The purpose of this project is two-fold: first, to encourage students to make the reading of poetry a creative act; and, second, to help students appreciate particular literary devices in their functions as semaphores or interpretive signals. Those devices that are about the imagery of a poem (metaphor, simile, personification, description) can be thought of as magnifying glasses: we see most clearly that upon which the poet focuses our gaze. Similarly, those poetic devices that are about the sound of the poem (alliteration, consonance, enjambment, onomatopoeia, and repetition) can be thought of as volume buttons or amplifiers: we hear most clearly what the poet makes us listen to most attentively.

This is a lesson for introducing Similes with photography. Students will learn about Similes, then use photography to gain a deeper understanding and show their learning. They will take original pictures and borrow pictures from online to illustrate their chosen similes.They will be introduced to Wikimedia Commons, a great website for finding openly-licensed photographs. They will learn how to cite a borrowed photograph. They will show all of these skills by creating a web page through Adobe Express that shows their learning of Similes through 3 photographs, both originals and borrowed photographs. Thumbnail Citation: Kodak EasyShare M1603 Camera, by Greyfiveys, CC BY-SA 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons