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Read Part 1 (pp. 3-50); Complete Student Packet Worksheets for Part 1

Before beginning the lesson, prepare paper bags filled with random objects for pairs or small groups of students in the class. Each bag should contain common objects, such as a stapler or journal. Note: You can distribute magazine photographs of common objects instead. 

Distribute the bags or photographs to the pairs or small groups of students. Have students take a minute to look over the objects. Explain that each student now has a chance to rename one of the objects in their bag based on the object’s attributes or function. For example, I have a stapler. I am going to rename this stapler a paper cobra, because a cobra has a long body and two fangs that pierce, just like this stapler. I am calling it the paper cobra, because it “bites” paper leaving two holes.

The pairs or groups of students will choose one object from their bag to rename. The name must somehow capture an aspect of the object’s look or function. We will present our objects to the class, using the new name that we created.

will explain that just like we gave common objects new names to illustrate an aspect or trait of the object, poets and writers use poetic language to enhance and bring out aspects of the world (objects, places, etc.) to express its qualities. For example, my stapler was a cobra because a stapler speedily inserts staples into a piece of paper, like a cobra might bite its prey with its fangs. I was bringing out the quality of violence in the stapler, similar to a cobra.

I will explain that I am going to identify poetic language in our verse novel, Home of the Brave. I will distribute the Poetic Helping Handout. I will explain that I am going to look for words or phrases in the novel that take a common object, person, or place, and make it seem special or unfamiliar, or that bring out a quality I never thought of by comparing it to something else (like my paper cobra). Specifically, I am going to look for poetic devices such as similes, metaphors, alliteration, and personification. The definitions of these terms and examples can be found on the Poetic Helping Handout. After I identify poetic language in the novel, I will visualize the image “painted” by the author, and use that visualization to help me explain what the author means.

I will read the first stanza of Home of the Brave and think aloud about the poetic language and what it means. I have never heard of the “flying boat” described in the first line. The author must be using poetic language here. I think the author is using a metaphor, because something is being compared to a boat, but it does not use “like” or “as” to make the comparison. I will write “flying boat” on chart paper (modeled after the Poetic Language Chart).

I will use a think aloud visualization strategy to identify what a flying boat could be. In the text, the author mentions that this “boat” has round windows, and that the character is in this boat traveling to a new world. I imagine that the flying boat is the character’s way of describing the experience of being on an airplane. The “boat” might be a spaceship, but the character describes the all-white world. I think the character is not in the darkness of outer space, but instead flying through clouds over snowy terrain. The poetic phrase is also the author’s way of reflecting the language barrier facing the main character, Kek, who may have never been on a plane before.

As I continue to read, I find the simile, “cold is like claws on my skin!” I will close my eyes and visualize an animal’s claws on my arm and think about how that must hurt. I will describe the image aloud—a claw on my skin would sting or be painful. I might bleed or scream. I can see that the author is using poetic language to make the reader feel cold like Kek feels cold—as an unwelcome and painful surprise. The author wants to emphasize how moving to a new place with new challenges might hurt a little. I will continue modeling identifying and explaining additional poetic language in the text. Examples have been provided on the Poetic Language Chart.

Ask: "How do I identify and explain poetic language in a text?" Students should answer that you look for words or phrases that seem special or unfamiliar. Then, you visualize the image by painting a picture in your mind. You can use that visualization to explain what the author means and why the author chose this way of saying it.

will identify poetic language from “What the Heck” through “God with a Wet Nose” in Home of the Brave, recording the information on our chart started during Direct Teaching. Each time we identify a special or unfamiliar word or phrase, we will add it to the chart. Then, we will take turns leading the class in visualization. Note: Several examples have been provided on the Visualizing Poetic Language Chart. You should not work through all of these examples, but use them to choose a few examples of poetic language in the text.

After the visualization, we will discuss what the poetic imagery brought out in the object or experience and why the author chose to describe it this way. For example, a “don’t-move belt” (p. 12) is a unique way of describing an object. We will picture it as a belt that blocks your ability to move. Since Dave and Kek are in the car, we can conclude that this is a seat belt. Instead of calling it a seat belt, Kek is describing what the belt does—it restricts his movement. We also might stop at the “wide-armed, good-for-climbing tree.” (p. 13) The tree does not actually have arms. We will stop and visualize what this looks like (someone might even draw or act it out, extending their own limbs widely). We will conclude that the author describes the tree this way, because she wants to bring out the size of the tree and also its inviting nature. We will continue to add to our Visualizing Poetic Language Chart, explain what each poetic word or phrase means, and why the author chose to say it this way. Note: Additional Examples can be found on the Visualizing Poetic Language Chart.

will identify examples of poetic language from Part 1 of Home of the Brave (“Welcome to Minnesota” through “Sleep Story”) and write them in the first column of the Figurative Language Finder in your Student Packet. (See pages 10-11 in the Student Packet.) In the second column, you will write a description or visualization of each example poetic language that you have identified. In the third column, you will explain why the author chose this way of describing each example of figurative language. You will explain what the author was trying to show the reader about the person, object, or experience by using poetic language.

will come together and share the examples of poetic language that we found in the book and discuss what we think the examples mean. If time permits, we will create a “Poetic Word Wall” by writing our poetic phrases on sentence strips and creating a poetic bulletin board of the similes, metaphors, and images found in Home of the Brave.