Warm Up Critical Thinking Skill Level 1: List and define all of the literary devices you can think of. Critical Thinking Skill Level 2: Describe your bedroom using the literary devices you defined above.
Smiley Face Tricks for Writing
Lesson Goal –I can write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well structured event sequences. D. I can use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experience, events, setting, and/or characters.
Rate Yourself How comfortable are you with “Smiley Face Tricks” ? –4: I know them all, and I can help others use them. –3: I know them all, and I can use them effectively. –2: I know some, but I need assistance to determine how to most effectively use them. –1: I do not know what smiley face tricks are.
REPETITION FOR EFFECT ☺Repeat a symbol, sentence starter, important word, etc. ☺Repeat specially chosen words/phrases to make a point/to stress certain ideas ☺Decide purpose before you begin writing
BEFORE I hate writer’s block! AFTER I hate writer’s block! I can’t think of anything to write. I can’t come up with words for this crazy assignment. I can’t create anything new. I can’t, and I won’t!
Before I love my cell phone.
After Your turn!
HYPHENATED MODIFIERS ☺Connect two or more adjectives or adverbs together with a hyphen ☺Lends an air of originality and sophistication to writing
Use hyphenated adjectives or adverbs to surprise your readers Turn boring adjectives into unique ones
Before She rolled her eyes at her mother and turned her nose up. After She rolled her eyes at her mother and turned her nose up with an I-can't-believe-you- actually-said-that sniff.
Before I will be a college freshman next year.
Your Turn I will be a __-__-__-__-__ freshman next year.
SPECIFIC DETAILS / IMAGERY ☺Helps your readers visualize the person, place, thing, or idea you’re writing about ☺Appeal to at least 3 of the 5 senses
Before: My grandma’s house is nice.
Your Turn
After: I sit on the porch of my grandma’s beautiful Victorian-style house. I gaze at the endless green fields filled with corn and barley and wheat. Crows swoop right in front of me, searching for a bit of nourishment. I can smell the bite of fall in the air; I can hear the soft dropping of red and yellow and orange leaves; I can almost taste Grandma’s pumpkin cookies as they bake. On this porch, in this moment, I am at peace with the world.
Your Turn
MAGIC 3 ☺Three items in a series ☺Separated by commas ☺Creates a poetic rhythm ☺Adds support for a point
Examples My palms became sticky and shaky; my neck tingled with anticipation; and my heart puttered with emotion. I was so excited that I jumped up and down, cried huge tears of joy, and plastered a huge smile on my face.
Before: Cooking requires chopping, seasoning, and sautéing.
Your Turn
After: Chopping vegetables into bite- sized pieces, adding herbs and spices to “kick it up a notch”, and sautéing until the tidbits are juicy, make cooking an enjoyable pastime for me.
Your Turn – pick one
Alliteration Before: Thunderstorms hit central Indiana yesterday. After: Storms socked the state’s middle on Saturday. V for Vendetta
Simile –a comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as” Before: It’s a simple plan. After: The plan is simple, like my brother-in-law Phil, but unlike Phil, this plan just might work. Similes in songs
Metaphor ☺ States a comparison between two unlike things without using any special words. She is a walking dictionary. My husband is a couch potato.
Before: The ghost might lead you astray! After: “What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord, or to the dreadful summit of the cliff?” Blake Shelton Taylor Swift
Personification ☺Gives a non-human thing, human characteristics or human actions. Look at my car. Isn’t she a beauty? The wind whispered through the dry grass. The flowers danced in the gentle breeze. The fire swallowed the entire forest.
Before: I scratched my arm on the twig. After: Your turn…
After: Racing toward the house as the storm approached, I was delayed as the trees reached for me. They began to wrap their twisted arms and gnarled hands around me. I fought back, but they didn’t lessen their grip; instead, they began to screech at me as they pulled me into their grove. Personification
Onomatopoeia Words whose SOUND imitates the sound of the thing being named Batman
Your turn
HYPERBOLE ☺ Stand up comedy Hyperbole Rap
Why Falling In Love is Like Owning a Dog
HUMOR ☺ When possible ☺ When appropriate ☺ Inject a little humor to keep your reader awake
Humorous Before: Chinese food seems to last forever in the refrigerator. After: I believe the only food that should be kept around is take-out Chinese, which contains a powerful preservative chemical called “kung-pao” that enables it to remain edible for several football seasons.
PUN ☺A joke that comes from a play on words ☺It can make use of a word’s multiple meanings a word’s homonym a word’s rhymes
Before: Sir Lancelot told us the bad dream he had about his horse. After: Sir Lancelot told us the bad dream he had about his horse; it was a real knight mare. Puns in the grocery store
Rate Yourself How comfortable are you with Smiley face tricks? –4: I know them all, and I can help others use them. –3: I know them all and I can use them effectively. –2: I know some, but I need assistance to determine how to most effectively use them. –1: I do not know what smiley face tricks are.