A powerful image or well-placed comment always has intention behind it. Guide young readers through author's purpose and tone with a language arts video that explains why word choice is key in writing clearly and coherently.

Concepts

author's purpose, tone, reading comprehension, informational texts, irony, sarcasm

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Have your class list additional examples of irony, including sarcastic comments
• Encourage young writers to draft scripts of situations where the audience understands something that the characters do not
• Assign the video for homework or a computer lab viewing for a flipped classroom activity

Classroom Considerations

• The first image in the video is of American soldiers in flag-draped coffins, which could be disturbing to some members in your class, especially because it is not relevant to the concepts in the video

• This video is hosted on YouTube

Pros

• Provides straightforward examples of tone and author's purpose, which are two concepts that are sometimes difficult to explain
• Short length makes it a versatile addition to a reading or writing unit

Cons

• Video is not very engaging

Common Core

RI.4.1 RI.4.2 RI.5.1 RI.5.2 W.4.1.a W.4.2.a W.4.3.a W.5.1.a W.5.2.a W.5.3.a RI.6.1 RI.6.2 W.6.1.a W.6.2.a W.6.3.a