Teach Tone Using One Language Essay

Literature Activity #1
Title: “Teach Tone Using One Sentence and a Red Hat”
Source: http://www.elabuffet.com/2013/03/this-scenario-middle-schooler.html?m=1

Applicable Standard: ELAGSE7RI4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.
The seventh grade English/ Language Arts standard “ELAGSE8RL4” states that students will be able to determine the tone of a text by analyzing the writer’s usage of diction. Tone allows readers to obtain insight on a narrator’s attitude towards characters and events in the plot. Additionally, the importance of tone extends to every interaction that students experience; consumers of information need to demonstrate an awareness of a speaker’s management of language that potentially results in biased statements.

Description: In the lesson “Teach Tone Using One Sentence and a Red Hat,” the teacher describes the following scenario to her students:
Typical middle schooler. At home after school.
Mother, calmly, to middle school student: I've asked you twice already to unload the dishwasher. Middle schooler: I said I will... when I'm finished.
Mother slowly looks up at middle schooler.

She explains to the students that by accentuating the subject of the sentence, the reader could interpret the meaning as “I didn’t say that you stole the red hat, but someone else did.” She underlines each word in the sentence individually and has the students read the sentences aloud, demonstrating diction’s ability to alter the meaning of a