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Electrical metaphor
Posted by: Kevin #90014

I find that for most applications (excluding the quantum details of certain electronic components) that flowing water is quite effective. An EMF or battery is like a pump that moves the water, a resistor is like a waterwheel that takes energy from the falling water out of the system (i.e. turns it into heat), a capacitor is like a dam, keeping the water level high on one side and low on the other. Inductors are a bit more challenging with this metaphor, since inductance is really rather unique to electromagnetism. I suppose that you could think of inductors as being a loop of water outside your main flow. When water from your circuit flows through the inductor, it is slowed down by paddle wheels in contact with the other loop (the loop that is part of the inductor). As the water in th...
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metaphor-not simile
Posted by: sandyH #85724

As far as I understand, similies are direct comparisons, using like or as. Metaphors are implied comparisons.
Ex. simile=
The sun was like an oven heating the pavement.
Ex. metaphor=
The sun was a ball of fire in the afternoon sky.

It's midnight, and my brain is fried, so this is the best I could do with your sentence. The example the other poster gave was a simile.

The smell of the pastries was a beckoning wave for his nose.

Actually yes
Posted by: maryteach #168522

I come from elementary. I come from fifth grade. I stand by what I said. Every year, when I bring out appropriate middle school novels, I hear "We read that last year." Or I hear "Our teacher read that to us last year." And I just smile and tell them they haven't read it with me, and boy oh boy, is that ever true. They're missing the major metaphor that ties the book together. Not one of the kids I have in Tale of Despereaux right now--which is a sixth grade book believe it or not-- was ever taught what chiaroscuro is, and if you don't know that, you miss the entire gist of the novel, the whole metaphor. You don't understand, if you don't know what chiaroscuro is, that the rat Roscuro fulfills his destiny (and his name) by coming out of the darkness, both physically and metaphorica...
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My novel curriculums
Posted by: maryteach #112456

are very, very simple. What I do is, I sit down and start reading, and as soon as I have 2-3 really good questions (high on Bloom's tax), that's #1. I continue reading, and the same thing. As soon as I have those questions (2-4 is more accurate), that's #2. For low readers, I keep each reading assignment to 10-15 pages. For grade level, about 20 pages, and above grade level, as many as 35. Each novel has 9-14 response sheets. Almost every question I ask is right at the top of Bloom's Tax (what do you think, what would you do). I also do a lot of identifying the meaning of a word using the context, and less frequently, the dictionary. I will occasionally ask a right-there question because I think it's important (who is telling this story? Sometimes I ask them that. Some books are...
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First of all
Posted by: maryteach #167836

any sixth grader who comes in having already "done" Crispin didn't understand it anyway. It's about an eighth grade level. I only use it with my highest sixth grade readers.

I'm doing Tale of Despereaux right now with some of my grade level readers. Almost every one of them has "read" it or heard it read by their teacher last year. That's okay. I'm sure it was only read at plot level and this is one DEEP book. I can tell they only read it at a very superficial level because they are, without a single exception, ignorant of the beautiful construction of this novel, the metaphor of the light and the dark and even the significance of Roscuro fulfilling his destiny (and his name) by coming out of the darkness, both literally and figuratively. I mean, they have NO CLUE until we ...
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Metaphor examples from poem
Posted by: Shannon #11901

Thanks for responding to my post. I'm trying to decide if this activity is too advanced for 2nd grade and if it's more appropriate for 3rd grade...

The poem I'm using is "Nocturne" by Jane Yolen. A beautiful poem with wonderful illustrations. As you can probably tell from the title, the poem itself is about night.

An example line from the poem:

In the night,
in the velvet night,
in the brushstroked bluecoat velvet night,
a big moon balloon floats
over silent trees...

The actual vocabulary in the poem isn't difficult. The book is recommended for ages 4-8 years, but I wasn't sure if it was too soon to require students to think abstractly about figurative language... Any help would be appreciated!!

re:
Posted by: Mary #98071

Symbolism means one thing representing another. In chapter 10, Brian finds and eats the turtle eggs. Eggs often symbolize life, especially new life, which makes sense if you think about it. All life starts out as an egg. In this chapter, eggs are used to symbolize new life. The question is, whose new life? Explain.

That was from The Hatchet.

On page 94, Maime Trotter says, “Sometimes, Miz Ellis, you got to walk on your heel and favor your toe even if it makes your heel a little sore.” What does she mean? Use the context (and your noodle) to figure this one out.

That was from The Great Gilly Hopkins. Those are grade level texts.

“Finally, a sort of grin slithered across McNab’s lips.” (page 24) What does that sentence mean? What kind of grin was it? Use the context...
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The thing is
Posted by: maryteach #171037

reading words in isolation is not at all a test of reading ability. It's a test of your ability to read words in isolation. Since reading is making meaning of text, I don't view word lists as reading assessment. I'm not trying to be rude, but word lists just don't test reading ability (nor do lists of nonsense syllables--"fluency practice" is what's it's called, but that's not what it IS).

To get a true picture of the true reading level, you pretty much have to do an IRI (not a district one, either--Flynt Cooter or QRI). The problem with those very, very accurate tests is that they take way more time than you have. Way more time.

The second best way is the district IRI. District tests are not usually that great, though.

Your school could buy an assessment p...
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reader's workshop
Posted by: Mary #92150

is a great way to differentiate for the needs of your students. Kids self-select a book (you may want to specify genre) and basically, they come to class and read. You should conference with each student about twice a week (noting, in writing, how many pages they've read since the last conference--this keeps them accountable). A conference should only take a couple of minutes, basically just touching base about the book. I have my kids in RW write me a number of letters. We're starting up again on Monday, as a matter of fact, and they will be required, over the course of the next three weeks, to write me three letters (one a week). One must address characterization, one must address literary elements, such as foreshadowing and symbolism/metaphor and one must address the theme or them...
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Consider that all
Posted by: maryteach #113392

good books contain everything you need to teach the parts of a novel. I have five to six lit. circles (different books) going on in my room all the time. So we don't study metaphor this week, and inferences next week, and foreshadowing the week after that. Each group studies each concept as it comes up naturally in their novel. And it will; you have to trust in that. By the end of all the groups, everyone will have studied everything you need them to.

If we decide to do metaphor this week, foreshadowing next week, etc., we miss natural (and much more effective) teachable moments while we try to shove a different concept in--a concept that maybe is going to come up naturally next week.

That's what I like about novels and books over basals. Books are just so much m...
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