Olivia Imirie
Assignments & Activities Archive
Activity Description
This activity about writing metaphors is ideal for the first 1-2 weeks of the term and was originally developed for a first-year writing course. Students often struggle to talk about writing and their challenges with the writing process. They use statements such as “I don’t like writing,” “I’m bad at explaining things,” or “writing is just so hard” to describe their experiences because they may not feel confident to use writing vocabulary, such as audience, voice, evidence, and organization to identify their specific challenges. This activity responds to those challenges through a guided reading and discussion of E. Shelley Reid’s “Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing Students.” Reid’s article not only provides an accessible way to introduce scholarly research to students, but she also uses metaphors like the green ball and lost money to explain the role of description and audience in college writing (6-10). As a result, students’ conversations about this article help them develop their writing vocabulary to better communicate their strengths and struggles with writing. In addition, because Reid’s purpose is to help college students learn to write, the metaphors and strategies in this article help students understand the expectations of college writing early on. Furthermore, the “metaphor workshop” part of this activity helps students build community with their peers and instructor. Students may feel alone in their struggles with writing; however, the creation and sharing of writing metaphors shows students that their peers have similar struggles. They also build community by referencing their peers by name when they identify metaphors they connect with (i.e. “I really like [Name]’s metaphor because…” Doing this helps students develop a strong sense of belonging in the classroom, which helps build the relationships and trust necessary for activities like peer review, individual conferences, and other group work. After completing this activity, students will build the vocabulary and confidence to describe their writing experiences to their peers and instructor, thus deepening their knowledge of the writing process.