Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Introducing Metaphors Through Poetry

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Metaphors are word pictures, creating images in our brains that draw readers to consider how two seemingly unrelated items are alike. Poems by Langston Hughes, Margaret Atwood, and Naomi Shihad Nye provide learners with an opportunity to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Monster of a Metaphor

For Teachers 7th - 12th
What do Jeep advertisements and Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath have in common? They both employ the art of the extended metaphor! Using the Six-Trait Writing model, learners begin to work on their own extended metaphors. Development...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson: Mixing Metaphors across Current Events and Literature

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Expression, current events, and art can go hand-in-hand. After analyzing a multi-media piece entitled, Trade Canoe for Don Quixote, the class explores their own expressive process. They create collages that show a current event or issue...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Image as Metaphor

For Teachers 6th - 12th
A Dorothea Lange photograph launches this study of metaphors. Using the questions provided, the class examines the image and the title to consider how Lange uses her photo as a metaphor. Class members then select an object they can use...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Similes and Metaphors in Poetry

For Teachers 5th - 12th
The use of similes and metaphors will become more clear and your young scholars will gain knowledge and comprehend the meanings of the words with these activities. They compose interesting similes and metaphors based on visual prompts...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Metaphor

For Teachers 9th - 11th
High schoolers identify the distinction between literal and figurative language with a focus on metaphors. They complete a metaphor analysis chart, then practice expanding metaphors by composing their own comparisons of elements of the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What is a Metaphor? - Examples, Definition & Types

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Metaphors, the definition of, types of, and examples of, are the subject of a short video that models for viewers this grand poobah of literary terms. Colorful images and animations are used to illustrate the connections between...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry Shopping Spree

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Scholars demonstrate the ability to evaluate authors' use of literary elements such as metaphor, simile, personification, imagery, and onomatopoeia. They are provided with a checklist and must shop for poems that contain the poetry terms...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Labyrinths

For Teachers K - 12th
Whether studying metaphors or Greek mythology, this labyrinth project is a fantastic lesson plan to add to your unit. It includes two versions of the labyrinth; making it with yarn or stone. If your materials are limited, you can even...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

About Life: The Photographs of Dorothea Lange Image as Metaphor

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students define metaphor in both art and writing. In this metaphor activity, students examine a photograph by Dorothea Lange and discuss the metaphor that is displayed in the picture. They write about an object that symbolizes a personal...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Breath as Metaphor - Poetry Exercise

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers are required to critically read two poems, answer factual questions concerning the pieces, and then discuss the different uses of breath as a metaphor. They use the samples as a starting point for their own creative efforts.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I Have a Metaphor

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Learners locate the literary devices used in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. In this figurative language lesson plan, students first distinguish between similes, metaphors, analogies, personification, etc. Learners...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson: Urs Fischer: Controlling our Logic, Metaphors, and Semantics

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Kids use poetry and contemporary art to start thinking about logic and personal expression. They read Sylvia Plath's poem "Metaphor," and critically examine the art of Urs Fischer. After working though a few logic problems they write...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Shooting An Elephant": George Orwell's Essay on His Life in Burma

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High school readers examine George Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant" for examples of symbolism, metaphor, connotation, and irony. They analyze how these literary tools convey the writer's main point and contribute to the persuasive...
Lesson Plan
New Class Museum

Lesson: Emory Douglas: Decoding Images and Vocabulary Activity

For Teachers 9th - 12th
To better understand the work of Black Panther logo artist Emory Douglas, learners define literary devices. They define a series of words such as metaphor, simile, and assonance, then place an example of that device found in Emory...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Political Cartoons: Literacy

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Readers decode and deconstruct political cartoons to heighten critical thinking, extra-textual literacy, and making meaning from symbolism and metaphor. A compatible activity to use in English class when your 8th or 11th graders are...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Simile And Metaphor

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students engage in a lesson about metaphor and simile while using them in different contexts. They are asked to share some samples that are designed by them to other members of the class. Students practice writing them with the help of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mixing Metaphors with Politics

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Students discuss different literary devices and use them to write summaries of New York Times articles dealing with international news. They reflect on the effectiveness and appropriateness of sports metaphors in the political arena.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Image as a Metaphor

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young scholars define "metaphor" and discuss examples of it in writing. They look carefully at a photograph by Dorothea Lange and discuss its relationship to the concept of metaphor. They write effectively about their own experience,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mathematical Metaphors in Art

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students investigate the role of mathematics in their everyday lives. They discover, through reading a Times article and through analyzing a specific example of art, that mathematics exists on a deeper 'metaphoric' level in art.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Deciphering the Mechanics of Poetry

For Teachers 7th - 9th
After a review of poetic terms, groups are given an object and they create a poem using a simile, a metaphor, internal rhyme, end rhyme, alliteration, and personification. Groups then exchange objects and repeat the process. Consider...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Knot" the Whole Truth: Writing a Modern-Day Story with a Tall Tale's Voice

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Beyond Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, tall tales can be a great way to teach young writers about word choice and voice in their writing. Using Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee  and the Six-Trait Writing process, they begin to write...
Lesson Plan
Weber County Library

Abstract Ideas Explored: Writing with Extended Metaphor

For Teachers 9th - 12th
A 25-page packet includes eight detailed lesson plans centered around poems by Emily Dickinson. Each lesson begins with a burning question that students attempt to answer by using evidence from Dickinson's poems.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making Connection, Using Metaphor

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Chief Seatle's "Letter to President Pierce, 1855" provides the text for a skills exercise that asks readers to consider how writers use metaphors to contribute to the meaning and impact of a work. Participants then apply what they have...

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