Lesson plan for teaching figures of speech through literary texts

¶ … lesson plan, which deals with aspects like value of play activities and developmental implementations in a chosen teacher-directed classroom task. Tailoring of lessons to meet individual student's needs in keeping with developmentally-suitable practices will also be addressed.

Grade Level: 5th

Art, Language Arts, Science

Ashley

Activity Name: Word Play Fun/Teacher-Directed

Learning Domain/Educational Standards

Grade 5:

110.15.b English Language Arts & Reading Knowledge & Skills (Word Play Fun ... Not Your Ordinary Literary Masterpiece, n.d.)

Comprehension/Reading of Sensory Language/Literary Text.

Students grasp, arrive at conclusions, and make deductions regarding the way in which sensory language of an author constructs imagery in texts by offering textual evidence to substantiate understanding. They are required to recognize the application of metaphors and similes, by the author, for creating imagery.

Writing/Writing Process.

Students make use of writing elements (conception, outlining, revision, proofreading, and publishing) for composing text.

16) Writing/Literary Texts.

Students compose literary texts for conveying their thoughts and notions regarding real or hypothetical ideas, persons, and phenomena.

Ethical Issues Addressed There are no ethical facets that require addressing in this activity (Word Play Fun ... Not Your Ordinary Literary Masterpiece, n.d.)

Objectives

Pupils take turns in collective reading of chapters on an everyday basis, at school. They pursue the broad storyline, while also taking note of the figures of speech they enjoyed most in the entire story.

Students individually understand the distinction between 6 figures of speech, namely: alliteration, metaphors, similes, personification, hyperbole and puns.

The teacher wants them to bear the learnt word-play devices along with specific examples in mind, all through the course of their education (Word Play Fun ... Not Your Ordinary Literary Masterpiece, n.d.)

Preparation/Materials

Computers, blank CDs, or printers for all students; stationery like pens, pencils, ruled paper, color pencils, notebooks, journals, one copy of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles borrowed from a library, one copy each of The Hamster of the Baskervilles, teacher-created laminated category cards (for the 6 figures of speech along with their definitions at the rear side), teacher-developed Web Quest of 10 queries dealing with Hound of the Baskervilles, a curriculum page prepared by the teacher (Word Play Fun ... Not Your Ordinary Literary Masterpiece, n.d.)

Evaluation

The teacher checks notebooks and response journals of students every day, making sure that every child knows how to make connections using the six figures of speech.

The teacher marks illustrations (i.e. essay, drawing, song, poem, joke book, news announcement and advertisement) and original writings of students.

Independent student practice exercises are graded.

Those who referred to the Curriculum Page are awarded additional participation points (Word Play Fun ... Not Your Ordinary Literary Masterpiece, n.d.)

Remediation for Children with Special Needs:

Several students suffer from learning disabilities (LD) and require certain support because of the poor reading skills that characterize their disability. Pupils facing challenges or having special needs will, in this particular lesson, be provided with another exclusive passage to aid with comprehension, rather than having them study Doyle's book (Writer Thoughts, n.d.), thus enabling them to better manage reading (to some extent, like the class's independent readers).

Computers/laptops can help LD students to make notes (Assistive Technology for Students with Mild Disabilities - TeacherVision.com, n.d.). Portable keyboards constitute an economical substitute to PCs. However, they are characterized by some limitations in the form of limited screen display (4 text lines) and information formatting. As only a small number of students will find it hard to jot down notes by hand, and would display improved functioning via assistive technology, laptops will be offered to them for use during class work.

Classrooms are now filling up with technological tools -- technology is at the teachers' disposal for creating, monitoring, and delivering instructions, and at the students' disposal for accessing and engaging in learning. Assistive technology enables students with LD to be at par with peers, and in note-taking (Writer Thoughts, n.d.). The use of another, easier-to-understand passage will help LD students meet the same classroom goals as independent students. Thus, development level can be attained.

Materials/Resources:

Laptop

Teacher-provided Select Passage

Remediation for ESL Children (English as Second Language):

English Language Learners (ELLs), when posed a question, will often translate it first to their native tongue/first language, compose a reply in the native tongue, and then retranslate to English, before replying to the teacher. Thus, their response time is longer than English-speaking students (Adaptations for English Learners, n.d.). ESL students, in this lesson, will be accorded extra time for writing activities. Further, teachers will use individual ESLs' first language (if teachers know how to speak it) for clarifying instructions.

Rosetta Stone and other similar software assist teachers as well as pupils to adopt elementary language-communication abilities faster (Adkins, n.d.). There are screen reading programs that read text out loud to students, facilitating its understanding and comprehension at a pace convenient to the ESL. This lesson will employ Rosetta Stone for effective teacher-ESL student interaction, and thorough grasping of material by the student.

The above adaptation can be deemed as developmentally-suitable since it helps ESL students acquire intended skills from the lesson. ESL students are able to attain the same developmental level as their peers, via this adaptation (Writer Thoughts, n.d.). ESL students can also integrate their native language into learning activities, forgoing the need to constantly seek physical translations.

Materials/Resources:

- Software Material

- Rosetta Stone (Writer Thoughts, n.d.)

Higher Level Learning Extension:

Higher-order questions can directly link evaluation with language-related class work. This is a strong pedagogical approach that serves numerous direct classroom-related purposes. Hilda Taba's model is mostly familiar to all teachers (Brantley and Washington, n.d.). The model outlines 4 interrelated teaching techniques: concept development, generalization adoption, conflict resolution, and data interpretation. Teachers should urge students to participate at all levels; encourage higher-order thinking, and pose various open-ended queries before the students. Response journal exercises, in this lesson, will be developed to foster unrestricted thinking. Students will be able to explore in detail, the knowledge obtained from this lesson, as well as develop it further.

Technology in the form of iPads, programmed with relevant content, will be employed for this lesson, taking students to a more advanced level in attaining lesson aims (Writer Thoughts, n.d.). Students will also be able to better grasp modern-day technological aspects.

This lesson enrichment task is developmentally-apt, as its implementation facilitates advanced thought-processing in students (Writer Thoughts, n.d.).