Primary Type: Lesson Plan
Status: Published
This is a resource from CPALMS (www.cpalms.org) where all educators go for bright ideas!
Resource ID#: 48835
Why Was the Belt Arrested? For Holding up the Pants! A
Lesson on Personification
In this one day lesson, students will do a warm up, watch a short video that shows examples of personification used in song lyrics, and collaborate to
learn about personification. The teacher will model a think-aloud using a poem about the sun to help students identify the use of personification
throughout the poem. The students will then work in small groups using a different poem--"Blessing the Boats"-- to identify and interpret the
personification used. At the end of the day, students will individually read a poem-- "The Gastronomic Gym"-- to identify the personification.
Throughout the lesson, students will explore the guiding question: How does the use of personification enhance a piece of text?
Subject(s): English Language Arts
Grade Level(s): 6
Intended Audience: Educators
Suggested Technology: Document Camera,
Computer for Presenter, LCD Projector, Overhead
Projector, Speakers/Headphones
Instructional Time: 45 Minute(s)
Freely Available: Yes
Keywords: personification, figurative language
Instructional Design Framework(s): Direct Instruction, Cooperative Learning
Resource Collection: CPALMS Lesson Plan Development Initiative
LESSON CONTENT
Lesson Plan Template: General Lesson Plan
Learning Objectives: What should students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?
Students will be able to:
1. Identify and interpret personification in context
2. Participate effectively in a class discussion
Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge should students have for this lesson?
Students should:
1. Be familiar working in collaborative groups and having dialogue with peers about assigned topics
2. Have a basic understanding of different types of figurative language including simile and metaphor, how to identify them in context, and how to interpret their
meanings
Guiding Questions: What are the guiding questions for this lesson?
How does the use of personification enhance a piece of text?
Teaching Phase: How will the teacher present the concept or skill to students?
1. As students enter the room, the word "personification" will be written on the board. The teacher should instruct students to brainstorm in their journals what they
think this word means. (3 minutes)
2. After students have completed the bellwork activity, students should pair up with a nearby peer and share their thoughts. (2 minutes)
3. After paired sharing, the teacher should bring the class back to whole group. Elicit some responses from the group. If some students are misguided in their thinking,
page 1 of 4 the teacher can have another student add to what they said to guide it back on track. Also, the teacher can ask the clarifying questions stated in the feedback
section.
4. Teacher should now display the definition of personification on the LCD projector or whiteboard. Have a student read the definition out loud. Personification: The act
of giving human characteristics to animals, inanimate objects, or abstract ideas.
5. Now, the teacher should engage the group in a discussion comparing their original definition to the actual definition. Ask questions like: How does your definition
compare or contrast to the actual definition? Were you close?
6. Now, to reinforce understanding of personification with a multimedia element, the teacher will show a YouTube video. Note: While the video plays, the teacher
should pause to check for student understanding. Ask clarifying questions such as How is this song lyric an example of personification? What is being personified?
Refer to the guiding question. Why would these artists use personification in their songs? What effect does this have on the listener?
7. Now, the teacher will explain that they will analyze personification used in a poem. Display the following poem about the sun on the projector or whiteboard. It is
recommended that teachers copy the poem onto a Microsoft Word document in order to display the poem without the examples of personification being in italics or
bold.
8. The teacher will have the students read the poem silently first. Then, to model fluency, the teacher will read the poem aloud to the class. The teacher should then
read the poem aloud a second time and model a think-aloud. Script for think aloud:
After the first stanza, teacher should pause and say, It is obvious when reading this poem that we are reading about the sun (we can infer this based on the
title of the poem as well as the graphic used in connection with the poem). In this first stanza, the author characterizes the sun as a gentle being. The author
says the sun "looks" upon the earth. The sun doesn't have eyes, but the author says the eyes are "smiling." All these elements describe the sun as having a
face like a human.
How does the author describe the face of the sun? With smiling eyes you think of someone kind and pleasant. Have you ever known someone who always
smiles and lights up the room? That's what I think of when I hear that line "her face lights up the world."
After the second stanza: In this second stanza, the author characterizes the sun as playful. The sun seems curious as to whether or not we are still interested
in her. By saying that she "plays" and "peeks" we get an innocent, child-like impression of the sun. It makes me reminisce back to my childhood.
After the third stanza: After this stanza, I feel like the sun is tired from all the playing. She goes to sleep and then after she has her rest, she is up and ready
for a new day. The author uses the word "peep" to personify the sun as once again being playful. Also, by saying that the morning "creeps" the author is
personifying the morning as moving slowly on purpose. By stating that the sun is welcoming a new day, it's like she is giving us a new beginning.
Show students the poem with the examples of personification in bold and italics. Point out to students all the bold and italicized text. Tell them these are
examples of personification in the poem.
Ask students questions like:
How does the sun "nurture" things that grow? Give examples of some of these things.
What would the poem be like if the author just wrote, "The sun lights up the world"? What effect does this personification have on the readers' perceptions of
the sun? How do you view "her"?
Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher guidance?
9. Now that we have modeled how to identify personification in a poem, explain to students that for their practice, they will work in groups to identify personification in
a poem on their own. Students will be given a short poem and then instructed to write down examples of personification on their note card. Students should be
reminded to put their names on their notecard.
10. Teacher will use an LCD projector or document camera to display “The Blessing of the Boats” on the board. Students will then begin writing down the text details
that they believe demonstrate personification. Students should identify the subject as well as the example of personification.
11. As students work, the teacher should circulate to clarify directions and ask guiding questions to get students back on track.
12. Once students have finished their group work, come back to whole group and ask for students to share out the examples of personification they found in the poem.
The teacher should provide feedback and correction as needed. The teacher may wish to show the poem on an overhead or project it using an LCD projector, and
highlight or underline the subject(s) and examples of personification used in the poem as students share their answers.
13. Have students work in groups to discuss the guiding question: How does the use of personification enhance a piece of text? You can also ask them to discuss: Why
might writers use this tool of personification in poetry? What impact does the use of personification have on the reader? When students are ready, come back to
whole group and have students report out. The teacher can provide feedback as needed based on students' responses.
Independent Practice: What activities or exercises will students complete to reinforce the concepts and skills developed in the
lesson?
The students will complete the summative assessment activity for their independent practice (see summative assessment section for further information). Based on
students' needs, if the teacher feels the students need additional independent practice before taking the summative assessment, there are other poems that use
personification in this link that teachers may wish to use to provide additional independent practice for students. The poems include: "Dinnertime Chorus," "My Town,"
"Nature's Chorus," and "Games."
Closure: How will the teacher assist students in organizing the knowledge gained in the lesson?
To bring this activity to a close, the teacher can go over with the class the results of students' summative assessment. The teacher may also wish for students to use
the guiding question and apply it to the poem from the summative assessment: How does the use of personification enhance a piece of text?
page 2 of 4 The teacher could also read aloud other fun personification poems and have students point out examples of personification and discuss how the use of personification
enhances the poems.
Summative Assessment
For the summative assessment, students will read the poem "The Gastronomic Gym." The poem can be found by clicking on this link, and then scroll toward the
bottom of the page.
Directions: In the poem "The Gastronomic Gym", place a box around the animal or thing that is being personified and underline the personification. Example: The lion
whispered to the wind. Students would place a box around 'lion.' They would underline 'whispered to the wind.'
Key: Each example is worth 10 points for a total of 50 points:
1. pasta - twirling and spinning
2. peas - do vertical jumps
3. mashed potatoes - swimming
4. meat - doing bench press and pumps
5. Food - has begun to exercise
Formative Assessment
Class discussion during activities is a means of formative assessment. Based on student discussion, the teacher can provide corrective feedback as needed.
When students are working in their groups to analyze the personification in “The Blessing of the Boats,” the teacher should informally observe student progress. Are
students easily identifying personification or do they need more guidance? Some students may struggle. If so, ask them to identify the subject and what “it” is doing. If
the subject is not a human but is doing “human­like” things, then personification is evident. Some students may need this broken down and the teacher may wish to
work with them one-on-one.
Based on students' responses on their notecards as they are working to identify the personification used in "The Blessing of the Boats" the teacher can determine if the
class is correctly identifying and interpreting the personification in the poem and is ready to move on to the summative assessment.
Feedback to Students
Feedback will be provided to students in two ways:
1. After students complete the warm-up activity (teaching phase step 1 and 2), the teacher will engage the students in discussion to assess their prior knowledge of
personification. The teacher will ask questions like:
Someone give their definition of personification. What do you think it means?
Is there a word within the word that helped you? (for example, the word "person" could clue students in that this deals with people)
2. While students are working collaboratively to complete the notecard activity in the guided practice section for "The Blessing of the Boats," the teacher will circulate
to provide feedback. Ask clarifying questions like:
What is the subject of the line or lines?
Is the subject an animal? Is the subject a "thing" or some kind of inanimate object?
Is the subject doing something human-like?
Note: Students should be encouraged to ask questions of the teacher and each other. Give students who are struggling effective praise and encouragement.
ACCOMMODATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Accommodations: Some struggling students may need to take a “verbal” test for the summative assessment instead of writing down their answers.
Extensions: For an extension activity, students can bring in a picture of a landscape (the beach, the country, whatever they want). Then, they can come up with
sentences describing different aspects of the picture using personification.
Suggested Technology: Document Camera, Computer for Presenter, LCD Projector, Overhead Projector, Speakers/Headphones
Special Materials Needed:
Note cards
Further Recommendations: This lesson may need to broken into a 2-day lesson. Students may need to take the summative assessment the next day (so they
are not rushed).
Additional Information/Instructions
By Author/Submitter
This lesson is easily adaptable with other poems or pieces with personification.
This lesson addresses subpart a of LAFS.6.L.3.5.
SOURCE AND ACCESS INFORMATION
Contributed by: Debbie OSteen
Name of Author/Source: Debbie OSteen
District/Organization of Contributor(s): St. Johns
Is this Resource freely Available? Yes
page 3 of 4 Access Privileges: Public
License: CPALMS License - no distribution - non commercial
Related Standards
Name
LAFS.6.L.3.5:
LAFS.6.SL.1.1:
Description
Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
a. Interpret figures of speech (e.g., personification) in context.
b. Use the relationship between particular words (e.g., cause/effect, part/whole, item/category) to better understand
each of the words.
c. Distinguish among the connotations (associations) of words with similar denotations (definitions) (e.g., stingy,
scrimping, economical, unwasteful, thrifty).
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners
on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
a. Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation by
referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on ideas under discussion.
b. Follow rules for collegial discussions, set specific goals and deadlines, and define individual roles as needed.
c. Pose and respond to specific questions with elaboration and detail by making comments that contribute to the topic,
text, or issue under discussion.
d. Review the key ideas expressed and demonstrate understanding of multiple perspectives through reflection and
paraphrasing.
page 4 of 4