How do metaphors help us better understand the world? What makes a good metaphor? Explore these questions in this video with writers like Langston Hughes and Carl Sandburg, who have mastered the art of bringing a scene or emotion to...

Inspired by Mem Fox's Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge which includes four metaphors for memory, this writing prompt asks students to think of an original abstract noun. Students will brainstorm details as they come up with ideas for...

In this lesson plan, Barry Lane's books entitled Reviser's Toolbox and 51 Wacky We-Search Reports are used as mentor texts. Used as a refeference, the concept of recipe poems can be instructed to the students and the genre of "how to"...

[Free Registration/Login Required] A lesson in which students use the book Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes edited by David Roessel and Arnold Rampersad to learn to identify and understand the use of simile and metaphor in...

This lesson not only examines the message of Dr. King, but also the words themselves. This is a lesson in identifying the literary devices that he used in his "I Have a Dream" Speech. It will introduce the following literary devices:...

Students learn about several different metaphors that have been used to describe cultural diversity in the United States. Then they choose a metaphor that represents today's diverse cultural landscape. Background information, directions,...

This lesson introduces students to Emily Dickinson's poetry which often reveals a child-like fascination with the natural world. Students examine how she writes perceptively of butterflies, birds, and bats and uses lucid metaphors to...

This learning module provides remediation and extra practice with identifying different types of figurative language. Reinforcement is provided through the worksheets, quizzes, video game links, and online sites for the following types...

Metaphoric compounds, like the combination of the words wind and eye to represent a window, populated Norse and Old English. Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel describe how this love of metaphor created the word window. [1:57]

This lesson focuses on rhetorical devices and how to use them effectively in public speaking. These include alliteration, antithesis, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, personification, repetition and parallelism, and simile and metaphor.

This is a lesson plan for teaching the seven literary terms used in poetry: simile, metaphor, alliteration, imagery, hyperbole, personification, and onomatopoeia.

This language arts instructional activity grabs students' attention by incorporating a popular musician. The lyrics to "Over You" include vivid language that makes identifying figures of speech intriguing. The students will identify...

A collection of descriptive and metaphorical poems about baseball, including poems by Mae Swenson, John Updike, and William Carlos Williams, and, of course, "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Lawrence Thayer.

Learn the form, inspiration and spirit of haiku poetry and learn to write it yourself. An in-depth discussion of the philosophy behind haiku, as well as the literary structure.

An excellent resource for learning about the different forms and devices used in poetry. Each item is linked to its own page which has examples of its use. Many of the pages have videos of authors reading their poems, and some have...

A lesson plan based around the use of metaphor in Langston Hughes's "Dreams" poem. A good reference for teachers looking for lesson ideas on the Harlem Renaissance.

Students are introduced to some essential meteorology concepts so they more fully understand the impact of meteorological activity on air pollution control and prevention. First, they develop an understanding of the magnitude and...

Information for late high school students about how to handle credit cards, using the metaphor of playing a card game.

Discover this comprehensive guide to teaching the interpretation of Shakespeare's "As You Like It."

This twelve-part learning module provides assorted references for figurative language terms. This blendspace provides reproducible charts, flash cards, a game, video tutorial lessons, and rap songs. L.9-10.5 Fig Lang/nuances

This site gives short definitions of the terms denotation and connotation. Also gives definitions for many figures of speech. Finally, includes discussion and study questions for a few poems at the bottom of the page. L.11-12.5b Nuance

[Free Registration/Login Required] Read Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and highlight details that show austere view in blue, details that show New England dialect in red, and trivial metaphor in green. When...

This website focuses on figurative language: hyperbole, simile, metaphor, personification, and idioms. It provides lists of examples for each based on three educational levels: elementary, middle school, and high school.

As students become more aware of text complexity, an understanding of the formal properties of literature becomes more important. This is an excellent examination of the kinds of choices writers make that change the way readers receive...