This unit's purpose is to give students opportunities to understand an author's choices for using literary devices and how those choices add meaning to the text, which falls in line with the underlying idea of the Craft and Structure standards in the Common Core ELA framework. Because my students encounter complex figurative devices in the higher level texts that they read (many of my students are reading above grade level at this point), I chose literary devices related to reading standard 4 that I deem appropriate for my class of deep, philosophical intellectuals.
My Promethean Figurative Language Flipchart starts out with the goal for this lesson. Students understand my expectations because I also present and discuss the scale and rubric with them. They are targeting a score of 3 as reaching the goal. We discussed figurative language in previous lessons, but now we are focusing on Cliches. We analyze the definition of cliches as an expression that has been used too often: it is trite or boring because it is over used; it is not an original expression.
We go through many examples that I searched on the websites and we review them, as I project them on the Promethean board. Students who have heard of some of them attempt to define their meaning. We examined many cliches such as: time will tell, opposites attract, action speaks louder than words, all over the map, etc. The challenging part was agreeing on their meaning. Students seem to have various interpretations. Second graders often take things literally, so teacher guidance is needed for this part of the lesson. I suggest to my class that their research skills will benefit them for this lesson.
Some of the other cliches we discussed were:
I read aloud a several poems including, Absence Make the Heart Grow Fonder and A Rose by Any Other Name. I ask students to pay attention to examples of cliches within the poem, especially the titles of the poems. I projected the poems on my Promethean board as I read it out loud a second time. Then, I model highlighting the sections of text to identify one or two cliches within the poem. Students are asked to identify more examples of cliches in the poem as we discussed the characteristics of cliches and their effects on the meaning of the story.
Students need ample practice to identify and analyze cliches in text. We discuss several poetry samples that use cliches to heighten sensory images and understanding of text. These concrete samples help students understand the context in which cliches are used as well as its intended purpose to communicate complex thoughts in a few words that are readily understood by readers.
Students work in their collaborative groups of 5 to 6 students per group to find cliches and define them together. I ask them to use the cliches in context in a sentence or story. I challenge students to see which team comes up with five cliches and use them in meaningful sentences. I give each team a Figurative Language Rubric to use as guideline, focusing on cliches. Each group has a laptop to search for cliches and research their meaning. At the end of this section, students should have their sentences written and prepared to present them to the class.
I circulate as needed while students work in teams to find the most cliches. Aside from the laptops students are encouraged to browse our classroom library and use books and articles that may contain cliches. Each team leader is responsible for directing their team to work effectively as possible. Their progress is measured by a Cooperative Learning Rubric.
Each team presents their cliche findings and use the cliches contextually in a sentence or story by showing the Cliche Student Sample. The class rates the effectiveness of the team's presentation on cliches in relation to the imagery it relates. Suggestions and positive comments are made to give feedback to each team.