No more cheetah’s PLEASE!!!

Some really great similes and metaphors got written this week, but so did some horrible ones.

I don’t know how many times I read about something going as fast as a cheetah. Are cheetahs the universal animal of choice for quickness? Where are they getting this from? And why are clouds always marshmallows or fluffy pillows? I can almost see the elementary worksheet. It says creating a simile on the top, and it has some sort of a picture of a cheetah and a boy running, or a pillow shaped cloud. I want to erase their memories of these connections, somehow.

My favorite piece of writing this week was written by a boy who wrote about his notebook falling down the stairs. His binder exploded open on impact with the final step, and papers oozed out like blood from an open wound. The binder rings broke away like shrapnel flying through the air, hitting anything in their way. It was absolutely the best thing. There were others too who surprised me with what they ended up with in terms of description.

How do I get more students to make those connections and not just the marshmallow clouds and fast as cheetah run to the bus stop connections? Do I ban generic similes and metaphors, or should I be content enough in knowing that they’ve added some sort of description to their writing?

I guess I’ll just keep sharing examples of unique description and hope they move away from bland at some point.