Discoveringthe Power to Influence Tone, Mood, Style, Voice, and Meaning

discoveringthe power to influence tone, mood, style, voice, and meaning

Standard: L.9-10.1; L.9-10.2a; L.9-10.3
RL.9-10.1; RL.9-10.4; RL.9-10.10
W.9-10.1
SL.9-10.1; SL.9-10.4; SL.9-10.6
To be college and career ready in language, students must have firm control over the conventions of standard English. At the same time, they must come to appreciate that language is as at least as much a matter of craft as of rules and be able to choose words, syntax, and punctuation to express themselves and achieve particular functions and rhetorical effects. (CCSS, 51)
Featured Skill:
Students will understand the use of a dash semicolon, as well as other forms of punctuation, to impact meaning within a text. Students will also evaluate the effectiveness of two speeches by analyzing the presence and use of rhetorical elements. / Grade Level: 9-10 (Suggested for grade 10)
Featured Text / Theme and/or Essential Question
Primary Text:

Excerpt from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: Marc Antony’s funeral speech
Secondary Text:
Excerpt from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: Brutus’s funeral speech

What does it mean to be honorable?
How does having power affect one’s choices?
When should people take action against those in power?

Process / Activity / Instructional Steps
Instruction / Modeling and explaining the featured grammar skill / 1.Background: Students should already understand the function and proper use of the semicolon in writing. However, they may not have explored in depth its purposeful use to impact meaning in writing. While this lesson focuses other forms of punctuation and rhetorical choices in writing, students should pay particular attention to Shakespeare’s use of the semicolon in both funeral speeches and analyze how its use creates meaning and affect the text’s tone.
2.If needed, review the proper use of the semicolon before reading Marc Antony’s speech.
Practice
in Context / Reading text and identifying deliberate use of the featured grammar skill / Reading 1: Student reading
3.Students read the speech independently, annotating for content and understanding. Remind students to note Shakespeare’s use of the semicolon. During this reading, students should define any unknown vocabulary and note this in their annotations.
Reading 2: Teacher or fluent reader reading
4.After students have completed the first reading, the teacher, or a fluent student reader, should read the speech out loud to ensure that students hear the words pronounced correctly. However, it is important that the reader does not deliver the speech, as this would provide students with the speech’s meaning and keep them from creating their own. As they are listening to the second reading, students should continue annotating and translating the text, paying close attention to the use of the semicolon. Students should answer the following questions to guide their analysis of the semicolon’s use:

How many times does Shakespeare use the semicolon in the speech? (Highlight these incidences in the text.)
How does the use of the semicolon in the first five lines (“Friends, Romans, Countrymen…So let it be with Caesar.) indicate the purpose and tone of Marc Antony’s speech?
Note any lines that are similar or repetitive. What does Marc Antony mean in these lines, and what is his tone? How does the use of the semicolon in these lines enhance the meaning and tone?

Reading 3: Paired Reading to Determine Meaning and Effectiveness
5.Before placing students in pairs, review or introduce the Rhetorical Triangle and the rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos).
6.In pairs, students discuss the answers to their questions from Reading 2, which focus on the use of the semicolon.
7.Next, students complete a third reading of the text, but, this time, they will focus their attention on the use of ethos, pathos, and logos, annotating and discussing instances of each as they read.
Analyzing and Evaluating : Rereading to discover
8.In pairs, students should complete Handout #1 to engage fully with the text. This handout asks students to evaluate the speech’s rhetorical appeals.
9.Still in pairs, students should complete Handout #2, a graphic organizer that asks students to determine how Marc Antony’s speech is either a success or a failure based on their own analysis and understanding.
Independent Practice: Brutus’s Funeral Speech
10.Next, students complete independent readings of Brutus’s funeral speech using Handout #3. While this is independent practice, you may wish to provide a teacher of fluent reader reading of the speech before students begin their own analysis and annotations, depending on the levels and comprehension of your students.
Application
in Writing / Writing text and applying the featured grammar skill in a deliberate way / Writing: Use the features skill(s)
11.Upon completion of the close readings and analyses of both speeches, students must now choose which man – Marc Antony or Brutus – to support as the new leader of Rome. To show their support, students must create a campaign poster promoting the election of either Marc Antony or Brutus, and they must write (and deliver, if you choose) a speech in which they endorse one of those men. The speech must employ the use of some or all of the rhetorical appeals and the use of the semicolon effectively.
Extensions and Interventions / Additional Resources / For extension: (Students could be provided options for extension activities)

Teachers require students to deliver their campaign endorsement speeches to the class.
Show students clips from modern speeches and have them evaluate them for effectiveness. Some options may include the following:

-Ronald Regan’s “Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate”
-Barack Obama’s “A More Perfect Union”
For Intervention and support:

Provide the students with highlighters to assist in their annotation and labeling of the rhetorical appeals.
Be sure that the provided questions for all readings will assist your particular students with their comprehension of the texts. Depending on the levels and abilities of your particular students, you may need scaffold with more questions or enrich with fewer. The questions and their use should be determined by the students’ abilities and levels.
If students are having difficulty, you may wish to have them collaborate when reading and analyzing Brutus’s speech. This will provide more support and encouragement.

Potential Confusion /

Students may confuse the semicolon with a colon. Be sure that they understand the function and proper use of the semicolon vs. the colon.
While semicolons, by function, join two closely related independent clauses, students may question the necessity for using them. In this instance, it is important to emphasize that the writer chose to use a semicolon rather than breaking the sentences into two using a period. This will assist students in understanding the differences between the use of a period and a semicolon, and, as a result, deepen their analysis of its use in the speeches.

Teacher
Notes /

Answer keys are not provided. The lessons are intended to create opportunities for students to rely on the text to gain independence in reading complex texts. In this instructional model, the only wrong answers are those that are not well supported or engage in fallacious reasoning.
It is best for teachers to engage in conversations and make instructional decisions with a PLT about this lesson, its content, and student outcomes.
You may have noticed that providing background information is not part of the beginning of the lesson. Within the Language Lessons, students will need to rely upon the words and punctuation to create meaning without the assistance of the teacher or other background building activities prior to the learning experience. As students progress through the activities, they will need information and build the background that we typically provide up front. When students enter the world of college and career, they will need to be equipped with the necessary skills to determine context, question a text, determine the information they will need to know to increase understanding, and know where to locate that information.

Handout #1

Brutus’s Speech
Questions / Answers / Textual Evidence

What is the primary mode of appeal? (ethos, pathos, or logos)

What is the speaker’s argument/claim?

What reasons does he offer to support his argument/claim? (This is the data!)

What points or ideas does the speaker emphasize?

What is the speaker’s bias or stance?

What is the speaker’s tone? Does it change?

Handout #2

What elements in Antony’s speech make it more of a success or failure?

Element #1 (List the Element) / Textual Evidence (Direct Quote with Line Numbers) / Warrant
Element #2 (List the Element) / Textual Evidence (Direct Quote with Line Numbers) / Warrant
Element #3 (List the Element) / Textual Evidence (Direct Quote with Line Numbers) / Warrant

Handout #3

Brutus’s Speech
Questions / Answers / Textual Evidence

What is the primary mode of appeal? (ethos, pathos, or logos)

What is the speaker’s argument/claim?

What reasons does he offer to support his argument/claim? (This is the data!)

What points or ideas does the speaker emphasize?

What is the speaker’s bias or stance?

What is the speaker’s tone? Does it change?

Handout #3 (Continued)

Why did Brutus’s speech fail or succeed?

Claim – Answer the question and be specific
Data – Provide textual evidence to prove your claim; must include quotation marks and citation (line numbers)
Warrant – Connect the data to the claim; How does your data prove your claim?
Conclusion – Sum it up and bring your answer to an end.

LanguagePage 1