Connotation and Denotation: How Word Choice Affects a Paragraph

Connotation and Denotation: how Word Choice Affects a Paragraph – Grade Eight

Ohio Standards Lesson Summary: Connection This two-day lesson allows students to review the terms

Acquisition of denotation, connotation, diction and mood and apply their Vocabulary knowledge to change the mood of a paragraph by using words with different connotations. Benchmark C Recognize the importance Estimated Duration: Two hours and 30 minutes and function of figurative language.

Indicator 2 Commentary: Apply knowledge of This lesson can begin at day two or three, depending on student connotation and denotation understanding of denotation and connotation. This lesson can to determine the meaning of words. be taught in conjunction with a persuasive writing unit or a lesson in which students analyze persuasive documents. Literary Text

Benchmark F Identify and analyze how Pre-Assessment: an author uses figurative language, sound devices See Attachment A, Connotation and Denotation Pre- and literary techniques to Assessment. shape plot, set meaning and develop tone. Scoring Guidelines: See Attachment B, Pre-Assessment Quick Score Checklist Indicator 8 Explain ways in which the Connotation and Denotation. author conveys mood and tone through word choice, Post-Assessment: figurative language and Attachment E, Connotation and Denotation Exercise. syntax.

Scoring Guidelines: Attachment F, Connotation and Denotation Paragraph Rubric. Instructional Procedures:

Day One 1. Hand out Connotation and Denotation Pre-Assessment, Attachment A. In order to determine prior knowledge, have students complete and turn in this assessment. 2. Hand out the Connotation and Denotation Graphic Organizer, Attachment C. Put students in small groups and have them fill out the organizer with ideas for the word “street.”

1 Connotation and Denotation: how Word Choice Affects a Paragraph – Grade Eight Instructional Tip: For positive connotation examples, students could include boulevard, avenue or freeway; neutral examples could be access road, road or route and negative examples could be alley, dirt road or trail. Students may disagree on connotations which could lead to a discussion about how different words hold different connotations to some people, depending on their life experiences.

3. Discuss the different terms they chose for street. Write the terms on the board in categories for positive, neutral and negative. As the terms are listed, ask students to come up with mental pictures of what this type of street would look like. Ask them to describe it and what cars may be there, what the pedestrians might look like and what kind of business or houses might be there. 4. Choose one of the words from the positive list. Ask students to give descriptive words of the place (denotation) that would make them want to eat there. Note that these terms also have positive connotations. Then do the same with a word from the negative list.

Day Two 5. Write the terms “denotation” and “connotation” on the board. Ask students if they know what the words mean. Review the meanings of the words and model the difference with the class. 6. Using the word “dog,” have students give alternative words for the neutral word. Discuss whether each word has a negative or positive connotation. Examples could include hound, puppy, mutt, canine, flea-bag, companion, seeing-eye dog and man’s best friend. Discuss whether these words have negative or positive connotations. Ask students what mental pictures they get from these words. 7. Distribute Positive, Negative or Neutral? Attachment D. Point out that each list of words has the same meaning (i.e., denotation), but a different connotation. In pairs, have students discuss the connotation of each word and organize the words in the appropriate column. If some of the words are unfamiliar to the pair, one student can look up the word in the dictionary while the other student records the answer. Some of the words may bring about discussion because words may have different connotations to each student. Let them know that it is okay to disagree, but they must be able to support their categorization of the word. 8. Have groups share their answers with the class. Discuss any disagreements on connotations as a class. Having students describe their mental pictures may help with the discussion.

Day Three 9. Write the term “mood” on the board. Ask students the meaning of the term. Review the term with the class. Ask about the mood of a previous text read in the class and why it had that mood. Explain to students that word choice or diction usually brings about the mood of a work. Explain to the students that they are going to change the mood of a paragraph. (See Attachment E.)

10. Distribute the Connotation and Denotation Exercise, Attachment E. Have students choose a mood that they would like to convey in the paragraph. Tell students to change the

2 Connotation and Denotation: how Word Choice Affects a Paragraph – Grade Eight underlined words to words with the same denotation but a connotation to match their chosen mood. Students may use dictionaries and thesauruses to find appropriate word choices. 11. Collect paragraphs and assess them using the rubric.

Instructional Tip: The paragraph may be completed as homework for those who do not finish in class.

Differentiated Instructional Support: Instruction is differentiated according to learner needs to help all learners either meet the intent of the specified indicator(s) or, if the indicator is already met, to advance beyond the specified indicator(s). • In their learning pairs, students may just be assigned only a few of the numbers on the Positive, Negative or Neutral? handout. • Students may be given extended time to complete the paragraph. • Students may work in learning pairs to complete the paragraph. • Students working beyond the standard may develop their paragraphs into full-length stories.

Extensions: • Have students read each other’s paragraphs and define the moods of the paragraphs or score the paragraphs using the rubric. • For a creative writing exercise, have students continue the stories maintaining the same moods. • Words with the same denotation but different connotations can be posted on a Word Wall as a visual reminder of the importance of word choice. • Have students read newspaper editorials and analyze the diction to determine how the writer uses connotation to express his point. • Have students create their own paragraphs establishing certain moods.

Homework Options and Home Connections: Students may take home the Positive, Negative or Neutral? handout and ask adults in their home their opinions on words with which they didn’t agree with their partners. Students may finish their post-assessment paragraphs at home.

Interdisciplinary Connections: Science: Students can work to improve the integrity of their scientific descriptions by identifying any positively or negatively connotative words used and by replacing them with neutral ones.

Nature of Science Standard Benchmark: A. Use of scientific inquiry processes Indicator: 1. Identify the difference between description (e.g., observation and summary) and explanation (e.g., inference, prediction, significance and importance).

3 Connotation and Denotation: how Word Choice Affects a Paragraph – Grade Eight Social Studies: Ask students to note connotations present in historical fiction. Have them choose particularly connotative passages to share with the class. Skills & Methods Standard Benchmark: A. Analyze different perspectives on a topic obtained from a variety of sources. Indicator: 1. Compare accuracy and point of view of fiction and non-fiction sources about a particular era or event.

Materials and Resources: The inclusion of a specific resource in any lesson formulated by the Ohio Department of Education should not be interpreted as an endorsement of that particular resource, or any of its contents, by the Ohio Department of Education. The Ohio Department of Education does not endorse any particular resource. The Web addresses listed are for a given site’s main page, therefore, it may be necessary to search within that site to find the specific information required for a given lesson. Please note that information published on the Internet changes over time, therefore the links provided may no longer contain the specific information related to a given lesson. Teachers are advised to preview all sites before using them with students.

For the teacher: All attachments. For the students: Dictionaries, thesauruses, all attachments.

Vocabulary: • connotation • denotation • diction • mood

Technology Connections: • Paragraphs can be retyped using a word processing program. • Students can peer-edit using review and comment features of word processing programs. • Students may access online thesauruses and dictionaries. • Students can research origins of particularly emotional connotations on the Internet. • Students can compare synonym choices offered by word processing thesaurus features to synonyms found in a traditional thesaurus.

Research Connections: Arter, Judith and Jay McTighe. Scoring Rubrics in the Classroom: Using Performance Criteria for Assessing and Improving Student Performance. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press, 2001.

A holistic rubric gives a single score or rating for an entire product or performance based on an overall impression of a student’s work. Holistic rubrics work best for: • Judging simple products or performances

4 Connotation and Denotation: how Word Choice Affects a Paragraph – Grade Eight • Getting a quick snapshot of the overall quality or achievement • Judging the impact of a product or performance

Cunningham, P. M. Phonics They Use: Words for Reading and Writing, 3rd ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2000. Word walls are alphabetized collections of words posted in the classroom that students can refer to when they are reading and writing and for word-study activities. There are three types of word walls: a high-frequency word wall, where primary teachers post the 100 highest frequency words; a content area word wall, on which teachers and students write important words related to a unit being studied; a literature word wall, where teachers and students write interesting, confusing, and important words from the story they are reading.

Fischer, U. “Learning Words from Context and Dictionaries: An Experimental Comparison.” Applied Linguistics, 15 (1994): 551-574.

Targeted vocabulary words should be drawn from authentic experiences in reading and listening, where students encounter words in the context of language.

Jongsma, E. Cloze Instruction Research: A Second Look. Newark, Del.: International Reading Association, 1980.

Written cloze activities present a reader with writing that contains at least one missing word. The reader’s task is to use the information in the text, along with background knowledge to determine the missing word or provide closure to the sentence. The use of written close activities probably is the most common technique used to develop context knowledge.

Attachments: Attachment A, Connotation and Denotation Pre-Assessment Attachment B, Pre-Assessment, Quick Score Checklist Connotation and Denotation Attachment C, Connotation and Denotation Graphic Organizer Attachment D, Positive, Negative or Neutral? Attachment E, Connotation and Denotation Exercise Attachment F, Connotation Denotation and Paragraph Rubric

5 Connotation and Denotation: how Word Choice Affects a Paragraph – Grade Eight

Attachment A Connotation and Denotation Pre-Assessment

1. Define the term denotation.

2. Define the term connotation.

3. Define the term diction.

4. Define the term mood.

5. Write another word for street that has a positive connotation.

6. Write another word for street that has a negative connotation.

7. What is the mood of the following statement?

The mysterious man stumbled down the cold, dark alley, pulling his coat tightly around him in the midnight air.

6 Connotation and Denotation: how Word Choice Affects a Paragraph – Grade Eight

Attachment B Pre-Assessment, Quick Score Connotation and Denotation Checklist

Student correctly defined denotation. Student correctly defined connotation. Student correctly defined diction. Student correctly defined mood. Student correctly used positive and negative words Student correctly identified mood and diction of sentence

+ exhibits strong understanding √ exhibits understanding - exhibits little or no understanding

Pre-Assessment, Quick Score Connotation and Denotation Checklist

+ exhibits strong understanding √ exhibits understanding - exhibits little or no understanding

7 Connotation and Denotation: how Word Choice Affects a Paragraph – Grade Eight

Attachment C Connotation and Denotation Graphic Organizer

Positive Neutral Negative

Name

Description

What would you see?

8 Connotation and Denotation: how Word Choice Affects a Paragraph – Grade Eight

Attachment D Positive, Negative or Neutral?

For each numbered set below, write the individual word under the column which best describes its connotation.

1. mansion, shack, abode, dwelling, domicile, residence, house, home, dump 2. spinster, old maid, unmarried woman, maiden lady, career woman 3. snooty, arrogant, conceited, cocky, vain, self-satisfied, egotistical, proud, high-and mighty, overbearing, high-hat, supercilious 4. titter, giggle, chuckle, laugh, guffaw, roar, snicker, snigger, cackle 5. corpulent, plump, obese, heavyset, fleshy, fat, paunchy, burly, overweight, roly-poly, bulky, portly, weighty, pudgy 6. saving, tight, miserly, frugal, economical, careful, thrifty, penny-pinching, budget-minded, penurious 7. shrewd, calculating, clever, sly, adroit, knowing, astute, cunning, skillful, smooth, 8. glum, sullen, withdrawn, reticent, silent, taciturn 9. laconic, terse, economical, concise, pointed, compressed, brief, boiled down 10. steal, purloin, embezzle, filch, pilfer, burglarize, rob, holdup, snatch, grab, help oneself to, appropriate.

POSITIVE NEGATIVE NEUTRAL

9 Connotation and Denotation: how Word Choice Affects a Paragraph – Grade Eight

Attachment D (Continued) Positive, Negative or Neutral?

POSITIVE NEGATIVE NEUTRAL

10 Connotation and Denotation: how Word Choice Affects a Paragraph – Grade Eight

Attachment E Connation and Denotation Exercise

Directions: Change the following underlined words to words that have the same denotation, but a different connotation to create a different mood in the paragraph. Make sure your new mood stays consistent throughout the paragraph. You may need to change other words to fit the context of the new mood. Write your new paragraph on a separate sheet of paper.

Identify the mood you are trying to create: ______

Emily entered the empty room. As she glanced at the curtains, their red color held her eye for a moment. At first, she failed to notice the chair between the two windows, but as she looked down, she was surprised to find a coin in the center of the plush cushion. The silver shined from the dark blue velvet. Before she picked it up, she looked around in hesitation. Was somebody watching? She wasn’t sure. So, it should not have been a surprise to her when, as she reached for the coin, she heard a loud thud behind her.

11 Connotation and Denotation: how Word Choice Affects a Paragraph – Grade Eight Attachment F Connotation and Denotation Paragraph Rubric

4 Paragraph uses word connotation to keep a consistent mood throughout the paragraph; word choice is above standard.

3 Paragraph uses word connotation to keep a somewhat consistent mood throughout the paragraph with some slight variations in mood.

2 Paragraph uses word connotation inconsistently; mood in paragraph is unclear.

1 Little use of connotation; no set mood is evident.