This Lesson's Title:

A Monster of a Metaphor

creating an extended metaphor with sentences that flow

This lesson was built for WritingFix by NNWP Teacher Consultant Tamara Turnbeaugh and then presented during an AT&T-sponsored in-service class for teachers.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially from chapter 5 of the book.

Check out The Grapes of Wrath at Amazon.com.

If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

After analyzing Steinbeck's monster metaphor from chapter five of The Grapes of Wrath, student writers will talk about how someone develops the idea for an extended metaphor for a character or setting.  Playing with the interactive buttons below will help students create their own ideas for an extended metaphor to write.  Students then write their own extended metaphors, attempting to craft sentences that have a rhythm to them.  Teachers: click here to read the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait for this on-line activity is idea development;  creating a unique metaphor with original details is the writer's ultimate task.  The support trait for this writing assignment is sentence fluency; as students draft, they should be encouraged to craft sentences that flow ad that are uniquely structured from the other sentences in the description that is written.