Tone Words Posters and Analysis Practice

Description

This word wall display will help you teach middle or high school students to analyze the tone of any text. Learn the meanings of 75 adjectives to describe author’s tone and practice using them in class discussions and writing.

Product Features

✔ Ready to print and use PDF file

✔ Editable template to add new words

✔ Display with headers for positive, negative, and neutral tones

Teacher Prep

First, print the posters (pgs. 5-49) on cardstock, cut, and laminate if desired.

To assemble a “word line” (pgs. 9-10) for sequencing the words, print on cardstock. Then cut along dashed gray lines and tape or glue pieces end to end. Staple the word line on a bulletin board for a permanent display. Each week you can change the word wall cards, or even choose a word of the day.

Make one copy of page 4 for each student. (This analysis worksheet can also be reused throughout the year for multiple texts.)

Ideas for teaching with the Tone Words Posters

Create a hallway display with all the word cards.

Post a Tone Word of the Week—or two—in your classroom. Share a few examples of the tone in text and have students search for real life text that demonstrates this tone.

Choose a random topic and challenge students to speak or write about the topic in your selected tone. The more ridiculous the combination, the more fun this is! Examples: “unicorns” in an envious tone; “pizza” in a melancholy tone, etc.

Display the word line on your board or wall. Choose 3-5 words and have students arrange them from positive to negative on the line. This can be repeated with different sets of words, and the words you choose will make the activity more or less rigorous.

Play charades by having a student “act out” with words, as well as facial and body language, a given tone while classmates try to guess it.

Use the Analyze the Tone worksheet with multiple texts throughout the year. Introduce it by working through a text together. Choose a text written in a tone with which students are familiar so that you can focus on analyzing how the author developed it (rather than just identifying it).

After you introduce a term in class, your students will refer to the word wall as a visual cue when using the words in class discussion or in written analysis. I have noticed that even when I cover my word wall for standardized testing, students glance to that spot in the room to recall the words they want to use.