Raging Bill

Learning intention

I am investigating the use of figurative, emotive and descriptive language for character development purposes so that I can create my own character profile.

Success criteria

I can:

• identify and discuss the impact of emotive and figurative language in a poem
• explain how language choices can help with character development
• develop my own character, inspired by the characters from a model text
• make effective language choices when creating my own character

Essential knowledge

Ensure students know the following figurative language devices:

• Metaphor
• Colour connotations

More information about figurative language can be found on the NSW English K-10 Glossary.ungroup Ensure students understand what emotive language is and how it helps to position readers to feel a certain way about a character. More on emotive language can be found at NSW English K-10 Glossary.ungroup For information on character development, see the video, Characterungroup, on The School Magazine website.

Introduction

Read the text as a whole class, or listen to the audio recording. After reading, explain to students that the poem is about the interaction between two characters. Provide the following list of statements and ask students to read each one and label it as either True or False.

• Raging Bill and No Nonsense Nelly are friends
• Both characters are animals
• Somebody with a ‘heart of black’ can be considered unkind or nasty without the ability to love
• The colour red has connotations of danger
• Raging Bill is a kind character
• Strong, brave, staunch and tough are adjectives with positive connotations
• No Nonsense Nelly is a hero

Teacher modelling – 10 minutes

Project or copy the first stanza of the poem onto the board. Use two different coloured markers to make annotations for students.          

With the first coloured marker, explain that Raging Bill’s character is developed using figurative language. Underline the following example:

Heart of black and eyes of red, Daggered horns stuck out his head.

Ask students to contribute ideas about the connotations of the two colours mentioned in the example: black and red (Answer: Black suggests darkness, evil, lack of emotion, power, death, fear. Red suggests blood, power, strength, danger, anger). Use the think aloud strategy to explain the use of metaphor to develop character in this example: (Think aloud: A heart of black suggests that this character is evil and unfeeling. Raging Bill does not have love or joy in his heart. He is sinister. The red eyes add to the idea of Raging Bill as a sinister and unfriendly character. Red indicates danger and also anger. Which is supported by the name given to the character: ‘Raging Bill.’

Provide a second example of figurative language and have students turn to the person next to them and discuss what they imagine when they read this line from the poem:

Daggered horns stuck out his head.

With the second coloured marker, explain that readers are positioned to feel a certain way about Raging Bill using emotive language. Emotive language seeks an emotional response from readers. Underline the following emotive words in the first stanza:

• Raging
• Terrorised

Use the think aloud strategy to discuss the impact of these words: (Think aloud: As a reader, when I see a character described as ‘raging’ I think they are a bad character, an antagonist. I am positioned to feel dislike towards this character. The word ‘terrorised’ is an even stronger choice of emotive language, because now I feel a sense of fear associated with the power that the ‘raging’ character has.)

Project or copy the second stanza of the poem onto the board. Have two coloured markers ready for the analysis of language used to develop No Nonsense Nelly’s character. With the first colour, explain that descriptive language, such as adjectives, can be used to develop a character. Underline the following example:

Strong and brave, staunch and tough

Ask students to think back to the true/false question from the introductory section of the lesson: Strong, brave, staunch and tough are adjectives with positive connotations. Ask students to share their thoughts on the use of these four words. Discuss the following:

• Are these descriptions mostly positive?

Provide students with a dictionary if they need to check their understanding of these words.

Guided practice – 15 minutes

Explain to students that they will be creating a visual representation of either Raging Bill or No Nonsense Nelly. Students may choose the character they would like to work on, or half the class can be assigned Raging Bill and half the class assigned No Nonsense Nelly.

The visual representation must show the following:

• A sketch of the character, showing the physical features described in the poem (Raging Bill – horns, red eyes; No Nonsense Nelly – round belly)
• Labels/annotations using the words from the poem to highlight key aspects of the character
• A three-sentence description of the personality, attitude and behaviour of the chosen character

Allow time for students to complete their visual representation before placing them in pairs to compare their work. If possible, pairs should include one student who created a visual representation for Raging Bill and a second student who completed a visual representation for No Nonsense Nelly. Instruct pairs to discuss the following questions:

• How does the language used to describe your character make you feel about that character?
• Which description of your character in the poem had the most impact on you when visualising the character?

Independent activity – 10 minutes

Instruct students to think about what Raging Bill or No Nonsense Nelly would be like if they were human. Engage the class in a Think, Pair, Share activity in which they brainstorm ideas. Suggested ideas include:

Raging Bill

• School bully
• A shoplifter
• A grumpy customer in a shop

No Nonsense Nelly

• Strict teacher/principal
• Police officer
• Store manager
• Boss of a big company

After completing the Think, Pair, Share explain to students that they will be creating a human character who display some similar character traits to one of the animal characters in the poem. Students are to complete the following tasks:

• Give the character a name
• Create an illustration of the character
• Develop at least one simile or one metaphor to describe the character
• List three adjectives describing the character’s personality and attitude
• Give an example of your character’s typical behaviour – write it in one or two sentences

Differentiation

Students requiring support during the guided practice can sketch their chosen character. Then provide them with the following words and phrases from the poem to glue around their character sketch. 

Students requiring support when creating their own human character can be offered the following list of sample figurative language examples and adjectives. Students may select the examples that they like and add them to their character illustration. 

 Instruct students requiring extension to read the poem ‘Batter Up’ on page 18 of this issue of Orbit. Instruct students complete the table, providing examples of emotive language and figurative language used to engage readers. They can present these as a list, or highlight them on a photocopy of the poem. Suggested answers:

• stomach churning, full of rocks
• She shoots a fierce and taunting glance
• time seems to crawl
• I feel my heart pound as I race
• sweat drops stinging in my eyes
• the bubbling up of sweet surprise
• grinning as I think of it

After identifying the figurative and emotive language in the poem, instruct students to select the most engaging or effective example from their list and explain why they have chosen this example in a paragraph.

Assessment

Complete the following questions as an exit ticket:

• How does using figurative, emotive and descriptive language help readers to understand a character?