Literary Terms to Cover in Middle School

I thought I would just compile a list of literary terms and devices that I taught in 7th grade.  One of the things that I love about reading is that most of the students already have the base skills in literature and they're already aware of definitions and examples.  The challenge at the middle school and high school levels is building on that base knowledge, giving a student more challenging reading material and introducing newer and higher level literary devices to find and use.  I plan on taking each of these literary terms and devices and dedicating a post on how I taught that specific device in my 7th grade classes. 

Literary Terms and Poetic Devices in a 7th Grade Classroom

Plot- expostion, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution

Character- protagonist, antagonist, static, dynamic

Setting

Conflict- Internal and External 

Tone

Mood

Theme

Point of View- 1st person, 3rd person omniscient and limited, stream of consciousness

Hyperbole

Foreshadowing

Imagery

Metaphor

Simile

Onomatopoeia 

Meter

Rhyme

Rhythm 

Alliteration

Narration

Personification

Stanza

If you are teaching an English class, Language Arts or Reading class I would suggest brushing up on these terms.  I like having lists of what I am teaching to my students.  These are just the literary devices--- that is only a small part of teaching literature.  You also have all the non fiction, vocabulary, stories, spelling and writing to deal with as well.  

Part of being a successful teacher is 1) Knowing what you are supposed to be teaching (standards) and 2)  Knowing how you're going to teach each of those concepts.  

Start planning (if you haven't already) on how you're going to teach these devices and concepts this school year.  I hope I can help by posting ideas of what you can do for each one of these literary devices. 

Reading Comprehension

I used to teach reading, and reading comprehension is just one of those things that used to give a majority of my students a hard time.  With fluency, there were hardly any problems.

But, when I checked for comprehension, I would often get the wrong answers.  Over something that they just read.  My first year of teaching, I was very frustrated with this.  My students would look at me blankly when I checked for understanding of what they just read.  I would then say "You just read it!" (Blank stare still).

First things first.  Reading comprehension is essentially understanding what is being read.  If you have a sentence that says:

"Bill ran toward the ball that was on the other side of the street." 

Several comprehension questions that could be asked in response to this sentence are: 

1)  What was Bill running toward? 

2)  Where was the ball? 

3)  Why was Bill running toward the ball? 

4)  What do you think will happen to Bill next?  

5)  Have you ever been in the same situation as Bill? 

Okay, so the first two questions are easily lower-level.   Simple understanding of the sentence.  The next three questions are a bit harder for students to grasp just reading the text once.  

The student will have to background knowledge as to why Bill was running toward the ball.  They will need to predict what will happen next to Bill.  And, they will need to connect the text to themselves. 

Often times, we ask our students those first two questions, and those are pretty easy for students to answer.  The answer to these questions is found right in the text.  The last two questions the students have to do some digging and some thinking to answer well.  

Knowing that there are different types of questions and different reading strategies that help the reader comprehend the text is critical to teaching your students to read well. 

Here are a few tips that will help your students succeed, no matter the reading strategy that you're trying to implement and teach: 

1)  Chunk the reading-  I usually limited reading together as a class (or partner reading) to about 10-15 minutes a day.  After we would read the story for that amount of time, came assignments, discussion and practice.  

2)  Check for understanding often-I would check for understanding constantly while we were reading.  I had to stop at least 3-4 times on each page to ask questions of the class.  Before, I used to ask the class questions as a whole, and not many would participate.  I gradually changed my approach to having students discuss and answer the questions in their teams or pairs (in complete sentences) while I wandered around the room eavesdropping.  If a student wasn't participating, I would ask them the question and they would have to discuss it with me.  :) 

3) Always review what was read the day before- Maybe do this as bellwork, but before you start where you left off (midway through a story), make sure you review so that the students will remember a little bit about the plot and characters.  This can also apply to previewing a story as well.  I liked to preview the stories with my students by telling them a little bit about the author and then telling them something that I really enjoyed about the story when I read it.  Often times it would be a certain character or a part of the story.  Usually those became the favorite parts that the students liked to read as well. 

4)  Go over vocabulary- Go over vocabulary with your students.  Whether you like to use context clues or the old fashioned method of looking up definitions in the dictionary, be sure that the students know the key vocabulary words, and understand the word meanings when you read.  

5)  Encourage questions and connections-  Encourage your students to ask you questions about the story.  Encourage your students to ask themselves questions.  Constantly inspire them to do something more than just reading to hear the story.  

So many of the stories that we read in class were wonderful, coming of age stories that my students could relate to well.  Ask your students questions about how the characters, plot, tone or mood relate to them.  Have they ever felt that way before?  What did they do in that situation?  

6)  Reach for more reading-  I can't tell you how important this is.  I have made this claim since I started teaching reading, and I will always stand by this claim.  

The more you read, the better the reader you become.  

Encourage students to become active readers.  If they want to read ahead in a story, I say let them.  Give them recommendations for books to read.  Be an active reading teacher- read books for the age level of students you teach.  Be ready to give recommendations that your students will love.  I can't tell you how many times I have helped students pick books from the library, and how many times they have enjoyed the books I gave them!  There was even the time that I recommended Bunnicula to one of my students (he was a little lower level than the others).  He loved Bunnicula so much he told me "thank you", and he read the whole series of books within a couple of weeks.  AND he passed his state exam.  

A love of reading will always take your students far in life. 

Relationships

Rachel invited me a while ago to write something on this blog.  Its been a while.  I even had the thought today, my fourth graders are now 8th graders (!!!!), and my 6th graders are in high school now.  Ugh.  Take my words or leave them.  No sweat off my back :)

I thought about my two years that I taught elementary school, and sad as it is, I was better my first year.  I think I was better prepared to teach lessons my second year, but I think that as a whole I had a better first year.

Why?  I bet you are asking that exact question.  Or maybe you don't care.  Well if you don't care, too bad.  I'm going to tell you anyway.

The thing that made a world of difference for me my first year was the relationships I established with my students.  I think I learned that 6th grade is not exactly the age group I would prefer (those pre-pubescent teens I had that year were quite... stubborn I might add, which is not a good combo with a stubborn teacher).  But my little fourth graders and I got along much better.

I'd venture to say that first, and foremost, you are always the teacher first.  I've seen some teachers try to be best buddies with their students and a lot of times it backfires.  The kids like you, but in a sense don't respect you as much.  If you establish that professional relationship with them, that being that you are the teacher first and friend second, they like you and they respect you.  This is not to say that you let them get away with things that they shouldn't be doing.  You can still discipline your students in a way that is still respectful to them and maintains their dignity.  You'll find that you are less likely to be having a power struggle when you do things that way.

If I had a kid who displayed unruly behavior, I would give them a warning.  If the unruly behavior continued, I'd pull them aside, usually at a later time, to talk about what's going on.  Many times, I was able to help the kid deal with whatever it was they were dealing with.  More often than not, my fourth graders would come up with their own punishments, and it usually ended up being worse than what I would have given.

I remember being a difficult student when I was in college, the same semester my mom was dying.  I tended to care less about what was going on in class, and it showed.  This experience helped me to understand that kids, although much smaller than adults, are people too.  They have issues, just like we do.  The main difference is kids especially do not know how to cope with life's difficulties.  The death of a parent, the divorce of parents, the neglect at home, and so forth are not events that are respecters of age.  When my kids would act out, I was able to talk to them because of the relationships I established with them.  Imagine how much harder it would have been, if I didn't care about my kids or my kids didn't care about what I thought or if they did not respect me.  Also, as a result of the relationships I had with them, classroom management was a breeze.

That, and work (for both you & the student) is always so much more fun when you like each other!

The First Week of School

Right now, my former school and friends, have already started school.  Just as a fun post, I thought that I would walk through my first week of school with some highlights of the things that I have done in the past.

1)  Seating arrangements-  This first week of school, I let the kids sit wherever they wanted to.  Some people thought I was crazy.  Seventh graders without a seating chart the first week of school?  It was totally cool, because while these kids were sitting next to each other, happy to be in seats of their own choice, I was watching.  I am a pretty observant person, and I observed my students. I saw which students were despised wherever they sat;  I saw which students seemed to gravitate toward the front of the room;  I saw which students stuck themselves into the back corners;  I watched the students interact with each other, from some of the girly giggles and chattering to the constant chin ups (you know, what boys do when they say "waz up?").  Basically, I saw the kids that would need to be separated and which kids could be zeroed in as my "troublemakers" (I really hate that term). 

2)  Procedures- We practiced.  I assigned homework (procedures to take home and read to their parents and have the parents sign) and showed the students how to turn the homework back in.  I made the students start their procedures from day one, whether it was passing out papers to the people in their team, to how to line up and walk to the library or go out for a fire drill.   I took time to practice it.  If I was still teaching, I think that I would probably continue on in that vein, but only for three days or so.  I would try to start more with the curriculum and use the curriculum to teach procedures from the beginning.  BUT for beginning teachers, I think it's super important to focus on those procedures and practice, practice, practice!

3)  Get to know you games-Oh the activities that we would do.  My third year teaching I really focused on implementing the Kagan structures at the beginning of the school year (before I had to leave for 10 weeks while I was on bed rest and maternity leave).  We did a double circle game.  One outer circle, one inner circle.  I would have the inner circle move and then the outer circle move so they always had new partners.  The teams talked about their interests and came up with team names and an identity that was different from the rest of the class.  They each had a "sharing time" in their teams when they brought a brown paper bag with three items that described them. 

I think the most important thing about that first week of school for me, was getting to know the students and letting the students get to know me.  Building a rapport with your classes is extremely important in being able to teach and inspire your class for the remainder of the school year.  

I was not a pushover... Students got in trouble that first week of school each year (some even on the first day of school!).  You need to be firm, organized and thorough your first week of school. What you decide to do your first week of school in regards to disciplining your students is so important and it sets a tone for the rest of the year.

Back to School

I always loved the beginning of a new school year.  Just think about it:  How many jobs out there, can you basically start brand new/fresh after a 2 month vacation?  Not many. 

After my first year teaching, I decided that my second year would be at least ten times better.  And the reason why it actually was?  Because I was prepared. 

I don't think that teachers can be completely prepared for every single thing out there---life is way too crazy for that.  Students are unique and there will be different students that expected.  I remember my second year group of students, they were, what I like to say "quirky".  They were definitely different.  My third year group of students, were, if anything, better behaved, smarter, sassier and MORE quirky.  They were so weird (I actually think that goes for middle school students in general). 

Again, preparation is the key.  If you don't prepare, you're setting yourself up to fail.  Whoops.  I don't like that "F" word, but honestly, that is what happens.  I believe there are three different areas that you need to prepare for.  Honestly, as much fun as the summer is, that was the time that I actually had to work on making my classroom a safe, learning environment.  I didn't have time to make changes during the school year---that was way too hard for me.  Plus teachers and students get in habits, and it will be too hard to switch things up.  So here are the three areas to focus on when you're preparing for your school year. 

1)  Management-Procedures and Routines.  Consequences.  How are you going to teach your routines and procedures?  How much time do you dedicate to teaching these routines and procedures?  What about consequences?  It is so much easier to figure this stuff out BEFORE the kids get into the classroom than after. 

Also, figure out what you're going to have to type up and print out for your students to take home.  Some things that should be included are: Student Expectations, Procedures, Homework Policy, Consequences, Tardy Policy, Book List, Homework Expectations, Testing Expectations, Grading Policy, and a Curriculum Preview (what we'll be learning this year).  Sometimes teachers will lump all of these things into a disclosure statement or class syllabus.  Do what is best for you and your students. 

2)  Instruction-  Make a curriculum map, print and highlight your standards, get yourself a practice state exam, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE look at your textbook before the first day of school!  Make sure that you have a plan for teaching, whether it's an annual type of plan (curriculum map) or just a monthly guide of what you'll be teaching.  But, please try to make an outline of what you'll be teaching throughout the year. 

I would go through each unit, write down the theme, important vocabulary, root words and the stories that we were planning on reading (with page numbers---helps a lot guys!).  I would divide the units by the literary terms that the students were learning, and we would go from there.  In all the instructional planning you do, please always remember to refer to your state/district standards and curriculum. 

If you're a teacher, please read all of the novels/ short stories that you're planning on using in class to teach vocabulary, reading strategies or literary elements.  The students will know if you've read them before.  And it's always good to be one step ahead when you're planning. 

3)  Rapport-  I have to tell you, as important as management and instruction are, I think rapport is extremely important as well.  In order to effectively teach students, you need to have a good relationship with them.  I think the first week of school is an excellent time for lots of team building and class building activities. 

The students need to get to know you as well, so I would suggest having an introduction activity for yourself on the first day of school.  Either a PowerPoint, letting kids answer your questions or, find the fiction. 

One year I had students answer a bunch of questions about themselves on an index card (name, parent's name, phone number, favorite subject, favorite book, birthday, etc---for future reference).  I then asked them to write down a question that they had for me on the index card, any question at all that they may want to ask.  I only told them though, that after the first day, I would not answer any personal questions for the entire school year--this was there only chance.

The students enjoyed it and they asked me several things, including:  "Are you pregnant?" (I was about 7 months along at the time);  "What's your favorite animal?" (cheetahs); "What's your favorite color?" (red);  "How old are you?" (24--at the time); "Are you married?" (yes); "Are you mean?"  (yes, but only if you get in trouble/don't follow directions). 

Of course, being the literature teacher that I was in a low-income, high ELL population school, I answered all the questions in complete sentences. 

Look on the internet, look in books, there are tons of ideas.  This was my favorite book in college, and I thorougly enjoyed it!  Good luck on your first days of school!