Literary Devices: Free Handout and Link to New Publication

What’s the Confusion all About?

Over the years, my students have come to sessions seeking help with literary devices.  They have expressed confusion over the terms: literary devices, literary terms, literary elements and figurative language, and they also struggle with the many definitions. 

What are Literary Devices, Literary Terms, Literary Elements and Figurative Language?

• Literary Devices are creative writing strategies used by an author to convey his or her message(s).  When used well, literary devices help readers to visualize, interpret and analyze literary texts.  There are two kinds: literary techniques (which includes figurative language) and literary elements. 
• Literary Techniques are words or phrases in texts of literature that writers use to achieve artistic or creative expression.  Literary techniques also help readers to visualize, understand and appreciate literature.  
• Literary Elements are components or pieces that make up a story or literary work. 
• Figurative Language is the creative use of words and phrases that offers a hidden meaning beyond any literal interpretation.

How Can Students Understand the Global Concept?

I created an image to help students “see” the big picture as well as understand the individual components.  Although I have not included all possible literary devices, I have included what I believe to be the most common ones.  I hope you agree. 

Click Here to download a free copy of this image.

Additional Resources:

If you are also interested in a comprehensive publication that also offers students additional printables, a multisensory activity and a game, Click Here

Cheers, Erica

Dr. Erica Warren is the author, illustrator and publisher of multisensory educational materials at Good Sensory Learning and Dyslexia Materials.  She is also the director of Learning to Learn, in Ossining, NY.  To learn more about her products and services, you can go to www.goodsensorylearning.com, www.dyslexiamaterials.com, & www.learningtolearn.biz  

Show Don’t Tell: A Descriptive Writing Game

Descriptive writing enables the author to paint scenes and characters in the mind’s eye of the reader.  Like an artist, carefully selected, colorful words can convey vivid imagery, but only if the author learns to "show" and not "tell" the audience.  Learning how to use illustrative adjectives, action verbs, graphic adverbs, expressive metaphors, vivid similes and showy personification is the key to writing engaging stories.  What's more is it makes the process of writing a lot more fun!

Concrete learners or students that struggle with visualization or language processing can find descriptive writing difficult to learn.  They can also find the learning process boring and tedious.  As a result, I created a game to help make descriptive writing both enjoyable and memorable.

 

Show Don’t Tell: A Fabulously Fun Descriptive Writing Game, by Dr. Erica Warren at Good Sensory Learning, will walk you through the process.  You will be amazed at the beautiful paragraphs that players of all ages will create. 

Copyright 2013

Come learn more by clicking here

Cheers, Erica
Dr. Erica Warren is the author, illustrator and publisher of multisensory educational materials at Good Sensory Learning and Dyslexia Materials.  She is also the director of Learning to Learn, in Ossining, NY.  To learn more about her products and services, you can go to www.goodsensorylearning.com  www.dyslexiamaterials.com and  www.learningtolearn.biz 

This colorful Thanksgiving digital 

download - PDF offers enjoyable and

engaging printable activities that 

strengthen language processing skills 

such as listening, following written/oral 

directions, understanding 

homework/test questions and 

interpreting multiple choice items. 

Included in this publication are three 

activities that will also help your 

students practice linguistic cues and 

develop spatial, sequential, attentional and executive 

functioning skills.  You can come get a free sampling or

purchase this as well as other great

Following Directions activities by clicking on the image or the

following link. 

 http://goodsensorylearning.com/following-directions.html

Fun Halloween Activity that Strengthens Language Skills

Weaknesses in language processing can be difficult to remediate, and finding fun activities that can help strengthen this cognitive processing area is a further challenge.  I designed my Following Directions - The Fun and Easy Way series to offer activities that help students develop listening skills, attention to detail, vocabulary, mental flexibility, spatial skills, and more.  They were initially created for my own private practice, and now they are available to the public.  Each page is filled with colorful images and students get to draw, complete mazes and work through process of elimination exercises that are fun and engaging.  For added enjoyment, I am now creating holiday exercises that can be used throughout the school year.  My latest download offers three Halloween handouts.  Come view all of the activities by clicking on the image and even download a free sampling.

All the best, Dr. Erica  Warren
www.goodsensorylearning.com
http://www.facebook.com/goodsensorylearning

Activities or Games that Remediate Word Finding Difficulties

Many students struggle with word finding difficulties.  This is when a student has the knowledge, but they are not able to express it.   They may not, for example, be able to access the name of a good friend or even an everyday object.  This can be very frustrating and when put under pressure this difficulty tends to worsen.  Therefore, a student may know the content for a test, but they may not be able to access it without a word bank.  So what can we do to help strengthen this cognitive processing area in a way that won’t be too frustrating?

Here are 4 games that can be purchased on Amazon.com that will help in the process.  I have had great success with all four of them!  If you know of some others, please let me know.

1) Hey, What’s the Big Idea: 

2) Word Shuffle:

3) Spot it:

 4) Scattergories:

Fun, Free Activities That Sharpen and Strengthen Language Processing Over the Summer Break

The old saying - If you don't use it you lose it - often describes the cognitive setbacks that many students experience over the summer months.  Exercising children's brains with engaging and fun activities is a must.  Here are 5 strategies you can use this summer to help your little ones sharpen and strengthen their skills.

1. When watching TV, discuss the commercials.  See if they can figure out what product each commercial is promoting and see if they can uncover any inferences or hidden messages.
2. Play with anagrams - Write down a word that has at least 6 letters.  In 5 minutes, see how many new words you can create by scrambling the letters.  
3. Play catch with a football, baseball or beach ball.  When you first toss the ball, call out a main idea such as days of the Week.  When your child catches the ball, they have to say one of the days of the week.  When they toss it back to you, you say another day of the week.  Players can only say each detail once.  If a detail is repeated, the player can't think of another detail, or there are no more detail options, that player loses the round.  Keep score and play to 10.  Other main ideas could be vegetables, types of dogs, forms of transportation, shapes, presidents and so on.  
4. Read a short passage aloud to your child.  Before you read it, explain that their job is to visualize or create a mental image of what you read to them in their mind.  Once you have finished the passage, give them a blank piece of paper.  Ask them to draw an image of what they saw.
5. Take a beach ball and on each color write a different part of speech: verb, noun, adjective, adverb, preposition, article and so forth.  When you toss the beach ball back and forth to one another note where your right thumb lands on the ball.  If your thumb lands on a verb, you have to say a verb.  If your thumb lands on a adjective, you have to say an adjective.  Each word can only be played once.  The game continues until a player repeats a word or can not think of another option.  You can play the same game by using figurative language terms such as metaphor, simile, onomatopoeia, assonance...

If you would prefer to purchase some workbooks that focus on language skills, Dr. Warren has a few products that you might like.  Click on the following titles to learn more.

Following Directions the Fun and Easy Way
Making Inferences: A Fun and Easy Way to Understand and Practice Implied Meaning
Word Shuffle
Hey, What's the Big Idea

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Dr. Erica Warren is the author, illustrator and publisher of multisensory educational materials at Good Sensory Learning and Dyslexia Materials, and she is the director of Learning to Learn, in Ossining, NY.  To learn more about her products and services, you can go to www.goodsensorylearning.com    www.dyslexiamaterials.com   and  www.learningtolearn.biz 

The Four Types of Sentences: A Fun and Easy Approach

Learning about the four types of sentences can be difficult.  Dr. Warren has now made the process fun and easy. Cartoon-like characters can now help students remember the difficult terms.  Students will meet Commander Pear, Ms. Clair Bear, Rog the Frog and Sam the Clam.  Come get a free sampling of Commander Pear click here

To learn more about the full versions click here

Strategies that Help Students to Organize Ideas, Build Paragraphs, and Implement Transitions in Their Writing

         Organizing ideas and building paragraphs can be a taxing and complicated process for beginning writers.  Writing requires multitasking. When some of these tasks are challenging, they can become overwhelming hurtles that trip up the flow of ideas and can stop the creative process in its tracks.  For instance, if a student is still toiling with the formation of letters, the second they go to write down their fabulous ideas, their attention is swept away by the engulfing fine motor task.  Likewise, those that tussle with spelling often lose their thoughts as they get diverted down a path of sounds and symbol associations.  Still, others find that although they have great thoughts, it’s a tough and tedious workout to sequence the surge of scurrying words and ideas.

        

         For many students, they must develop some degree of automaticity before they can gracefully interlace the required tasks that are necessary to become a confident and savvy writer.

So, what are some strategies that can help students to master the basic elements of writing.

1.     If spelling is a challenge, allow the student to dictate answers as you write them down or use voice to text software, such as Dragon Dictate. 

2.    If organizing ideas is difficult, help the student to define main ideas and details and sequence ideas in an outline or web.  An excellent software tool that can help with this is Kidspiration or Inspiration for older students.  You can learn more about it at: http://www.inspiration.com .  You can also find an online, collaborative version of this software on the internet at: http://www.webspirationpro.com .

3.    If handwriting is labored and the student is able to type quite well, allow them to use a computer for written assignments and class work.

4.    If handwriting and typing is a problem, again consider allowing the student to dictate answers to you as you write them down or help them to use voice to text software, such as Dragon Dictate. 

5.    If getting started is a problem, discuss the topic.  Ask a lot of guiding questions and record the student’s ideas in writing or with a voice recording device.

6.    Whenever a student is struggling with any of the tasks required for writing, make sure they get plenty of practice so that they can master the skill. Try to make the exercises fun by using game like activities or software programs that can assist with tasks such as typing.  

7.    If the student experiences persistent difficulties with writing or any of the many tasks required to write, consider asking your school district to provide a full battery of testing to rule out a learning disability.  You can also pursue testing outside your school district with a professional in your community.   

     If you would like to learn more about helping students with the organization of ideas and the layout of writing, look at my recent publication, Categorizing, Paragraph Building and Transitional Word Activities.  The 30 page downloadable document offers a series of printable game-like activities that help students to understand and practice organizing main ideas and details as well as sequencing sentences and adding transitional words.  These fun activities are appropriate for elementary students and there are also additional materials for an older population.   http://goodsensorylearning.com/categorizing.html

St. Patrick's Day Following Directions Activities are a blast

Check out my St. Patrick's Day following directions activities.  They are wonderful at strengthening language skills and help students to better understand the subtleties of linguistic cues.  They are a terrific sampling of three fun activities that can even a student's ability to decode the language behind multiple choice tests.improve http://goodsensorylearning.com/following-directions.html 

An Easy Way to Teach Main Ideas and Details

HEY!  WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?

Understanding #main ideas and details is critical in education.  It is both the foundation of reading and writing, and many students struggle with the concepts.  Hey, What's the Big Idea is a product that has turnedhttp://goodsensorylearning.com/hey-whats-the-big-idea.html instruction into a game.  What's more is this fun and interactive game also helps to improve the processing speed.  

Following Directions: How Do I Teach this Skill?

Learning to follow directions is a crucial milestone in any student’s learning program.  It is the foundation of learning and difficulties in this area can impact a student’s ability to take notes, follow a sequence of steps, as well as show their knowledge on written assignments and even multiple-choice tests.

Even if a student is listening carefully or reading and rereading text, it doesn’t mean that they will succeed at following directions.  Weaknesses in attention, executive functioning, and language processing (both auditory and visual) can present as great obstacles for these students.  So what can be done about this?

We need to teach students how to follow directions.  They need to learn the subtleties of linguistic cues.  They need to learn to carefully analyze each word and then know how to decipher what it all means.

Whether it involves listening comprehension (auditory, receptive language) or understanding written directions (reading comprehension), there are a number of things teachers and parents can do to assist students with this process.
What’s most important is to make the process fun.  Whether you speak the instructions in person or on a tape recorder, you will be strengthening the ability to follow oral instructions.  If you write the instructions down, then you will be assisting the ability to follow written instructions.

One game that has been around for a long time is Simon Says.  In this game directions can be presented orally or by writing on a large piece of paper or overhead.

1.    Tell the players to line up in front of you so that they can see you.  Instruct them that you are Simon and that you will be giving them directions to follow. If you say "Simon says" before you give the instructions, the players should do the action(s). If you do not say "Simon says" before you give the instructions, they should disregard the instructions.
2.    Start with simple one step directions such as, “Simon says put your hands on your head.”  In the beginning, “Simon” can demonstrate the directions with the players.  Later, “Simon” can stop demonstrating and can even verbalize multi-step instructions.  For example, “Simon says, hop on your left foot, then hop on your right foot, and finally sit on the floor.”
3.    Typically students are out of the game when they make a mistake.  I recommend giving points or tokens to those that follow the directions perfectly so that the ones that makes mistakes can continue to play.  The player with the most tokens at the end is the winner.

Another game, that I call Follow My Words is a game that is best played with two players.  One player is blindfolded and the other player gives directions.
1.The player that is blindfolded must follow the oral directions of the other player.  You can do simple activities such as make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or you can even rearrange the furniture and try to get the blindfolded player from point “A to point B.”  Another option is to give the blindfolded player directions on how to trace a picture that they have not seen, or build something out of blocks.
2.It is very important to stress safety and that directions must be careful and well thought-out so that no one is hurt or misguided.  Remember the one that is blindfolded is placing all their trust in you.
3.Each player should take turns as the one that is blindfolded and the one that is giving the instructions.

A final suggestion that will help students work on following written directions is a treasure hunt.

1.You can play one-on-one or in groups.
2.Explain to the players that they will be given a clue.  On the clue will be directions that they have to follow.  The clue will lead to an object.  On that object will be another clue that will lead to another object and so forth.
3.At the end you can have a prize or a note that tells them what they have won.
4.Directions can vary in difficulty level.  For instance, a clue could read I’m under the big red ball in the closet, or it could say, I’m in the Library in a book entitled “The Phantom Tollbooth.”  Your next clue will be on page 7.  You can even guide them to a key that will open a chest or a door.

I hope you find these ideas helpful.  If you would prefer to use a workbook that is filled with activities to strengthen students abilities to follow directions, please check out my two publications: Learning to Follow Directions: The Fun and Easy Way at my website: www.goodsensorylearning.com  I also offer a free download sampling of all these activities.
      

CLICK HERE FOR A FREEBIE SAMPLING

Yours sincerely,