SYNECTICS LESSON

Presented by William Green

Topic and Mode of Expression
The topic is heroes. As an outcome, the students will be writing a paper on what it means
to be a hero (i.e., what is a hero). Throughout the lesson, the students will be using both
verbal and written modes of expression.
Educational Objectives
Educational purposes are:
· To develop new attitudes and positions
· To develop creativity
· To gain deeper meaning of the concept.
· To attain deeper levels of metaphoric activity.
Specific objectives that I expect the student to accomplish are:
· The student will be able to generate a direct analogy.
· The student will be able to generate a personal analogy.
· The student will be able to generate compressed conflicts and develop
metaphoric thinking.
Lesson Development
PHASE 1: Description
“We are going to begin a unit of study of heroes. I want you to write a short paper on
what it means to be a hero or what is a hero. After you are done, put this paper aside. We
will not look at this paper again until the end of our unit.” (This will take place on the
first day of the unit. Subsequent sections take place on the last day of the unit.)
Stretching Exercises: “Today we are going to try a new lesson to help us to be able to
think more creativity about heroes. This lesson helps us to examine our subject in a new
light. In this lesson we will be generating direct analogies, personal analogies, and
compressed conflicts. I will define and give examples of these three terms.”
“In a direct analogy you find similarities in two objects or ideas that are different or that
you usually do not compare. An example of a direct analogy is how is a cat like a rose. In
a personal analogy you imagine you are the object or different person. An example of a
personal analogy is: Pretend you are a helium balloon being held by a young boy. How
do you feel? A compressed conflicts is when you put together two words that seem to
cause tension or fight each other. Examples of a compressed conflict might be: creative
boredom, happy tears, or an ugly rose.”
The stretching exercises that I will use to help students loosen up and become more
familiar with metaphoric activity are below:
Direct analogies
· How is a person like a plant?
· Which is happier red or orange? Why?
· How is life like a banquet?
· How is a student like a neon sign?
Personal analogies
· Pretend you are a sailboat sailing on a clear day. How do you feel? Clouds are
moving in and it looks like a storm is about to begin. Now how do you feel?
You are caught in this storm. How do you feel? What do you look like? You
have made it into your harbor. Now how do you feel?
· Pretend you are suitcase being taken on a new trip. How do you feel? You
have just found or that you are lost. Now how do you feel? You have been
delivered back to your owner. How do you feel?
Compressed conflicts
· Can you give me an example of something that is funny and sad?
· Can you give me an example of something dangerously safe?
· Can you give me an example of joyful tears?
· How can love be bitter sweet?
PHASE 2: Direct Analogy
“We have been studying about heroes now for the last couple of weeks. From our
activities, many of you probably have a good idea of what you think a hero is. Remember
our very first lesson on heroes? We wrote descriptions on what is hero. We will take out
those papers at the end of our lesson today. First, however, we are going to do one more
activity to help us to see heroes in a different perspective.”
Have a students generate word lists for the following categories: animals, admirable
qualities, occupations, and musical instruments.
“I want everyone to think of the definition of a direct analogy. When you think you
know, share this definition with your neighbor.” Ask for a volunteer to share his or her
definition, and then ask for a volunteer to give an example of a direct analogy, inform the
students that they will be making direct analogies from the word lists generated.
Students create direct analogies from the word lists.
PHASE 3: Personal Analogy
“I want everyone to think of the definition of personal analogy. When you think you
know, share it with your neighbor.” Ask for a volunteer to share or her answer. Then ask
for a volunteer to give an example of a personal analogy. Inform the students that they
will be generating personal analogies.
“Imagine that you are a kite packaged in the store. How do you feel? Someone has just
purchased you and is putting you together. How do you feel? You are flying high in the
clouds. Describe how you feel? Describe how you look? You are tangled up in a tree.
How do you feel? You have been tugged upon and have broken loose. You are now
wandering aimlessly in the sky. How do you feel?”
“Imagine that you are a scuba diver. You are going scuba diving with your friend. You
have just put on your gear and are ready to dive. Everything is beautiful below the ocean.
How do you feel? How do you look? You are getting ready to swim to the surface, and
your friend is out of air. How do you feel? You share your tank with him. How do you
feel? You both arrive safely to the surface. How do you feel?”
“Pretend that you are an inactive volcano. How do you feel? You are about to erupt. Now
how do you feel? You are erupting. How do you look? You have stopped erupting. Now
how do you feel?”
PHASE 4: Compressed Conflict
Present pairs of words to the students. Tell them to put thumbs up if the example is a
compressed conflict, and thumbs down if the example is not. This will help check for
understanding. Ask for a volunteer to give definition for a compressed conflict.
Have the students generate compressed conflicts (words that fight each other) from the
word lists. Record these.
PHASE 5: New Direct Analogy
From the list of compressed conflicts, have the students elicit direct analogies. For some
structure the teacher may want to ask how one of the compressed conflicts is like the
concept of a hero.
PHASE 6: Re-examination of the Original Task
“Now I would like you to write a new paper on the meaning of a hero. In your paper
consider all the activities we have done. Please write your description using at least one
of the compressed conflicts we have generated. If you see another compressed conflict
that can be made from our word lists and would rather use it, feel free to.”
After the students have rewritten the papers, have some students share their first paper
and then their second paper. Ask which paper they like better. After reading all the
papers, discuss heroism may mean different things to different people.