Reviewing Figurative Language in Poetry

Technology Integration Lesson Plan

Grade Level: 5

Curriculum Area: Language Arts

Technology used:

Interactive white board, interactive web site, classroom and lab computers.

Overview: Students will review types of figurative language by adding an example of their own to a “wall”, sorting each others’ examples by category (similes, metaphors, personification, and hyperbole), and finally finding and highlighting examples in published poetry using the Promethean Board.

Materials:

1. One or more classroom computers with Internet access (for the activator phase of the lesson – alternatively, this could be done in the Computer Lab at the start of the period).

2. Computer attached to an interactive white board (referred to here as a Promethean Board).

3. Computer lab or laptop cart with at least one computer for every two students.

4. Figurative language page set up by the teacher on

5. Prior student writing, by each student, that includes figurative language.

6. Poems with examples of figurative language, either in a flipchart or a file that can be annotated over as a “desktop flipchart”. Some poems that work well:

a. “Hyperbole”, by Roy Moger-Reischer in A Poem for Every Day, compiled by Susan Moger -- simile and hyperbole.

b. “Winter Trees”, by William Carlos Williams, in Read and Understand Poetry Grades 5-6+, published by Evan-Moor – personification.

b. “Seeds”, by Javaka Steptoe, in Read and Understand Poetry Grades 5-6+, published by Evan-Moor – simile and metaphor.

c. “Families Are Like Potatoes”, by Diana Kinney – extended simile.

Instructional Plan:

Previous Experiences: Students will already have explored types of figurative language (similes, metaphors, personification, and hyperbole) in previous lessons, both in isolation and in context in particular poems. They also will have practiced with these types of figurative language by incorporating them into their own poetry or bits of unfinished poetry. It is anticipated, however, that some students will not yet have a solid grasp of each of these types of figurative language or even of the overall term “figurative language”; hence this review lesson.

Activator:

  1. For “Before School Work”, have each student post one example of figurative language from his / her own poetry or practice explorations on a collaborative “wall” created by the teacher at

Practice:

  1. Briefly review the overall meaning of figurative language, as well as definitions and a brief example of each type featured in this lesson, with the whole group. Using the Promethean Board, have students take turns drawing lines to connect definitions and examples to the name of each type of figurative language (see associated file to be opened in ActiveInspire using dektop overlay).
  1. At shared computers in the Computer Lab, have students work together with partners to sort their classmates’ examples on the wallwisher.com page by category (similes, metaphors, personification, and hyperboles). Circulate and check student thinking.
  1. If there appears to be disagreement among students, reconvene the class on the rug. Take turns displaying different partnerships’ sorts using the projection system / Promethean Board and discussing them. (If students are generally in agreement about their sorts, this step may be skipped.)

Application:

  1. Together as a group, using the Promethean Board in desktop overlay mode, go through each of the poems in the attached file looking for examples of figurative language. Have students take turns going up to the Promethean Board and using its pen to underline and label examples of different types of figurative language; briefly discuss the meaning of each in the poem. (When I taught this lesson my class was already familiar with these particular poems, which worked well. In previous lessons we had “marked up” these poems in detail for meaning, inferences, and students’ questions, so we were able to focus primarily on the use of figurative language in the current lesson.)

Summarizer:

  1. Have students briefly remember and share specific examples of figurative language, from today’s lesson, that they found effective in conveying an image or an emotion. Have the class label each example offered as simile, metaphor, personification, or hyperbole.

Optional Extension:

  1. Have students revisit one of their own poems during Writer’s Workshop time or for homework, either revising it to add more figurative language, or writing a short paragraph on how they have used figurative language in it.

Submitted by Diana Kinney

3/12/10