Teaching Mood and Tone

The hardest topics to teach to my students are mood and tone. A lot of this has to do with a lack of empathy students have now for others. However, that is another topic for another day.

While I was searching for a new way to teach mood and tone to my students I came across an interesting Prezi presentation. (If you've never seen or used Prezi before, you are missing out. It's like PowerPoint on steroids.) You can find the presentation here. This was made by a teacher for other teachers and students. The video clips are a little corny, but still get the point across in an interesting way.

This led me to my new idea of how to teach mood and tone. My students aren't able to listen to music or watch a movie clip to find the tone and mood of a reading so they have to hear it and then read it. Here's what I did:

1. I gave every student three index cards.
2. I told the students to, while I was reading different poems (one at a time), to write down words that show the tone and the mood of the poem.
• For this I picked four famous poems: 
• Acceptance from Langston Hughes
• Ain't I A Woman? from Sojourner Truth
• The Bells from Edgar Allen Poe
• A Bird Came Down from Emily Dickinson
3. Finally, after I read the poem I have the students show their index cards with the moods that they were able to take from the readings. We discuss what they have written and move to the next poem. 

Seems easy enough, however, we still have the problem of empathy. I found that one of my students cannot identify the mood of a story that isn't scary or angry because he lacks empathy. 

Now if only there was a way to fix that problem. ;)

Said is Dead?

This has become a common phrase for many teachers. They even have a funeral for the word said. The point being to get the students to use different words. 

However, when you have a class with students who have been through something traumatic surrounding the subject of death (like a group of students who watched their father get murdered) saying a word is dead is not a good idea.

The question now becomes how do I introduce new vocabulary to my students without making a horrible situation worse? 

There are a few answers:

1. Word walls. Introduce new vocabulary through the use of word walls. This is cute for elementary students. However, middle school students have seen these for so long now they pay little attention. Also, the amount of vocabulary that would need to be placed on these walls is too large for older students.

2. Writer's note book. This is great for teachers who have their students writing daily (which they should be doing) and always coming prepared. We did this for a little while in my class, but I noticed that my students forgot they even had a resource in their notebooks to use.

3. Overuse. I have seen teachers who purposely go through the reading material and point out synonyms for certain words that are beyond common in writing (for example said). They start to use these words in their own speech patterns to help the students become more acquainted with them. However, they get the said syndrome in the end - now they are just as over used as said so become boring for the students to use too.

Here's my solution - The Family Tree.

I want my students to know that said, pretty, and thankful are okay to use sometimes, but there are a lot more options out there. Said doesn't die in my class, he just introduces his family.

Here's what we do:

First I take a story from one of the best books ever written:

The Stinky Cheese Man and other fairly stupid tales.

I read the story to the class using "said" each time there is a quote from one of the characters. Afterwards, I ask the students what they thought of the story. Most will laugh a bit at the story because they think it's childish or just silly. Most will notice that "They be sayin' said a lot."

This leads into a discuss of what words could they have used instead of the word said. What other words are over used? What happens when one word is overused in a writing? The conversation tends to grow from there naturally. After the conversation dies down a little I put the word "said" up on the board and ask the students what words can we use instead of said. Then I have them use a thesaurus to find even more words. We repeat this process for several other common words.

Next I give the students some poster paper and split them off into groups. Each group makes a "Family Tree" for a common word.

Here is an example on of the one for Said:

These turned our pretty well. My students are even proud of it. We were able to get some synonyms up in the room and keep a positive spin on the lesson.

Oh, the Attitude

There is this problem that most middle schools have. It is called an attitude problem. The students come in with it, it rubs off on the teachers, everyone leaves angry.

There is little that a teacher can do to change the attitude of her students except for being up-beat themselves. If a teacher can get students excited that's the best feeling in the world. Students want to learn more, teachers want to teach more, and everyone forgets that they're supposed to have a chip on their shoulder.

The magical question is how does a teacher, who is being bombarded with negativity  change that into something positive. 

I had one professor answer this question by saying, "It is easier to catch flies with honey." I laughed an thought, she's never met a seventh grade girl!

All joking aside, there are a few tricks I learned over the years that I have been in the classroom. The first being smile. New teachers are told not to smile until after winter (Christmas) break. I say smile on the first day. If you're working with inner city kids, smile as they are walking in the building. These kids need a happy face to see everyday. They get enough trouble at home, they don't need more from a grumpy teacher who is spouting off rules left and right. 

The best advice I ever received was from my Bible. 

¹⁹ Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; ²⁰ for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. ²¹ Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word,which is able to save your souls. ²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. ²⁴ For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ²⁵ But the one who looks into the perfect law,the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
²⁶ If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. ²⁷ Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
James 1:19 - 27

Our students need that listening ear first, sage advice second, and a screaming banshee last. I have found working with urban area students, most just want a listening ear. Someone to say, I hear what you are saying and I understand. Many don't even want advice, they just want that person to talk too. Teachers often times hear something these students are telling us, though, and over react to one part and miss what the students are trying to say. That is why we need to be quite and listen sometimes.

However, there are times when being nice just is not cutting it. So, what's next...

Well here's what has always been my second step - loving discipline. Many times loving discipline shows itself through a look (AHH! The dirty teacher look!) other times it is just a couple of short words. ("Please stop." "Knock it off.") Loving discipline also shows itself  through consistency. If I allow a child to speak horribly to me one day because they're having a bad day, I better expect them to do the same on the next day. The students will try being nasty every day to see when your (the teacher's) break point will hit.

We really don't like having to deal with the same behavior daily. Little ones do need that daily reminder of behavior. Yet, by sixth grade they have been practicing for seven years on how to behave in a classroom. They know better. I like to give the blanket warning at the beginning of the year. I also make sure that my expectations are posted around the room and that they have a copy of them in easy access. Middle school students need to learn that they only get one shot, after that all bets are off.

The last step I take is removing the students from class. This step is for students who are so disruptive they need a time out or who are causing a problem for the safety of the other students. Removing a child from the classroom should never happen because you, the teacher, are angry. All that does is get your frustrations out on the student and the problem is left unresolved.

Just as a side note since this is being posted a few days after I started writing it, my students that I mention in the beginning have started a rumor war with me. They figure that the teachers will turn against each other and  the once internal struggle of the staff will come back. What they don't know is that we already know their game and really don't pay too much attention to what they are saying. (Seventh grade girls. >: Þ )