Teaching point of view and tone

Today in my junior class, I tried to further my students' understanding of how point of view in narratives affects our perceptions. We went back one more time to Toni Cade Bambara's story "The Lesson". I also put up some tone words on our "Word Wall" (Marzano disciples, take note)that named some of the attitudes that Sylvia, the story's protagonist, has toward Mrs. Moore, a woman trying to teach the children life lessons about economic justice. I then had the students pretend they were Sylvia's older relative and that she had written them a letter complaining about Mrs. Moore. They were to write her back about their perceptions of Mrs. Moore. I have not read all of their letters yet, so I've yet to assess how well they have learned their lesson.

Toni Cade Bambara