Curated OER
Painting Pictures with Poetry
Students develop their own smilies and metaphors. They examine writing of the Poet Laureate. They identify philanthropy in quotations of others.
Curated OER
The Gift of the Magi
Test the true meaning of giving - and irony - with this lesson about "The Gift of the Magi." Using textual analysis, details, and text organization, middle schoolers make predictions about future events in the story and determine the...
Curated OER
Connecting Poetry with Philanthropy
Students use their knowledge of philanthropy and poetic conventions to write original poetry about philanthropic giving. In this philanthropy instructional activity, students write poetry based on philanthropy using poetic conventions....
Curated OER
Musical Poetry
High schoolers analyze lyrics of their favorite songs as examples of alliteration, metaphor, Onomatopoeia, personification, rhyme, and simile to determine the purpose of these devices in poetry. They use their analysis to create a...
Curated OER
Setting the Tone with Figurative Language
Explore figurative language with your secondary class. Extending a language arts unit, the lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine how an author's word choice establishes a story's tone, possibly using metaphors, similes,...
Curated OER
Reading the Play
Do figures of speech enhance a play or story? In small groups, learners locate and describe figures of speech they find while reading a reader's theater play. After making predictions, they describe how the figures of speech make the...
Curated OER
The Language of Surprise
Aspiring writers complete and discuss fill-in-the-blank cliché expressions, define cliché as a form of predictable writing, take cliché expressions and turn them into new, unpredictable ones, read poetry that illustrates writer's use of...
Curated OER
Use Digital Photos of Scary Things to Inspire Poetry Writing
There's nothing like a provocative image to inspire a creative writing session. In the language arts activity presented here, middle schoolers bring in digital photos of scary objects, such as a big spider, or a hornet's nest. The...
Curated OER
The Final Word
Although this lesson is based on “Final Word,” Craig Wilson’s USA Today column, the strategies could be adapted to any local columnist. After reading three articles independently, groups share observations about content and style used by...
Curated OER
Different Types of Poetry
Provide pupils samples of different types of poems including haikus, narrative, nonsense, shape, and rhyming poems. In groups, class members read the poems, establish their general meaning, identify poetic devices, and rate the poems,...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.10
How do you assess what your pupils have learned over the course of the year? Find out how competent they are at reading and analyzing age-level literature with the ideas presented here. Included in this resource are two suggested...
Curated OER
Reading Lesson Plan
Tenth graders read the poem "Still I Rise" and discuss the different ways it can be told and read and brought to life. In this poetry lesson plan, 10th graders read aloud and silently, and compare different works of poetry.
Curated OER
Identifying Figurative Language
Learners explore Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In this figurative language lesson, students locate similes, metaphors, and examples of personification in their reading. Learners write down the page numbers of each example...
Curated OER
Figurative Language-Part 1
Students explore figurative language. In this figurative language lesson, students look up, define, and give examples of a list of literary terms.
Curated OER
Flora and Fauna as Figures of Speech
Students view artwork in manuscript pages depicting insects, animals, plants, flowers, and ornate writing, such as those found in the Mira calligraphiae monumenta in the Getty Museum.
Curated OER
Bluebottle
Students read the poem Bluebottle and discuss the use of the simile in the poem. In this Bluebottle poetry lesson, students analyze the use of verbs and the energy created by that use. Students text mark all the similes in...
Curated OER
Figuring Out Frost
Fourth graders read "The Runaway" by Robert Frost and analyze it for its literal and symbolic meanings. They compare their personal experiences with the poet's suggestions about youthful attitudes and behaviors. Some nice worksheets are...
Curated OER
Poems for Every Season
Students read and explore autumn poetry. In this poetry lesson, students read Autumnblings and are introduced to different poetic forms. Lesson includes ideas for exploring the poetic forms presented in the book and cross-curricular...
EngageNY
Close Read, Part 2: “Hugo, the Lord’s Nephew”
No, not literally. Scholars read Hugo, the Lord’s Nephew to compare figurative and literal language. Readers learn about simile, metaphor, personification, and idioms with a graphic organizer. Pupils then answer text-dependent...
Curated OER
Review of Literary Devices
Sixth graders review literary devices. They use both fiction and nonfiction texts to review metaphor, simile, alliteration, imagery, symbolism and personification. This lesson has a scripted guide for the teacher to follow.
Curated OER
Analyzing Persuasion
A reading of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech launches a study of rhetorical devices such as hyperbole, allusion, metaphor, simile, personification, connotative language and parallel structure. Class members then...
Curated OER
Analyzing Poetry with TPCASTT
Middle schoolers read a poem and complete a TPCASTT chart. They make a prediction about the title (T) , paraphrase each line (P), identify poetic devices and nuances (C-connotation), explore mood and tone (A-attitude), point out shifts...
Curated OER
Christmas Poetry
Middle schoolers explore writing using literary terms. In this Christmas poetry instructional activity, students write a poem about a Christmas tree or a snowman using at least one example of each: metaphor, simile, and personification....
Curated OER
A Rose Is a Rose
Flowering learners explore the concept of figurative language as it relates to poems, songs, or creative written expression. In this creative writing lesson, they complete several phrases using similes, metaphors, and...