Standard: 6.L.3b – Maintain consistency in style and tone.*
Grade level: Grade 6
Subject: English Language Arts
Domain: Language
Teacher Overview
This standard emphasizes the importance of maintaining a consistent style and tone in writing. It is crucial for students to understand how consistency in these elements enhances the clarity and effectiveness of their communication. Mastery of this standard will prepare students for more advanced writing tasks in higher grades. Students should already be familiar with the basic elements of style and tone, and how they influence the overall feel of a piece of writing. They should also have experience with writing for different purposes and audiences.
After mastering this standard, students will be able to adjust their writing style and tone to suit different contexts, audiences, and purposes, which is a crucial skill for effective communication.
Common Misconception 1
Some students may conflate style and tone, thinking they are the same. However, style refers to the way something is written, while tone refers to the writer’s attitude toward the subject. This misunderstanding can lead to inconsistent writing.
Intervention 1
Use a variety of texts to illustrate the difference between style and tone. Have students practice identifying each element separately before combining them in their own writing.
Common Misconception 2
Another common misconception is that maintaining consistency means using the same words repeatedly. This can make writing monotonous and less engaging.
Intervention 2
Introduce students to the concept of synonyms and varying sentence structures. Encourage them to use a thesaurus and practice rewriting sentences to maintain consistency without repetition.
Prerequisite Knowledge
Students should understand the basic concepts of style and tone in writing, including how word choice, sentence structure, and punctuation contribute to the overall feel of a piece of writing.
Subsequent Knowledge
Students will develop the ability to adapt their writing style and tone to different contexts, audiences, and purposes, enhancing their overall communication skills.
Instructional Activities
- Have students write a short story and then rewrite it in a different tone (e.g., from suspenseful to humorous).
- Conduct peer reviews where students identify and discuss the style and tone of each other’s writing.
- Create a style and tone matching game where students match passages to their corresponding style and tone descriptions.
- Assign a project where students write letters to different audiences (e.g., a friend, a teacher, a potential employer) and maintain appropriate style and tone for each.
- Organize a writing workshop focused on varying sentence structures and word choice to maintain consistency in style and tone.
