Figurative language and music

Sherry Leksell has been the English teacher at Eagle Grove High School for four years now. Since day one of her position in the school district, she has made it her goal to help her students be interactive and excited about learning in an effort to prepare for what comes next - real life.

“I want them to learn how to collaborate with each other,” she said when she was hired.

That’s exactly what she has done in a variety of creative ways to not only teach the high school kids, but to help them have fun doing it. She’s brought in community members to help them learn how to have on-the spot conversations teaching them how to network. She’s helped them prepare resumes and interview with prospective employers. And her latest approach to getting through to 10th graders? Connecting her lesson with music.

That’s right. The recent assignment Leksell gave to her sophomore class was to create a Figurative Language musical mash-up. The challenge presented to them was to create a presentation using WeVideo software showcasing 30 seconds or less (because of copyright infringement) to represent each of the following figurative languages: simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, alliteration, allusion, and hyperbole. They could also source a song that used understatement for extra credit.

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