Eighth Grade - ELA
1: Semester 1
Unit 1: Abigail Adams
Lesson 1
Getting to Know Abigail Adams
Students are asked to interpret Abigail's grandmother's saying, "wild colts make the best horses," and to explain what that figurative remark likely meant about Abigail's future behavior (Question #1). Students are also prompted to interpret John Adams's use of the word "ballast" metaphorically—explaining that he needed a "steadying force" in his life (Question #4). These prompts require students to determine nonliteral meanings from context in the assigned chapters.
Lesson 3
Unrest and War
Students answer Question #1 asking how James Fordyce thought children were like plants, requiring them to interpret the simile that children "needed to be cultivated like plants" and explain its meaning in context. The reading and comprehension questions require students to explain figurative language at least once when they describe how a comparison reflects care affecting children's development.
Lesson 9
The Vice Presidency
Students answer Question #4 by explaining what Benjamin Franklin meant by calling the vice president "His Superfluous Excellency," interpreting that ironic epithet as indicating the office's lack of real power. Students also respond to Question #1 noting that George III "literally turned his back on him," which invokes attention to literal versus nonliteral language in context.
Unit 2: Animal Farm
Lesson 9
The Battle of the Windmill
The lesson explicitly defines personification as a literary device and directs students to think about how animals acting like people convey meaning. In Activity 1, students re-imagine a human scene with animal characters and are asked to write 2–3 sentences or two paragraphs explaining how personification changes the scene or shifts its meaning. The reading questions and wrap-up prompts also ask students to discuss how personification changed their re-imagined scenes, requiring students to analyze meaning in context.
Lesson 11
The Farmers Pay a Visit
Students are asked in Question #3 to explain how and why the sheep changed their slogan from "four legs good, two legs bad" to "four legs good, two legs better," which requires interpreting the slogan in context. Activity 1 asks students to document how the Seven Commandments' wording and meaning changed over the course of the book, prompting students to analyze shifts in language and implied meaning. The answer key and parent notes direct students to explain how wording was altered to justify changing practices, which involves reading changes in stated rules and their implications.
Unit 3: Einstein Adds a New Dimension
Lesson 2
Descriptive Writing
Students are asked to identify and explain why words or phrases in an italicized paragraph are effective (Activity 1), which requires analyzing language choices. The lesson explicitly discusses figurative language techniques used to make writing descriptive and gives similes as an example, including the example phrase "luminous suggestion like a rabbit out of a hat." The lesson directs students to see pp. 54–55 in the Handy Guide to Writing for more information about figurative language and instructs students to use similes in their own descriptive paragraphs.
Lesson 3
The Curies' Discoveries
The lesson includes a science joke that uses a pun: "A photon is boarding an airplane... 'No, I'm traveling light!'", which is an example of a figure of speech presented in context. The vocabulary activity asks students to supply definitions, synonyms/similes, and example sentences for words (including the term "incongruity"), requiring students to produce and use words in context. The student tasks ask learners to write examples for vocabulary words, which gives them a chance to create sentences that could show nuanced or nonliteral uses of words.
Lesson 4
Process Writing
In the "Questions to Discuss" parent plan, students are asked "What is Schrödinger's famous cat story an analogy for? In other words, what does it help explain? (The story illustrates that for electrons or protons, either state (wave or particle) is equally probable.)" This prompt requires students to explain the meaning of an analogy in context.
Unit 4: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Lesson 6
The Power of Persuasion
Students are introduced to similes, metaphors, and analogies as named persuasive techniques and see example comparisons such as "Smith is a rock that won't falter" and "Owning a dog is like living with your best friend." Students are prompted to read persuasive examples (e.g., "Dogs Are Better Pets Than Cats") that contain these devices and to write their own similes, metaphors, or analogies on the Powers of Persuasion activity page. Students practice producing figures of speech in their own persuasive sentences.
Lesson 7
Persuasive Writing
The Parent Plan Skills explicitly state that students should "determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings," which directs students to attend to nonliteral language. Activity 2 requires students to read vocabulary definitions taken from the novel and write original sentences using each word, so students practice applying word meanings in context. The Reading and Questions section asks students to support answers with quotes, demonstrating attention to wording and contextual evidence.
Lesson 9
Irony
Students watch videos that define verbal, situational, and dramatic irony and record examples in an "Irony Chart." Students create original examples of each type of irony and analyze whether examples match the definitions. In Activities, students identify and categorize examples of irony from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (cutting/gluing examples into situational, dramatic, or verbal columns) and explain why examples are ironic. Option 2 asks students to find examples of each type of irony in the novel and in other books or movies and to revise non-ironic situations so they become ironic.
Lesson 10
Figures of Speech
Students read Chapters 33–36 of Huckleberry Finn and are asked to identify where Mark Twain used figurative language and to interpret meaning and discuss how it enhances the story. Students are given explicit definitions and examples of puns, hyperbole, oxymoron, simile, and idiom and complete activity pages that ask them to label expressions from the novel with the correct figurative type. Students color-code and underline examples in "Fred's Letter," and the answer key provides explanations (for example, explaining the pun "buck teeth" and labeling idioms and hyperboles).
Lesson 11
Mark Twain's Influence
Students are asked to identify and note figurative language in Activity 2 when they listen to slave narratives and "Make note of any figurative language you hear." The Story Map student page includes a labeled box for "Figurative Language Techniques" listing irony, puns, idioms, and hyperbole. In Activity 3 students must produce figures of speech by including "one example of verbal irony or situational irony," a pun, an oxymoron, an idiom, and an example of hyperbole in their one-page narrative. The Parent Plan and Activity 1 also reference figurative language and ask students to explain Hemingway's quote, connecting language use to meaning.
Lesson 12
The Movie Adaptation
Question #2 explicitly asks students to explain "what is ironic about Jim's freedom" and the provided answer requires students to interpret how Jim's freedom (per Miss Watson's will) contrasts with the characters' actions, linking the concept of irony to plot context. The reading questions prompt students to analyze that ironic situation and explain Tom's role in withholding information. The activity also asks students to take notes on language and dialect when comparing novel and film, which invites attention to language use in context.
Final Project
Cultural Biography
Students are asked to identify and produce multiple types of figurative language: Block 2 of the story blocks requires students to place hyperbole, idiom, pun, and simile examples on different faces of a cube. Block 5 asks students to provide two examples each of situational, dramatic, and verbal irony, allowing use of examples taken from the text. The cultural biography poster asks students to think of an idiom that could represent a character and explain their reasoning, and the unit test pages prompt students to write a hyperbole, a simile, and an idiom and to match types of irony to their descriptions.
Unit 5: Elijah of Buxton
Lesson 1
Introduction to the Novel
The Skills section explicitly tells students to "Discuss the effects of such literary devices as flashback, allusion, irony, and symbolism," which indicates students are expected to consider irony. The Parent Plan reiterates that students will explore literary devices. The lesson asks students to answer and discuss interpretive questions about characters and events, which could prompt discussion of figurative meanings.
Lesson 3
Creating a Character
The lesson defines an idiom or proverb in the "Things to Know" section and includes a discussion prompt asking students to explain the true meaning of the saying "familiarity breeds contempt" and give examples. The discussion question asks students to interpret Mr. Leroy's statement about positive thinking, which functions as a proverb-like saying in context. Students are prompted to explain meanings and apply them to examples from the text.
Lesson 5
Colorful Language
Students study explicit definitions and examples of six figures of speech (idiom, pun, hyperbole, simile, personification, metaphor) and read examples drawn from Elijah of Buxton. Students complete an activity page that asks them to identify the figure of speech used in six contextual examples from the book and check answers against an answer key. Students then apply their understanding by creating a visual display or writing a carnival advertisement that must use each of the six figures of speech.
Lesson 6
Symbolism
The Parent Plan Skills list explicitly asks students to "Discuss the effects of such literary devices as flashback, allusion, irony, and symbolism," which names irony as a device for student discussion. The Precise Language activity requires students to produce a 2-3 sentence passage that includes at least one simile or metaphor, so students practice creating a named type of figurative language. The student activities ask students to identify symbolic meanings for items from the text and to write about personal symbols, showing practice with interpreting symbolic language.
Lesson 9
Transitions and Humor
The lesson's Humor section explicitly labels and defines several figurative and humorous techniques (understatement, hyperbole, comic irony, dialect, satire) and provides examples from Elijah of Buxton, including an example of comic irony. Students are prompted to discuss the use of humor in the text and to read the listed ways humor is used with examples. In the two culminating activities, students must produce a humorous paragraph or mock newscast using at least three of the humor techniques they learned.
Lesson 10
Allusions and Authors
The lesson explicitly defines an allusion as a figure of speech that refers to something outside the text and gives multiple literary examples (Pinocchio, Scrooge, Trojan horse, Romeo, Achilles). Student activities ask learners to write 2–3 sentences explaining an allusion's origin and connection to Elijah of Buxton and to analyze specific allusions in context (e.g., the feeding of the five thousand, the Liberty Bell, Jericho, and the "den of vipers"). The answer key and activity pages provide the underlying biblical and literary passages and explanations that students are directed to use when interpreting those allusions.
Final Project
Personal Narrative
Students complete a 'Figures of Speech' activity that asks them to identify the device (simile, metaphor, pun, personification, idiom, hyperbole, symbol) used in each sentence, requiring them to interpret each example in context. A Literary Devices question asks students to explain the purpose of transitions and to define a flashback and why an author might use one, which requires contextual explanation of literary choices. Another question asks students to identify an allusion in a sentence and explain why an author might choose to make that allusion. The rubric and composition assignment require students to include and use a figure of speech correctly in their original personal narrative.
2: Semester 2
Unit 1: The House of the Scorpion
Lesson 8
Family Crest
The parent-plan discussion asks students to explain how both Celia and El Patrón call Matt "Mi Vida" and to interpret what that Spanish phrase ("my life") means for each character, prompting students to infer a figurative meaning from context. The Skills section instructs students to verify the meaning of a word or phrase by checking inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary, and the vocabulary activity requires using book sentences to determine which definition/part of speech to record.
Unit 2: Watership Down
Lesson 3
An Epic Journey
The lesson explicitly points out that the Lapine word "Hruddud" is onomatopoeic and explains it "sounds like the noise an engine makes," which asks students to recognize a figure-of-speech device. Students are directed to use the Lapine Glossary and a list of borrowed English words to write sentences or a short poem using at least 10 invented or borrowed words, which asks them to attend to word origin and sound/meaning relationships. The fantasy/epic activity and discussion questions ask students to interpret narrative language (e.g., Fiver's "sense"), prompting some interpretation of figurative expression in context.
Lesson 4
Comparing Rabbits
The lesson asks students to interpret Pipkin's comparison: "They all seem terribly sad...They put me in mind of trees in November," and explicitly asks, "How would you describe trees in November? What do you think Pipkin meant by this comparison?" The discussion notes guide students toward interpreting that the comparison implies emptiness or starkness. The Connection Commander role and discussion questions require students to explain meaning drawn from text context, which includes analyzing that simile.
Lesson 5
Quotes and Creatures
Activity 1 directs students to research the quoted works that open Chapters 18 and 19 and to explain how each quote relates to the events and theme of the chapter, requiring students to interpret the quotations in context. The Parent Plan Skills explicitly list determining the meaning of words and phrases, including figurative and connotative meanings, and analyzing the impact of analogies or allusions to other texts. Student directions ask for sentences explaining the nature of the work, cultural/time period, important themes, and a connection to Watership Down.
Lesson 6
Dramatic Irony
The lesson defines dramatic irony as when the audience knows more than the characters and gives explicit examples from Watership Down (the gull/Kehaar and the road passages). Students are prompted to analyze two passages on a Student Activity Page by explaining what the reader knows, what the characters believe, and the effect on the reader. Two extension options ask students to find examples of dramatic irony in a children's book and write a postcard, or to create a visual depiction that makes the reader aware of information a character lacks.
Lesson 12
Dramatic Enactment
A discussion question asks students to identify how the author uses differing perspectives of the reader and the rabbit to create humor in Chapter 41 and gives the example of rabbits mocking a dog's tendency to "grovel." The Questions to Discuss prompt asks students to provide examples from the text and to explain why those instances are humorous, which requires interpreting the language and tone in context. The wrap-up and review prompts direct students to consider literary events and character decisions, which could involve attending to word choice and implication.
Lesson 13
A Fantasy Story
The study guide lists "Dramatic Irony" among the literary terms students must know and asks students to define literary terms and give examples from Watership Down. The unit test and its answer key require students to identify and explain dramatic irony (example: the "iron road" as a railroad track) and to provide examples of literary devices in context. Parent prompts and test questions ask students to name and illustrate literary terms, indicating students will practice interpreting at least one form of irony in the novel.
Unit 3: The Book Thief
Lesson 1
The Author and Narrator
Students read definitions and examples of figurative language (simile, metaphor, idioms, personification, imagery) and read an author interview about figurative language. Students practice personification by listing and describing three abstract things and may write lines of imagined story or illustrate them (Activity 3). Students create a color-based collage and write three sentences using colors to explain feelings, and they answer questions identifying the colors Death associates with Liesel in the prologue (Activity 4 and reading questions).
Lesson 2
Similes and Metaphors
Students identify and analyze similes and metaphors in context through Part A (identifying the two things compared) and Part B (classifying phrases as similes or metaphors). In Part C students choose quotes and explain why they are similes or metaphors and describe the literary effect, using book examples such as "ruptured veins" (metaphor) and "like driftwood" (simile). The activity asks students to write their own simile or metaphor based on a picture, reinforcing creation and interpretation of these figures of speech.
Lesson 4
The Value of Books
Students are asked to mark examples of effective images in the reading and to record examples that appeal to the five senses, including quoted lines that use simile and metaphor (e.g., "The sky was murky and deep like quicksand," "the foul taste of his own hungry breath"). The lesson explicitly names figurative language and notes simile and metaphor as tools the author uses effectively, and asks students to consider what made each example effective. Activity 2 asks students to analyze those examples and then to create their own descriptive writing, including the use of similes.
Lesson 5
The Accordion Player
Students are given several unusual figurative phrases from the text (e.g., "He unleashed his quietest words so far," "The conversation of bullets," "If you can imagine it, think clumsy silence") and are asked to "discuss with a parent why each of these phrases may at first seem like a contradiction and why that makes the description unique and memorable." The lesson also asks students to consider connotation and specific word choice (stroll vs. trudge vs. stomp) and to revise sentences to make them more vivid, which requires attending to figurative meaning and nuance. The parent/skills notes explicitly state that students will "determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings."
Lesson 6
The Standover Man
Students are asked why Max draws himself as a bird, with the answer pointing to Liesel's line, "His hair is like feathers," which requires interpreting a simile in context. In the discussion prompts, students analyze how the meaning of "standover man" changes for Max from the beginning to the end of his book, which asks them to interpret a figurative phrase within the narrative. These prompts require students to explain how figurative language functions in specific passages of the text.
Lesson 8
The Thief Strikes Again
The Parent Plan skills explicitly state students will "determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings" and analyze the impact of word choices. Activity 2 provides several figurative examples from the text (e.g., "trees standing like emaciated statues," "the guilt...was moist...seed...bursting into a dark-leafed flower") and asks students to write their own similes or metaphors describing objects, emotions, and actions. The "Ideas to Think About" prompt directs students to consider how writers use figurative language and word choice to create tone and emotional engagement.
Lesson 9
Close Calls
Students are asked in Activity 1 to locate and record examples of personification, simile, metaphor, and onomatopoeia from Part Six, with explicit counts required (e.g., at least four similes). The parent/answer key provides exemplar instances of those devices from the text for students to compare with their findings. Students are prompted in the Wrapping Up and Discussion questions to identify a favorite example of figurative language and explain why it was memorable or effective.
Lesson 10
The Trilogy of Happiness
Students are asked to interpret Max's line that the stars "burned" or "set fire to [his] eyes," with the question prompting multiple possible meanings. Students also examine wartime language and propaganda in the War Journalism activity and are asked to identify informational versus propagandistic aspects of newsreel footage and wording (for example, how footage and wording present events). The Parent Plan directs students to record examples of propaganda from the reading (phrases like soldiers calling the march a "parade" and descriptions such as "the Führer in their eyes").
Lesson 11
The Word Shaker
Students are asked to consider how writers use figurative language to create tone (Ideas to Think About) and the plan explicitly defines an allegory (Things to Know). In Activity 2 students answer specific interpretive questions about Max's allegory (e.g., what Hitler is "planting," what the conveyor-belt scene represents, and who the "word shakers" are). The Wrap-Up discussion asks students to explain the metaphor "a nation of farmed thoughts," requiring interpretation of figurative speech in context.
Lesson 12
The Teddy Bear
Students are prompted to consider how writers use figurative language to create tone and engage readers in the "Ideas to Think About" section. As they read, students are asked to "jot down especially effective instances of figurative language (personification, simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, allegory, and symbolism)." A discussion question asks students to "Explain what Death means when he says, 'No person was able to serve the Führer as loyally as me,'" which requires students to interpret a figurative/commentary remark in context.
Final Project
Think-Tac-Toe
Students are instructed to jot down especially effective instances of figurative language (personification, simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, allegory, and symbolism) as they read. In the "Teaching Figuratively" task students define six devices and provide examples from the book for four of them, requiring them to locate and explain book-based examples. The "Figuratively Writing" and "Figurative Illustration" activities ask students to transform sentences into figurative forms, illustrate chosen examples, and explain changes, and an oxymoron example from the book is explicitly cited for analysis.
Unit 4: To Kill a Mockingbird
Lesson 1
Historical Context
Students are prompted to interpret Atticus's comment that there were "other ways of making people into ghosts," responding to a question that asks what that phrase means and how Boo was made into a ghost. Students are also asked to explain Scout's reflection, "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read," which asks them to unpack a nonliteral expression in context. These tasks require students to explain meanings of figurative or nonliteral language based on textual context.
Lesson 2
Home and School
Students read chapters 3–4 of To Kill a Mockingbird and are asked to refer to specific examples from the text in their written responses. An example student response explicitly interprets Atticus's figurative advice about "climbing into someone's skin and walking around in it," showing a model of interpreting a figure of speech in context. The vocabulary activity asks students to determine word meanings from context and then verify with a dictionary, which supports context-based language analysis.
Lesson 3
The Mystery of Boo
The Parent Plan discussion question asks students to interpret Miss Maudie's line: "...sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of--oh, of your father," and asks, "What do you think she means by this? What example does she give?" The Parent Plan also provides an expected interpretation (religion can be used to do harm rather than good) for that question, indicating students are prompted to explain the figurative comparison in context. The discussion prompts require students to explain meaning and connect the figure of speech to textual examples (Boo Radley and his family's religion).
Lesson 7
A Moral Dilemma
The Parent Plan skills statement explicitly tells students to "determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings," which names figurative language as a target. Students also complete vocabulary activities that require them to read example sentences from the novel and write their own sentences using vocabulary words, which practices analyzing word meaning and usage.
Lesson 11
The Mockingbird
Students are asked to interpret the mockingbird as a symbol for innocence, citing Atticus's line that "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird" and Mr. Underwood's editorial likening Tom Robinson's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds. Students respond to a discussion question that asks them to explain Miss Maudie's ironic remark about Atticus's food not "sticking going down," which requires interpreting a speaker's implied meaning. The student activity asks learners to fill a web with symbols and examples of innocence being threatened, prompting analysis of figurative comparisons in context.
Lesson 12
Wise Words
Students are instructed to choose five quotes from the novel and "explain each quote in your own words," and to memorize and creatively display one quote, which requires paraphrasing meaning. The included example shows a student-style explanation of Miss Maudie's mockingbird quote, demonstrating paraphrasing of figurative language. The activity "Someone Else's Skin" foregrounds Atticus's line "Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it," asking students to adopt a character's point of view and thus engage with that figurative expression.
Lesson 13
Text and Film
The Parent Plan discussion questions ask students to explain how Scout's line, "It would be like killing a mockingbird," shows what she has learned, prompting interpretation of that figurative expression as symbolism. Students are directed to consider the mockingbird symbol used meaningfully at the end of the story and to explain its relation to Boo Radley and protecting the innocent. The wrapping-up prompts require students to analyze thematic language in context rather than only plot details.
Final Project
Oral Book Presentation
The study guide defines "Symbol: An object representing an abstract idea," and the unit test asks students to explain what the soap dolls, watch, and pennies symbolize, which requires interpreting symbolic language in context. The literary-terms section asks students to choose a powerful quotation and to paraphrase an underlined sentence, engaging students in close reading of language and meaning. The rubric and presentation tasks require students to select and cite specific textual references and quotations to support interpretations, providing opportunities to analyze how language conveys meaning.
Unit 5: Great American Poets
Lesson 1
Poetry Basics
Activity 1 presents and asks students to compare two descriptions of the same scene, pointing out a simile and asking which words make the image more effective. The D.H. Lawrence example asks students to read aloud and infer what animal is being described, linking sound devices (alliteration/onomatopoeia) to meaning. Activity 2 directs students to annotate poems and explicitly mark examples of figurative language (similes, metaphors, personification, idioms) and to write observations or questions in the margins.
Lesson 2
Early American Poetry
Students are instructed to read poems slowly and mark any images or phrases that strike them, and to identify two phrases or sections they find especially striking (Questions and Reading). In the Word Choice activity, students look up synonyms for key words (e.g., "acquainted," "noiseless") and justify which synonyms fit the poem's tone and mood, practicing analysis of connotation and word nuance. In the Comparing Texts activity, students compare Longfellow's poem to Revere's account and are prompted to note use of literary language; the provided answer key explicitly notes that Longfellow's poem contains "extensive use of figurative language."
Lesson 3
Figurative Language
Students are asked to compare and interpret comparisons in context (e.g., questions about "Hope is the thing with feathers" vs "There is no frigate like a book" asking how the comparisons differ and what is being compared). The lesson presents and interprets irony using Poe's stanza from "For Annie," explaining the contrast between expectation and reality. Students are asked to identify personification in the stanza from "Paul Revere's Ride" and to point out effective imagery in poems. The concrete-poem activity and linked "A Mouse's Tale" explicitly direct students to note the pun in the title.
Lesson 4
Poetic Forms
Students read multiple limerick examples that include jokes and clever wordplay (e.g., the Nantucket limerick where the punchline requires rereading). The lesson text explicitly notes that limericks often contain clever wordplay and that some lines contain jokes that may need to be read more than once to get the joke. Students are also instructed to write their own limericks and are given guidance to create rhymes and play with words.
Lesson 5
Edgar Allan Poe
Question #1 asks students to identify "the irony at the end of the poem 'Alone'" and provides an explanation of that ironic twist, prompting students to interpret meaning in context. The Skills section lists figurative language types (personification, idioms, hyperbole) as elements students should use when writing their own poem, indicating attention to figurative language at least in production.
Lesson 6
Meaning in Poetry
The Parent Plan explicitly directs students to "analyze idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes to infer the literal and figurative meanings of phrases" and to "determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings." Activity 1 asks students to identify literal and symbolic meanings and models interpreting Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain!" as a metaphor (captain = Lincoln, ship = United States). The Student Activity page requires students to write the poem's literal and symbolic meanings and to note figurative devices and allusions (e.g., Helen of Troy, hyperbole in "Bury Me in a Free Land").
Lesson 7
Poetry Analysis
Students are directed to identify and analyze figurative language on the Poem Analysis page (Part II), which explicitly lists simile, metaphor, irony, and personification and provides space for examples. The Skills section tells students to "analyze idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes to infer the literal and figurative meanings of phrases" and to "determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings." Students are instructed to apply these skills by choosing a poem, reading it multiple times, and using guided prompts to explain literal vs. symbolic meanings and provide examples of figurative devices in context.
Lesson 8
Robert Frost
Students are asked to interpret the symbolic meaning of "The Road Not Taken" (Question #3), requiring them to read figuratively and draw a life-related interpretation. The lesson highlights and labels a simile in Frost's "Birches" and points out sound devices (assonance, alliteration), asking students to notice the simile and imagery. Activity 1 directs students to write a nature poem that must include at least one simile or metaphor, and the parent/teacher guidance reiterates analyzing effective nature imagery and figurative comparisons.
Lesson 9
Memorizing Poetry
Students are asked in Question #3 to reread "Gubbinal," consider that the made-up word may derive from an old slang meaning "stupid and insensitive," and decide whether applying that meaning changes their understanding of the poem and its narrator. The memorization instructions tell students to "look up any word you're not familiar with or aren't sure how to pronounce," which asks students to investigate word meaning in context before reciting. The student activity about "In a Station in the Metro" and other discussion prompts ask students to consider how imagery and word choice affect meaning, which involves attending to nuances in words and phrasing.
Lesson 10
Poems about Poetry
The Skills section explicitly requires students to "Analyze idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes to infer the literal and figurative meanings of phrases," which asks students to work with common figures of speech. Question #2 asks students to interpret why the title of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" might be ironic, requiring students to identify and explain verbal irony in context. The student activity pages ask students to read specific lines and images in "Poetry" and "Ars Poetica" and explain their meanings or effectiveness, prompting interpretation of figurative language in context.
Lesson 11
Editing Your Work
Students are asked to interpret meaning in context in Question #2 by looking up "deferred" and explaining the threatening final image in "Dream Deferred," which requires interpreting figurative language. Activity 2 asks students to edit their own poems and explicitly suggests improving "imagery" and "use of figurative language," prompting students to work with figurative expressions. The parent/skills list includes determining meanings of words and phrases "including figurative and connotative meanings" and analyzing the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.
Lesson 12
Reciting Poetry
Students read multiple contemporary poems (links to Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, Hayden, Glück, etc.) and answer interpretive questions about meaning and tone (e.g., Question #1 asks why Ginsberg's supermarket setting is an odd way to honor Whitman). The Skills section asks students to write poems using figurative language (examples given: personification, idioms, hyperbole), which requires awareness of figurative language. The lesson includes a poem with an explicit allusion (Glück's "A Fable") that students are directed to read and consider in context.
Final Project
Poetry Journal
Students are asked to analyze idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes as stated in the Skills section, explicitly linking literal and figurative meanings. Multiple assessment items require students to identify and analyze figurative language (e.g., a multiple-choice item asking which figurative device appears in a line from "The Raven," questions that ask students to identify personification or alliteration, and poem-analysis questions 10–13 that ask students to identify figurative language and describe mood). The review and test items also prompt students to distinguish denotation and connotation and to analyze the impact of word choices on meaning and tone.