graphic organizer Archives - The Teachers' Library

Make a Metaphor Task Cards

Lauren Crowley — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 13:58:34 +0000

When teaching students about metaphor, simile, and personification, I try to encourage them to incorporate these descriptive tools into their own writing, not just to identify them in a poem. This takes constant reminding and reinforcing, as it’s not something that most students do naturally until they become more confident and proficient writers.

Below is a beginner set of make-a-metaphor task cards and a graphic organizer for students to practice distinguishing between the three literary devices, as well as identifying the tone of each one. I remind students that accurately identifying a literary device is not much help, unless they can also infer the tone that the writer is attempting to convey. This is what makes writing truly effective. The third task is to use the mentor sentences, or sentence frames, to create their own version of the literary device while conveying the tone identified.

These task cards can be used as an application activity in pairs or groups; as a timed activity during a stations rotation; or ask exit tickets (without the graphic organizer).

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[insert_php]
// INSTRUCTIONS: array(“url”,”title”,”type”,”size”),
// AND only the last array() line does NOT have a comma at the end
$downloads = array(
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/make-a-metaphor-task-cards.pub”,”Download make a metaphor task cards”,”pub”,”532kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/make-a-metaphor-task-card.pdf”,”Download make a metaphor task cards”,”pdf”,”457kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/make-a-metaphor-graphic-org.pdf”,”Download make a metaphor graphic organizer”,”pdf”,”469kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/make-a-metaphor-graphic-org.docx”,”Download make a metaphor graphic organizer”,”docx”,”332kb”),
);
insertDownloads($downloads);
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Creative Writing Workshop Unit

Lauren Crowley — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 15:08:06 +0000

Below are some the resources that I use when assigning creative writing projects. I put some of them together in a kind of general, one-size-fits-all group of handouts that can help students organize their creative writing.

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[insert_php]
// INSTRUCTIONS: array(“url”,”title”,”type”,”size”),
// AND only the last array() line does NOT have a comma at the end
$downloads = array(
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/creative-writing.pptx”,”Download PowerPoint introduction to creative writing”,”pptx”,”2mb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/character-development-outline-2.pptx”,”Character Development Outline – Download printable PowerPoint with graphic organizer, plot chart, and storyboard”,”pptx”,”154kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/writing-workshop-checklist-1.pdf”,”Download creative writing checklist”,”pdf”,”363kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/writing-workshop-checklist-1.docx”,”Download creative writing checklist”,”docx”,”86kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/peer-review-1.pdf”,”Download peer review handout”,”pdf”,”774kb”),
array(“https://www.theteacherslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/peer-review.docx”,”Download peer review handout”,”docx”,”256kb”),
);
insertDownloads($downloads);
[/insert_php]

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Reading for Vocabulary

Lauren Crowley — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 14:25:43 +0000

Below is a handout I give to students when I ask them to do some independent reading. It can work in small groups and in isolated lessons, or over a longer period of independent reading.

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Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl

Lauren Crowley — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 14:27:19 +0000

Below is a PowerPoint and vocabulary organizer I use when teaching Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter, usually as part of a larger short story unit. It’s a great model text for showcasing plot twist, irony, and characterization.

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Because I Could Not Stop For Death Lined Poem and Handout

Lauren Crowley — Sat, 06 Aug 2016 10:41:11 +0000

This is a ready-made handout of one of Emily Dickinson’s most commonly studied poems. The poem is lined, has some vocabulary break-down, comprehension questions, symbolism chart, and a short paragraph response. Feel free to use as-is, or change it to fit your students or your own classroom.

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Poetry Graphic Organizer

Lauren Crowley — Sat, 06 Aug 2016 07:31:19 +0000

This is a very general graphic organizer that I use to encourage students to engage more deeply with a poem. Students tend to be more passive when they read poetry, for all kinds of reasons, and often need to be explicitly (and repeatedly) asked to use all the tools in their arsenal to access a poem.

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This graphic organizer is never used as a summative assessment, rather it’s a way for students to:

Engage with the language and analyze the effects of the language
Use existing knowledge to draw inferences
Break down the dense, moving parts of a poem in manageable pieces
Record textual evidence for written responses (which may be used as summative assessments)

This organizer requires a bit of explanation to the students:

DO NOT write in complete sentences. This is a brainstorming tool.
There’s no one perfect place to start. Start with the title, start with the rhyme, start with whatever jumps out at you and see where it takes you.
Yes, it’s small. I only ask students to give me the line of poetry as textual evidence for a literary device, not to copy out the entire quote. Accurately citing textual evidence is its own lesson.

For example, if a student identifies the use of imagery, they must only write imagery and l. 19 as textual evidence.

Because the organizer is quite small, I often project it and have students create larger, colorful, even illustrated versions on flip-chart paper in groups of 2-4.

Differentiation Idea: Assign different roles in the group

The beginner students identify literary title, author, rhyme, and literary devices.
Intermediate learners can begin to draw inferences and make hypothesis from title, author, historical context, etc.
More proficient poetry readers can begin to interpret and articulate the effects.

Extra: I have found Annabel Lee, by Edgar Allan Poe, to be a great first piece of poetry for middle and high school. It’s accessible and beautiful.

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Metacognition Reflection

Lauren Crowley — Tue, 19 Jul 2016 13:08:24 +0000

Metacognition simply means thinking about thinking. Without being explicitly asked to reflect on their own learning, many students can become passive or even discouraged by setbacks. Metacognition exercises are perfect ways to encourage and develop a growth mindset in the classroom.

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Vocabulary Graphic Organizer

Lauren Crowley — Mon, 18 Jul 2016 08:08:22 +0000

Below is a no frills graphic organizer that I use to teach vocabulary. As studies indicate that a person needs to be familiar with 93% of the vocabulary in a text for full comprehension, we do a lot of vocabulary. A lot. At the beginning of the school year I make about as many copies as I can get away with and our first vocabulary lesson is creating our own personal dictionaries. I give the students card stock so they can create their own covers, either drawing or designing something digitally. We use the dictionaries all year.

Note: These are not quick. Students need between 3-7 minutes for each organizer. So one sheet of three can take up to twenty minutes for some students. However, to engage more deeply with words to fully integrate them into their working vocabularies takes time. But they can be used for homework review, group work, or once they are routine, give them a vocabulary list to do with a sub. Music pairs nicely with these, as well.

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