Literature - EC: L.N.2.3.5

Continuum of Activities

The list below represents a continuum of activities: resources categorized by Standard/Eligible Content that teachers may use to move students toward proficiency. Using LEA curriculum and available materials and resources, teachers can customize the activity statements/questions for classroom use.

This continuum of activities offers:

Instructional activities designed to be integrated into planned lessons
Questions/activities that grow in complexity
Opportunities for differentiation for each student’s level of performance

Grade Levels

Commencement

Course, Subject

English Language Arts, Literature

Related Academic Standards / Eligible Content

L.N.2.3.5 L.N.2.3.5

Explain, interpret, compare, describe, analyze, and/or evaluate voice, tone, style, and mood in a variety of nonfiction:

the relationship between the tone, style, and/or mood and other components of the text
how voice and choice of speaker (narrator) affect the mood, tone, and/or meaning of the text
how diction, syntax, figurative language, sentence variety, etc., determine the author’s style

Activities

Identify the tone, diction, syntax and any figurative language of a nonfiction text.
Quote at least one line that best illustrates the overall tone of a nonfiction text.
Choose at least three examples of figurative language (simile, metaphor, personification, analogy, hyperbole, etc.) and interpret these details.
Compare the use of figurative language to the tone to see if there are patterns or similarities between the two.
Choose a paragraph or section of a text with specific diction or syntax, and then analyze how these stylistic choices contribute to, advance or highlight the author’s voice.
Analyze how the use of a narrator or speaker contributes to, advances or supports the tone and/or style of a text.

Answer Key/Rubric

Students correctly use details from the text in order to determine the tone, pinpoint specific diction and syntax unique to the text, and find any figurative language used by the author.
Students appropriately select a line from a text that best embodies, illustrates or demonstrates the overall tone. This line does not need to be a main idea, but should convey the mood or style of the text as a whole.
Students recognize the use of figurative language in a text. Students also interpret these details to explain their meaning, how they relate to relative themes.
Students demonstrate their understanding of the connections between the use of figurative language and the tone/style/mood of a piece. Usually, the use of figurative language will help support and convey the tone.
After identifying a paragraph or section of the text with amplified, pronounced or unique diction and/or syntax, students explain their use, then analyze how these choices support the mood/tone/style of a piece. Student is able to draw connections between specific word choice or sentence structure and the overall tone of a piece.
Students apply the comparison between stylistic choice to tone through an examination of a narrator or speaker. Students recognize how the use of narrator/speaker advances the tone/style/mood of a piece.

Suggested Rubric: This rubric may be used to assess a student’s overall mastery of the standard or eligible content.