Being able to unpack metaphors is essential to reading anything more complicated than Dick and Jane books. Bright students who are exposed to literature from an early age pick up that skill. Others, equally bright, who grow up in homes without reading material other than the backs of cereal boxes need to be taught.
That teaching is your job.
Instead of giving a reading assignment about metaphors or lecturing about metaphors, I suggest you use the sink-or-swim approach: Give students an example of a metaphor and have them write an analysis of it in class before you even mention the word metaphor.
Below are step-by-step directions to show you how to set up a short lesson using informal writing to keep students engaged.
Informal writing prompt 1
Here’s what you tell students:
I’m going to show you a quote from a novel by Stephen King. You may not know Stephen King’s name, but you probably have seen films based on King’s books, such as The Shawshank Redemption, It, Pet Sematary, and Misery.
The name of the novel the quote comes from is Dolores Claiborne. In the book, Dolores is under suspicion for the murder of her employer, an elderly woman who left her fortune to Dolores. The entire book is what Dolores tells investigators. Here is something Dolores says near the end of the book:
“…most of what bein human’s about is makin choices and payin the bills when they come due.”
In no more than three sentences, explain what Dolores means. You have two minutes to write.
Class discussion of part 1
After students have written their explanations, they will be ready for class discussion about what they wrote. Ask/get students to say:
- What bills does Dolores mean? (duck bills, dollar bills, advertising posters, drafts of proposed legislation, the Buffalo Bills…)
- How did you decide which kind of bill Dolores meant?
- What do choices have to do with bills?
- What do bills and choices have to do with being human?
Allow up to 5 minutes for this discussion
Informal writing prompt 2
Here’s what you say:
Now that you’ve discussed Dolores’s comment, write one sentence that says in different words what she meant. You have 30 seconds to write.
Allow 1-2 minutes for oral sharing.
Informal writing prompt 3
Here’s what you say:
Why do you suppose Stephen King has Dolores phrase her comment in terms of making choices and paying bills? Please respond in no more than three sentences. You have one minute to write.
Segue to teach about metaphors
Here’s what you must cover:
- Metaphors are comparisons that imply that this thing is like that thing.
- Metaphors are different from similes.
- Similes are comparisons that say clearly this is like that.
- Metaphors depend on the connotation of words—their emotional and cultural connections—to convey their meaning.
After you’ve presented that information, have students go back to the Dolores Claiborne quote again and do a final informal writing.
Informal writing prompt 4
This final prompt requires students to pull information from the earlier writing and discussion.
Here’s what you say
(NOTE: If necessary, adjust the terms in the first sentence to correspond with the terms your students used in their oral comments.)
As you’ve discussed today, Dolores says being human means taking responsibility for your choices, but she uses metaphors for the terms responsibility and choice/choosing. As I explained, metaphors depend on their connotations—the emotions and cultural connections that those words set up.
In no more than four sentences, explain:
- How do the connotations of the term make a choice differ from the connotation of the term take responsibility?
- How do the connotations of the term pay the bill differ from the connotation of the term take responsibility?
You have two minutes to write.
You may want to spend some more class time discussing students’ responses to the question about connotations of the terms. Personally, I’d probably collect the informal writing so I could see each student’s work and move to a different activity for the rest of the period. Students require multiple exposures to the concept of metaphor before they can recognize a metaphor, let alone unravel it’s meaning. Multiple mini-lessons over weeks are more effective than one lesson, even if the lesson is splendid.
I recommend that you use whatever technology you have so that students can see the writing prompts. I highly recommend that you read the actual prompt aloud while you display it for students. That’s for the kid who has trouble with distance vision and the one who has trouble reading.
Time the writing. If possible, use a timer with an audible tick. You want to get students in the habit of working against the clock. The poorest writers are the slowest off the starting block and waste the most time. The audible tick helps to make them aware they are wasting time.
Collect informal writing at the end of the activity or class. Review it. It’s your feedback on how well you taught.
Dolores Claiborne was the bestselling novel in America in 1992; it was made into a film three years later. My review of Dolores Claiborne is scheduled for March 14, 2020 at GreatPenformances. Spoiler alert: I give it an A.