Lesson Plan

Teacher: Rachel Rhoades and Liam Kelley Date Taught: April 19, 2017
School: Thompson Valley High School Grade: 11 th
Content Area: English
Title: Tone of A Raisin in the Sun Lesson #: 2 of 2

Lesson Idea/Topic and Rational/Relevance: (What are you going to teach and why is this
lesson of importance to your students? How is it relevant to students of this age and
background?)
Both of us are actors, and since we are reading a play in class, we decided that it might be fun to
put a little bit of our acting background into the classroom, while still being relevant to English.
The play we are reading in the 11 grade English class is called A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine
th

Hansberry, and in class we have been talking a lot about the American Dream. This topic first
emerged when the students were reading Of Mice and Men, and it continued on into this unit, but
in a different light because the entire play is about African Americans. So during this unit, the
students have been looking more at why these people cannot achieve their American Dream just
because of the fact that they are African American. The other text that goes along with this play
is the movie The Help and they are specifically looking at comparing and contrasting the
character of Beneatha from the play and the character of Eugenia in the movie.
The thing that we both have felt like has been missing is the performance aspect of reading the
play. The students sign up for parts for each scene of the play, but the students really do not get
into the readings because they are too worried about getting all of the words read correctly, so
they are not thinking about emotion. But because they are reading a play, it is incredibly
important to discuss how the play would be performed on stage and also the tone that the actors
use for specific characters. So during this lesson, we are going to choose important short scenes
from the play, have at least two separate groups read the quotes in front of the class in different
tones. For example, we would tell one group to read the line using an angry tone and then the
other group to read the line using a loving tone. After the students read the different scenes, we
will talk about how the different tones change the interpretation of the line. This is important for
students to learn because they have to realize how the genres of plays and novels differ, and how
important dialogue is in a play versus a novel. When the students read a novel, they can put
whatever intonation into the characters lines as they want, but if they go see an actual
performance of a play, they take the tone that the actor gives to the lines. But it is important for
them to realize that the way that the lines are said in a play can and will change the overall
interpretation of a character, a scene, or an entire play because of tone.

Student Profile: (Write a narrative about your learners. What are their special needs?
Exceptionalities? Giftedness? Alternative ways of learning? Maturity? Engagement?
Motivation?)
This class has so many different types of students, but they are all incredible. We both believe
that this class is really hard to get motivated, mostly because it is one of the first few classes of
the day, but once they get engaged they will work so hard for you. There is one student inside of
the class that needs a lot more help than others. His name is ***** and he loves talking to
people. He gets really quiet in classes, and this seems to be because he is concentrating so hard
and trying so hard to figure everything out. But whenever the students go off on their own,
someone needs to go over to ***** and talk him through what was just said and go over some
work with him. He really wants to learn, it just takes him a little bit longer.
There is one gifted and talented student in the class and he is pretty quiet, but very brilliant, and
whenever he speaks up in class he always has something very incredible to say. There is one
student in the class that is involved with Avid as well. There are a couple of students in the class
that have been diagnosed with ADHD or ADD, which brings up a challenge, mostly so early in
the morning, but there have not been issues while I have been there where they have not been
paying attention. There are also a few students with anxiety disorders. These students get
incredibly nervous at the thought of performing in front of the class, so we will take special care
to make sure they get the information in a different way. So, there are plenty of levels of
intelligence inside of this classroom, and even though there are times where the students are
having problems focusing, most of the times the kids really want to learn, and once they are
engaged they do some pretty incredible things.

Content Standard(s) addressed by this lesson: (Write Content Standards directly from the
standard)
Colorado Academic State Standards: Eleventh Grade
1.1: Verbal and nonverbal cues impact the intent of communication.
d. Analyze audience responses to evaluate how effectively the talk or presentation met the
purpose.
2.1: Complex literary texts require critical reading approaches to effectively interpret and
evaluate meaning.
a. Use key ideas and details to:
iii. Analyze the impact of authors choices regarding how to develop and relate
elements of a story or drama (e.g. where a story is set, how the action is ordered,
how the characters are introduced and developed). (CCSS: RL.11-12.3)
b. Use craft and structure to:
i. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific
word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or
language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as
well as other authors). (CCSS: RL.11-12.4)
ii. Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what
is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g. satire, sarcasm, irony, or
understatement). (CCSS: RL.11-12.6)
c. Use integration of knowledge and ideas to:
i. Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded
or live production of a play or recorded novel or poem), evaluating how
each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by
Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist). (CCSS: RL.11-12.7)

Understandings: (Big Ideas)

Students will understand that different tones of lines in a play affect the interpretation of the
scene, the act, or the entire play.
Students will understand why tone is important in reading a play versus a novel.

Inquiry Questions: (Essential questions relating knowledge at end of the unit of instruction,
select applicable questions from standard)
How do different tones affect the interpretation of A Raisin in the Sun?
Can different tones affect more than just the line being said in a play? Or can different tones
affect entire scenes, an entire act, or the entire play?
Why is tone so important when reading a play?

Evidence Outcomes: (Learning Targets)

Students will be able to describe how a line being said in different tones can change the
interpretation of parts of the play.
Students will be able to tell what different tones sound like (e.g. angry, loving, sad, happy, etc.).

Assessment of Evidence Outcomes: (How will you assess the selected lesson objectives)
Students will get a worksheet with the different lines from the play that we will be focusing on.
Then, for each of the scenes, we will have at least two students come to the front of the
classroom, read the lines using different tones, and the students will write on the worksheet how
the different tones could change the interpretation of what is going on in the play at that moment.
This is that data that will be collected. Through this worksheet, we will be able to see if students
are able to tell the difference between tones, and whether or not the interpretation CAN be
changed by the different tones.
Planned Lesson Activities
(Anything in blue is what the teacher is doing)
(Anything in green is what the students are doing)
Activity Name The importance of tone in plays.

Approximate Time The period goes from 7:30-9:00 and this lesson should not take up the
entire time. I would say this lesson will take between 35-40 minutes. We
are not teaching the entire class period, the students will also be
getting prepared for debates that they will be participating in.
Anticipatory Set INTRODUCTION DISCUSSION: We will be teaching at the beginning
of the hour, right after the vocabulary warm-up. We will start out with
a very short mini-lesson on tone. This mini-lesson will be more about
asking the students questions about tone so that we know what they
already know about tone, so we are assessing their prior knowledge.
Questions that we want to go over in the mini-lesson: What genre is
A Raisin In the Sun?, What makes this type of genre different than
from a novel?, What is tone?, How does tone affect the
interpretation of a play?, and Can tone change more than just the
interpretation of the line being said? Or can it affect the scene, an act,
or the entire play?.
The goal of the mini-lesson is to assess the students prior knowledge.
So there will be answers on the PowerPoint slides, but we really want
the students to discuss the answers with me BEFORE we give the
students to answers. This will show us if they truly do know what tone
is and what the importance of tone is, or if we need to go over it more
than we were planning on.
The questions that I want to go over are:
What genre is A Raisin in the Sun?
o Answer: Play
What makes reading a play different from reading a novel?
o Answer: Plays are meant to be performed, not only
read.
This means that when reading a play, it is
important to look at HOW the play would be
performed. This goes into how lines are said and
how the actors would move on stage.
o Answer: Most plays do not have a narrator like novels
do. In A Raisin in the Sun there is what you all call
the narrator, but in the acting world, those are called
stage directions. And that is different than what a
narrator is in a novel.
o Answer: Because most plays do NOT have a narrator,
there is only dialogue and/or monologues. This means
that it is up to the actor to get the audience invested in
the play and to show what is going on.
This means that they need to use different tones
of voices to do this effectively.
What is tone?
o Merriam Websters definition(s):
A sound of definite pitch and vibration.
Accent or inflection expressive of mood or
emotion.
The pitch of a word often used to express
differences in meaning.
A particular pitch or change of pitch
Teaching/ PASS OUT WORKSHEET/EXPLANATION: At this point in the lesson,
Presentation we will hand out the worksheet that we created. This worksheet will
have different lines from the play and a space for students to write
underneath each line. We will verbally explain to them what the next
part of the class is going to look like.
On the worksheet, there are three different short scenes that are really
important to what goes on in the play as a whole. These scenes involve
different characters as well. We will verbally tell our students what we
want them to do on their worksheets and how what is written down is
based on their performances. Before we get into the performance
aspect of the assignment, we will discuss the tone that is in the original
play and why that tone is implemented into the scene. After this, we
will model for them exactly what we mean by this by reading the first
scene for them in two different tones. Doing this will help the students
see that we are really only focusing on the tone of the scene and trying
to get the scene to portray that different tone. After we are done
modeling the scene in two different tones, we will have the students
write for 5 minutes about the different tones and how that could impact
the interpretation of either the scene, act, or play. We will ask for
volunteers of what people wrote down after the 5 minutes is up.
The students will be listening to the instructions on what they should
do on their worksheet, and ask us any questions if there are any. Then,
the students will watch us perform the scenes in two different tones and
ask any questions that they may have about the expectations of the
performing aspect of the assignment. They will then write down their
opinion on how the interpretation of the scene, act, and/or play could
change with the different tones that were performed. Then some of the
students will tell the entire class what they wrote down and why they
wrote what they did.

Teaching Strategy: For each scene that is on the worksheet, we will have two groups come
Guided Practice up in front of the class to read the different parts. Before the students
and Differentiation read the scene in the tone that we give them, we will discuss what the
actual tone in the scene is. When that discussion is complete, we will
give the two groups two different tones to read in. Before the groups
read the scenes, we really want to emphasize that the point of this
assignment is NOT to read the scene perfectly. If the students flub on
words that is absolutely okay because the main goal of this assignment
is to focus specifically on the tone of voices they give to the characters.
We are hoping that this will make students less nervous since we are
making it clear that we are not expecting them to read the lines
perfectly. The students will then read their scenes in their designated
tones. Once both of the scenes have been read, the students will have 5
minutes to write on their worksheet how those tones could potentially
change the interpretation of the scene, act, or play. After the 5 minutes
is up, we will ask students to share some of what they wrote down.
 The students will either come up to the front of the classroom to help
read a scene in a specific tone, or they will listen to their classmates
read the scenes in different tones. Once the scenes have been read, the
students will have five minutes to write down their opinions on how the
different tones could potentially change the interpretation of either the
scene, the act, and/or the entire play. Once the five minutes is up, the
students will share with the entire class what they wrote down and why
they wrote that down.

Teaching Strategy: After the performances are done, we will have a class discussion about
Independent how important tone is, especially when reading a play. It would also be
Practice a good idea to ask the students questions like: Why is tone
important? and have them go into specifics about it and how it goes
into A Raisin in the Sun.

Closure Because we are not teaching the entire class, our lesson leads into Mr.
Quinter (the student teacher) teaching a lesson and introducing their
debate assignments to them. So our lesson leads into the final
culminating text of the unit.

Materials Students will need:

Pen/Pencil
Worksheet on Tone
A Raisin in the Sun play

Accommodations ***** is in our class, and ***** has a comprehension level of about a
and Modifications 4th grader, so we need to be really careful with how we do our
assignment. It would not be fair to ask ***** to come up to the front of
the classroom because he would not be able to focus on reading and
tone at the same time. Also, after we finish reading the stories in
different tones, one of us will have to go verbally talk with ***** about
what just happened so that he has something to write down. ***** will
not write anything down if no one comes to talk with him, but if he is
verbally allowed to talk about his answers, then it will encourage him
to write something down. There is another student, ***, that has a
very extreme anxiety disorder, so we also cannot ask *** to come up to
the front of the classroom especially since we are not her actual
teachers. We need to respect her and her anxiety disorder and not make
her do anything that will trigger that happen.

Assessment The assessment will happen in the worksheet that the students fill out.
We will know if they understand it based off of how the interpretation
would change. If the tone was read in an angry way, but the students
said that it made a relationship between a couple more loving, it would
show us that they do not quite understand it.