Name: _____________________________ English 9 Seminar, AA Introduction, Monday, September
24th
Our mission: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text,
including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and
refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text.
Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in
groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues,
building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
Directions: Read the phrase and write whether it is a metaphor by writing M or simile
with an S. 
1. As hot as hell
S
2. The classroom was a zoo
4. Life is a roller coaster.
_____
3. American is a melting pot. _____
5. Crazy as a loon.
______
______
6. As playful as a kitten _______
Write your own metaphor or simile.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
ZOOM IN.
ZOOM IN MORE.
A LITTLE MORE.
A BOY, GRAINY.
FACEDOWN ON THE PAVEMENT.
A MAN ABOVE HIM. FISTS RAINING LIKE STONES.
HOWLING. LIGHTS AND SIRENS.
BLOOD ON THE STREET.
THE BOY IS STILL MOVING.
AND THEN HE IS NOT.
From All American Boys by Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely, page 2.
Circle and label the following items in the poem that starts the book All American
Boys.
a. A simile.
b. Language that seems to indicate a camera is being used. Label “camera.”
c. Sensory language that appeals to hearing.
d. Sensory language that appeals to sight.
Questions
a. Who do you think is howling?
b. Where do you think the blood on the street came from?
c. What could the lights and sirens be? In other words, where could they be coming
from?
d. This poem foreshadows something that is going to happen in the story All American
Boys. What do you think the event is that this poem is foreshadowing? Use just this poem,
not other things you may have heard or read about the novel.