Developmental Lesson Plan

Your Name: Aimee Sharif

Date: April 5, 2015
Course Title: Freshmen English
Period: 2
Organizational Structures: This lesson plan will be using two
organizational structures: there will be a lecture portion, group work
and individual work.
Bell work: As students walk into the classroom, they will follow
classroom procedures for entering the room. The Bell Work question
will be projected on the board: Last week, we learned what a simile
and metaphor is. Write one example of a simile or metaphor, take your
pick on which one. Briefly write a defnition of what the term means. Be
prepared to share with the class.
Aim: What are the main types of fgures of speech? How and why are
they used in writing such as poetry?
Instructional Objectives:
Students will be able to list different types of a fgure of speech.
Students will be able to provide defnitions of the popular types
of fgures of speech.
Students will be able to write their own fgures of speech and
incorporate them into a poem.
Students will be able to write a collaborative poem with a group
of peers.
Literacy Skills: Students will be given a note sheet with defnitions of
different types of fgures of speech. Throughout the brief lecture
portion, students will fll in the blank spots with terms from the
PowerPoint lecture.
Afterwards, students will be given a brief short story flled with the
different types of fgures of speech. They will be instructed to underline
similes, circle metaphors, highlight oxymorons in yellow, highlight
hyperboles in pink, mark alliteration by circling the repeated sound in
the words, put a zigzag line under personifcation, and place a box
around any examples of assonance. The short story will have a key at
the bottom that lines up each fgure of speech with a sample of how to
mark the example. This will allow students to visually organize and
mark the examples for a clear distinction between the terms.
Motivation:

After the Bell Work, I will present the students with this picture and ask
them
What does the man in the cartoon mean by saying Wow, its
raining cats and dogs out there?
Why are the animals so confused about what he said?
Are there literally cats and dogs falling to the ground outside?
Why would he say that, instead of just saying its raining really
hard out there?
By using this picture, I can get the students to actually interpret a
common saying, and why people use fgures of speech instead of
literally saying what they mean. Figures of speech are used to
exaggerate feelings, use our imagination when describing an object,
color our language, etc. The students should begin to comprehend why
fgures of speech are used, and then proceed to learning the different
types afterwards.
If the students are still struggling with this, I will guide them towards
the preferred answers and realizations. A second photo is on hand if
needed:

Directions:
After using the two pictures as motivation for the students, I will then
move on to providing them with the lecture portion of the lesson plan.
Please clear your desks and leave out a pen/pencil to take notes
with.
I am handing out a worksheet that has defnitions of the words
we will be going over. Each defnition will have a blank space so
that you can write the correct term for that defnition.
Throughout the PowerPoint, fll in every blank space. They may or
may not be in order, so please pay attention. Also, there is a
word bank at the top to help guide students who may miss a
word.
Please pay attention to the terms that will be given to you, we
are going to use the terms in an activity later.
The students will then fll in their note sheets. The activity will then
consist of group work where students will get into groups and write a
collaborative poem.
If you turn your worksheets over, you will fnd sentences with
different examples of fgurative language. Please underline
similes, circle metaphors, highlight an oxymoron in yellow,
highlight hyperboles in pink, mark alliteration by circling the
repeated sound in the words, put a zigzag line under
personifcation, and place a box around any examples of
assonance.
For example, the frst sentence is I am so hungry I could eat a
whole cow! Now lets look at our defnition list and see which
one applies to that sentences. Its exaggerating hunger, so it
would be hyperbole which is an over exaggeration of an
expression!

There is a key at the top of the page that can remind you of how
you are going to mark every kind of fgurative language.
You will have 5 minutes to read through the list of sentences with
your group sitting at your tables.
After 5 minutes, your group is going to choose one topic or
theme to revolve your collaborative poem around. All, or at least
majority, of the group members must agree on the topic. The
topics have to be school appropriate and some examples are
school, sports, a television show, a movie, etc. Each person will
choose a type of fgurative language and write one based on the
topic you choose.
No two people can have the same type of fgurative language. I
will give you 3 minutes to write the down the fgurative language
that revolves around the topic chosen for your group poem.
Additional time will be given if needed.
Afterwards, your group will take out a blank piece of paper and
write all of the fgures of speech you guys came up with. You will
have about 10 minutes to choose which order you want the
poem in. This will be your collaborative poem. I will walk around
and assist any group that needs help.
I will check in on the class every few minutes to see how quickly
we will be moving along. I will walk around at least once to every
group to check in.
Be prepared to share your poems with the entire class.

Pivotal Questions:
1. Do you feel using fgurative language when speaking to others is
necessary or unnecessary? How often do you use fgurative language?
Please explain. (Text-to-self)
2. In Robert Frosts The Road Not Taken, what metaphor is he using
throughout the poem? How is this the same or different from the
example of metaphors given to you on the back of your paper? (Textto-text)
3. What is the minor difference between simile and metaphor? Use the
examples on the handout given. How can you tell the difference
between the two? (Text-to-itself)
4. What is one example of fgurative language that is common to hear
in society? (Text-to-world)
5. Is it possible to write two types of fgurative language in the same
sentence? If yes, give it a try.
Medial Summary:
The students have been introduced to the basic fgurative languages
used in writing, or even heard out loud through speaking. Figurative
language is important because there are several examples in poetry,

and understanding the meaning can be essential when analyzing a

text. At this point, many students have not been introduced to poetry.
Teaching the defnition of fgurative language and the most common
types, is an introduction to reading poetry and also writing their own.
With the help of this lesson plan today, the students will be
frontloading for a unit on poetry, and how to analyze language used in
texts.
The students have received a note sheet with defnitions that they can
keep in their folder for the class, and refer back to when needed. The
blank spaces ensure the students are paying attention during notes,
but can also be considered an accommodation for anyone who
struggles with keeping up with notes during a class period. Terms and
defnitions can be memorized, but understanding how to use the terms
can be difficult for some. The motivation portion with cartoons reveals
to students how common fgurative language is, and also how it can be
used describing everyday events in their lives. This connection to their
life can provide the push to understanding what the terms mean, and
also the motivation to want to write their own.
The collaborative poem will be one of the frst they will write for this
class. In the next few days, they will begin keeping a portfolio of all
poetry that is written in class. This portfolio will be used as an
assessment at the end of the unit, and the students will have the
opportunity to personalize the folders with decorations. This poem will
be the frst edition to the portfolio. Writing a poem alone can seem
overwhelming, therefore writing a collaborative poem with their group
can be the frst step to writing their own poems. One type of fgurative
language used in one sentence does not seem intimidating at all. The
students will be encouraged to have fun and even experiment with
humor in their poems. The poems do not have to make sense or be
placed in a perfect order. The sole purpose of the activity is to have
students feel comfortable with writing sentences using some type of
fgurative language introduced to them.
Application:
One way to compliment the information learned so far is to provide a
rubric for their collaborative poem to follow. The poems can have
requirements such as having to rhyme two lines at a time. The rhyme
scheme will be AA,BB, CC, DD so that the students will have to
strategically pick certain words to match up with other words.
Providing a simple rhyme scheme will let the students experience how
it is to write a poem with a pattern that must be followed. They will
also learn to appreciate the much more complex rhyme schemes in
poems they will read later on in the unit. This will bring out the
strength of students who excel linguistically and are word smart.

A second way to compliment what they have learned is to have the

students create some type of illustration for their collaborative poems.
The students can create illustrations and hang them up on the board
side-by-side. As each group stands up in front of the class to read their
poem, the rest of the class can guess which illustration is theirs. This
will help turn the material into a fun game and enjoyable activity for
anyone who may be struggling or nervous to present. The students in
the audience will feel the pressure to pay attention and participate.
The students presenting can use their skills to create an accurate
drawing, or even a humorous one, to help guide their class towards the
correct one.
One way to complicate the text is to have students write collaborative
group poems revolving around a simple topic, such as nature. The
students will have a certain amount of time to create a poem using 5
types of fgurative language discussed in class and create a poem
about nature. Although the broad topic of focus is given, each group
will have to narrow down the topic even smaller. The instructor will
provide examples of topics such as summer, fall, winter, spring, roses,
weather, etc. An example of a poem written by the instructor will be
read out loud to them to provide guidance. After having about 5-10
minutes to create their poems, each group will have to switch with a
different group, and read each others poem. While one group is
reading a different groups poem, they will have to mark (using the
highlights/underlining used above) and also write down the fve terms
they believe the group used in their poem. This type of activity will
have students interacting with each other around the poem, and
challenge them to identify different types of fgurative language
through their peers work. The students will also have to guess what
the theme of the poem is, besides nature. Examples of themes can be
different seasons of the year, a plant or certain flower, or even a
certain type of weather.
Final Summary: Students will be offered the opportunity to briefly
summarize what was learned today, and also write down one question
they may still have about the material as a Ticket Out of the Door. This
will give me the opportunity to see what they absorbed during the
lesson, and plan to answer any questions I did not get to during class. I
expect the students to briefly list a few of the fgures of speech they
learned in class, and provide some explanation as to how and why
people use fgurative language.
Metacognitive on Pedagogy: Here the students will be asked if the information
learned today in class helped reached the Aim that was previously mentioned in the
beginning of the class period. The main purpose of this lesson plan is to set up the

foundation for students to feel comfortable writing figures of speech, and understanding
why they are used in poetry. This is the frontloading portion of the poetry unit. I will ask
students if they believe the Bell Work was connected to the rest of the lesson, and how it
helped or harmed their process of the information. I expect the students to realize why
using the real life examples and cartoons as an introduction helped ease them into the
lesson plan. I expect the students to see how I set up the information from basic
definitions and notes to actually writing collaborative poems with their groups. The
students should realize why I gave them the note sheet, and how they can now refer back
to it whenever it is needed.
Metacognitive on Learning: I will ask two students to talk about how they learned
the material today, and if they struggled at any time. Based on their answers, I will adjust
this lesson plan for all future classes.
Review Homework: Depending on how far the students got in the
lesson, there may or may not be homework assigned. If the students
completed all activities that were planned, the homework will be
introduced and explained to them. Personifcation examples were in
the handouts, but not as much as the other types of fgures of speech.
For homework, students will have to write a short poem describing an
inanimate object and use personifcation. The poem will have to be a
minimum of eight lines. The poem can be free verse to make it easier
for students, because they are not used to writing poems just yet. It is
early on in to the unit, and some are barely being introduced to
fgurative language. The poem can be written humorously about an
object they dislike, or it can be an ode to an object they love. This will
help the students exercise their writing abilities, use a fgure of speech
that was not discussed in class too much, and also can be referred
back to when they reach the section of the unit where they must write
an ode to an object. If the students write a humorous poem about an
object they dislike, they can still use the poem in their portfolio. If the
students write an ode type of poem, they can edit and alter this poem
in the following week when they learn the structure of poems with an
ode to an object. An Ode to Caffeine written by the instructor will be
given to the students as one example they can follow. It will be
emphasized that as long as the minimum requirements are completed,
they will receive credit for the work. Perfect writing is not expected.
Homework:
For homework tonight, you will choose one object. It can be an
object you have, an object you have seen, or even an object you
hate. Of course, the object has to be school appropriate.
You will write a poem about the object using personifcation at
least 3 times. What is personifcation again? (At this point I will
ask for a volunteer to read the defnition off of the handout or the
student can recite a defnition from memory).

Exactly! Now the poem must be at least eight lines, and has to
have THREE examples of personifcation. You can write an ode to
an object. I will handout my example of an ode to caffeine right
now. The same structure can be used to write your own, if you
are writing about how much you love or appreciate a certain
item.
On the back of the example of my poem, you will fnd the
directions and requirements for this assignment. I left blank lines
underneath the directions, so you can use this sheet or write it
on your own blank sheet of paper.
You can write a funny poem about how much you hate an object,
such as Oh smelly socks, your stench creeps under the closet
door and crawls up my nose. You disrupt my sleep. And for that, I
must break up with you.
You need to write down the poem on a sheet of paper, and make
it as legible as possible for me to read. Be prepared to share
these in class if there is time tomorrow. Does anyone have any
questions?