Teachnet Institute Grant Lesson Two:
Teach Figurative Language Using Adobe Photoshop

This four part unit teaches students about figurative language and allows them to focus closely on the text of poetry by engaging them in a detailed artistic endeavor in Adobe Photoshop. Students will be amazed how quickly they will be able to develop new Photoshop skills while learning about similes, metaphors and onomatopoeia.

The unit begins with an introduction to figurative language. I provide a lesson plan format where the teacher engages students in a mini-lesson that teaches about figurative language. After students understand the basics of the poetic form, they will follow along with three screencasted video tutorials that make learning Photoshop easy by focusing on the basics and then more specifically the skills necessary to complete a figurative language collage.

The final tutorial uses the poem "The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop as the central subject of a collage. Students read through the poem pull out similes from the text. They type them into the collage and format them in a tight collage. The formatting emphasizes the key "like/as" parts of the text to allow students to show evidence they understand what a simile is.

After the tutorials are done, students can choose their own poem and create and print a collage they can share back with their classmates.

Instructions

Download all the files to the right and use the Unit Power Point Guide to take you through each lesson.

Unit Resources

Unit Power Point Guide

Photoshop Basics Instructional Video

Working With Text Instructional Video

Creating the Final Collage Instructional Video

Final Collage Photoshop File

Elizabeth Bishop "The Fish" Poem