________________
There is hope.
__________________________________________________________ .
And all of this will come true unless we reverse it.
 Name:

Noon
By Kendall Banning
Author’s Word Choice
The bees are humming, humming in the clover;
The bobolink is singing in the rye;
The brook is purling, purling in the valley,
And the river’s laughing, radiant, to the sky!

The buttercups are nodding in the sunlight;

The winds are whispering, whispering to the pine;
The joy of June has found me; as an aureole it’s crowned me
Because, oh best beloved, you are mine!

1. bobolink: a songbird.
2. purling: when a stream flows with a murmuring sound.
3. aureole: a golden circle of light, usually around the head of a god
or a saint.

1. What is this poem about? _______________________________________________________

2. What is the author’s tone (how does he feel about the subject? ________________________
3. What is the mood of the poem (how it makes you feel)? ______________________________
4. Write a paragraph describing the tone and mood of the poem “Noon.” Provide details from
the poem to support your claim.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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 Name:

Heat
By Hilda Doolittle 1. rend: to tear or rip apart
2. tatters: ragged clothing, fabric, or paper
O wind, rend open the heat,
Cut apart the heat,
Rend it to tatters.
Author’s Word Choice
Fruit cannot drop
Through this thick air –
Fruit cannot fall into heat
That presses up and blunts
The points of pears
And rounds the grapes.

Cut the heat –

Plough through it,
Turning it on either side
Of your path.

1. What is this poem about? _______________________________________________________

2. What is the author’s tone (how does he feel about the subject? ________________________
3. What is the mood of the poem (how it makes you feel)? ______________________________
4. Write a paragraph describing the tone and mood of the poem “Noon.” Provide details from
the poem to support your claim.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
 descriptive words for:
MOOD and TONE
Mood: the way a piece of

...........................
writing makes a reader feel.
Tone: the author’s
attitude towards a subject.

...
(+) Positive (-) Negative Humorous Sorrowful Neutral
Amiable Accusing Amused Anxious Allusive
Amused Aggravated Audacious Apologetic Apathetic
Appreciative Angry Bantering Apprehensive Baffled
Authoritative Apathetic Bold Concerned Callous
Brave Arrogant Caustic Confused Candid
Calm Bitter Comical Dejected Ceremonial
Cheerful Boring Droll Depressing Contemplative
Compassionate Childish Funny Despairing Detached
Confident Cold Giddy Disturbed Disbelieving
Consoling Condescending Goofy Embarrassed Factual
Encouraging Critical Humorous Fearful Formal
Energetic Desperate Insolent Gloomy Humble
Exciting Disappointed Irreverent Grave Informative
Friendly Disgusted Ironic Hopeless Inquisitive
Hopeful Disinterested Joking Horrific Instructive
Lighthearted Furious Mocking Melancholy Judgmental
Loving Harsh Patronizing Miserable Matter-of-fact
Optimistic Hateful Pompous Mournful Nostalgic
Passionate Hurtful Quizzical Nervous Objective
Peaceful Insulting Ridiculing Numb Patriotic
Playful Irritated Sarcastic Ominous Persuasive
Proud Manipulative Satirical Paranoid Pleading
Relaxed Obnoxious Sharp Pitiful Questioning
Romantic Outraged Silly Pessimistic Reflective
Surprised Shameful Taunting Regretful Sentimental
Sweet Snooty Teasing Serious Sincere
Sympathetic Threatening Whimsical Somber Unemotional
Vibrant Wrathful Wry Upset Urgent
Ms. Fagan 2016