Personification
Instructional Action Plan
By: Karen Briggs
EDU 743: Connecting Reading and Writing for Success
Resources Needed:
Mentor Texts
•Twilight Comes Twice by Ralph Fletcher
•Atlantic by G. Brian Karas
•Gilberto and the wind by Marie Hall Ets
•Long night moon by Cynthia Rylant
•Mojave by Diane Siebert
•Autumnblings by Douglas Florian
•Come to the Ocean’s Edge: A Nature Cycle Book by Laurence Pringle
•Dirty Laundry Pile Poem in Different Voices selected by Paul B. Janeczko
•The Gift of the Tree by Alvin Tresselt
Movie:
•Cars
“Writing well involves learning to attend to the craft of writing, learning to do
the sophisticated work of separating what it is about from how it is written.”
(Ehmann & Gayer, 2009)
Plan:
To use a variety of mentor texts and follow the Craft Study Lesson outline of:
•Notice and Name
•Explore
•Give It a Try
•Celebration
Notice and Name:
1. Use Twilight Comes Twice by Ralph Fletcher as the whole class text
2. Explain to students that the author has used a very specific craft as he tells this
story. I will challenge the students to listen to determine what that craft technique
is.
3. Read the story
4. Have students form small discussion groups to name the craft
• Story is told from the point of view of dawn and dusk
• Author uses personification to bring dawn and dusk alive
5. As a group write the definition of the craft
• a thing or idea is given human characteristics, emotions, or actions to bring it alive
6. Reread parts of the story to confirm the student’s definition
Explore:
1. Explain to students we need to find other examples of personification in order to
answer these questions.
• Why do authors use this craft?
• How does this craft help the reader better understand the story?
2. Students may read with a partner or alone
3.Students will record their findings of personification in their writing journals
4. Also, create a class chart where students can record their favorite example or an
example that they think is unique or interesting
During the Explore stage, I will use our Shared Reading Time and present a short
story that uses personification in order to promote a deeper understanding of
the craft.
• Monday-Identify the text features, then read the short story
• Tuesday-Read the short story then have students make connections from the
story to their own lives
• Wednesday-Read the story and use Envisioning, to form pictures in their mind
chart those images and the words they associate with those images. Then have
students create an illustration
• Thursday-Read the story-Dig deeper into the text. How does the use of
personification help you understand the story?
• Friday- Read the story-Have an accountable conversation on the short story
Weekly Shared Reading: Short Story
This spring a bird built her nest right outside my kitchen window. As soon
as her cozy home was ready, the mother bird set up housekeeping and awaited the
birth of her babies.
Three eggs soon appeared, snuggled safely under their mother’s watchful
eye. Every time I walked out the kitchen door, the mother bird would scold me
loudly, insisting that I stay away from her home. If I did not obey, she chattered at
me even louder and more angrily.
Soon her babies hatched, and the mother bird was very busy shopping for
food for hungry children. Day by day, the babies grew bigger and hungrier. They
called sorrowfully for their mother every time she left the nest. When she returned
from her errands, they chattered to her delightedly and ate ravenously. The poor
mother grew tired from having to work so hard to care for her brood.
Finally it was time for the babies to learn to fly and prepare to go off on
their own. The mother fearfully supervised as they took their first shaky flights. Each
day they flew a little higher and little farther. Finally the big day came, and one by
one each young bird set off from home to start a new life out in the world. Once her
babies left, the mother bird packed up and moved out leaving a lonely empty nest at
my window as a reminder of the little family.
During the Explore Stage
• I will have students share their favorite examples of personification
•Read some of the mentor texts listed under Resources
Give It A Try:
I want to give students many opportunities to apply this technique to help them
internalize this craft and be able to use it in their writing.
1. Begin with a whole class lesson and use the following example of
personification:
The sun stretches its golden arms across the land.
• Read the sentence
• Refer back to the definition written by the class
•
Then have the students break done the example.
• What thing is being talked about in this sentence?
• What verbs are used?
• Then I will model how to draw an illustration to help me understand what is
happening in the sentence.
• What point or message is the author trying to make? Have the students use my
illustration to discuss this question.
2. Give each group an example an have them follow the same process I modeled to
determine the meaning or message of the following personifications.
•
•
•
•
The house was all dressed up in a new coat of paint.
The cold wind shrieked through the cracks in the old house
Winter’s icy grip squeezed his rib cage.
The basketball rose up out of the player’s hands and leaped through the net
Give It A Try:
3. As a whole class write a paragraph about dice, using personification to bring the
dice alive
•Model the process-make a chart with the heading listed below
•First roll the dice
•List verbs that describe the action
•List adjectives that describe the dice
•Think about the dice as a person- What might they think about? What might they
feel?
•Using all this information write a paragraph about what it is like being dice and
being rolled across on a table.
•Then give each group a different object and have them follow the same process
•Have each group share their paragraph about their object
Give It A Try:
4. Students use personification and describe leaves
•Bring in leaves
•Throw the leaves in the air and have students list verbs that describe the
leaves as they fall to the floor
•Then lay the leaves on a table and blow on them
•Have students list verbs that describe what happens
•Have students list adjectives that describes the different leaves
•Using this information students work in pairs to use personification to describe
leaves .
•Have groups share their example with the class
•Next each pair draws an picture that illustrates their personification
Celebration:
•After every Give It A Try, students or groups share their work with the class
•All Give It A Try activities are posted in the classroom for all students to read.
Give It A Try:
5. Watch the movie Cars.
•Have students watch the movie to determine how the film uses personification to
help the audience connect with the characters.
Reference:
Ehmann, S. & Gayer, K. (2009). I can write like that! A guide to mentor texts and
crafts for writers' workshops, K-6. International Reading Association. Newark, DE.