This literary lesson has students delving into Emily Dickinson's "The Moon was but a Chin of Gold" to find different types of figurative language. Writers will love sharpening reading comprehension skills with this poetry analysis activity.
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EL Adjustments
Grade
Subject
Reading & writingGrammarLanguage and VocabularyLanguageFigurative LanguageMetaphorsSimilesReading FictionFiction ComprehensionAnalyze Figurative Language in Fiction Texts
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Learning Objectives
Students will be able to identify some of the different types of figurative language in poetry.
The adjustment to the whole group lesson is a modification to differentiate for children who are English learners.
Introduction
(5 minutes)- Introduce Emily Dickinson and give a quick history of her as a poet.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling
(10 minutes)- Review some different types of figurative language.
- Point out that there are three important types to think about for the poem you're about to read: personification (speaking of something non-human as though it were human), simile (comparing something to something else using "like" or "as"), and metaphor (comparing something to something else by saying it is that thing).
Beginning
- Define the term "figurative language" and explain that it is not meant to be taken literally.
Intermediate
- Provide examples for each type of figurative language that is introduced.
Guided Practice
(20 minutes)- Display "The Moon Was But a Chin of Gold" using the document camera and projector. Distribute copies of it to the class.
- Read the poem aloud.
- Each time you come across figurative language, underline it and ask students to identify what type of figurative language it is.
- Students should underline it on their sheet as well.
Beginning
- Provide definitions for vocabulary and idiomatic phrases that students will encounter in the poem.
Intermediate
- Allow students to use dictionaries or bilingual resources to look up new words throughout the lesson.
Independent working time
(10 minutes)- After finding all the instances of figurative language, read the poem again without stopping.
- Ask students, "Is the poem really about a moon, or can it represent something else in life?"
- Have them answer the two questions on the second page of the worksheet.
Beginning
- Allow students to respond to the two questions on the worksheet verbally rather than requiring written responses.
Intermediate
- Offer sentence frames to support students during the discussion and writing tasks.
Differentiation
Support:
- Pull struggling students aside during Independent Working Time to review the different types of figurative language.
Enrichment:
- Advanced students can be challenged to write another stanza for the poem. If all students are advanced, you can allow them to find the figurative language in the poem independently.
Assessment
(10 minutes)- Have students share their answers to the questions on the second page.
- Assess students based on how well they understood the poem's content.
Beginning
- Allow students to respond to the discussion question in pairs or small, teacher-led groups.
Intermediate
- Provide a simplified assessment task to gauge students' understanding of the three types of figurative language they saw in the poem. For example, you might ask students to name a feature of each type of figurative language and identify an example from the poem for each.
Review and closing
(5 minutes)- Review the definitions of personification, simile, and metaphor.
Related Guided Lesson
Based on your interest in Poetry: Figurative Language.
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