A Lump of Playdoh – How to Make Metaphors

My students walked into the classroom to see a ball of playdoh wrapped in wax paper sitting on their desks.

The directions were pretty simple: See how many different objects you can make with the amount of dough you have. No trading or combining, you can only use what you have. I gave them a few ideas to get them started, and then for about twenty minutes they played.

At first, they stuck with the basics. One kid made the letter I, the number 1, and a J. The more they worked though, the more creative they got.  I also noticed they would say things like, “If I can make this, I wonder if I can try this…”  This is exactly what I hoped would happen.

Of course I turned the activity into a writing assignment. This is English class, after all.  They packed up their playdoh (after I assured them they could keep it – sorry parents), and turned their worksheets over for a little reflection.  I had them answer two questions:

1. How is working with a lump of playdoh like writing Creative Nonfiction?

A few answers:

You can turn what you thought was a mess into something amazing.

Both allow me to bring them “to life.” Also, both help me to explore and discover new angles and perspectives.

Because a blob of playdoh is the truth and you can twist the truth into something new. (Clearly this kid is going to be a CNF expert someday.)

We get to mold things that are rather plain and grim into something beautiful.

2. If you are made in the image of God, and God is a creator, then you are a creator, too. How can you apply this to your writing?

To be a creator you have to give life to something. In order to successfully become a creative writer you have to give life or love to a topic or idea.

We have one good idea for a story but sometimes it doesn’t turn out how we want. However, we have to be confident and take risks just like God does with us. A boring story is going to remain boring until you pick it up and mold it into something interesting and of good quality.

We can look at the stuff he has done and the moments he has created in our lives and write about them.

We are called to create, so we can write about the great life God has given us. We can share our thankfulness (our finished stories) with others, too.  It would be a shame to keep it all to ourselves.

We must write about what we don’t want to write as God has to work with some things (sin) he doesn’t want to work with.

A few days ago, while the class was working on CNF rough drafts, one of my students was concerned that what she was writing was too sad. I reminded her of the playdoh and told her to see what she can create from what she’d be given. About a half an hour later she called me over and tapped on her notebook paper excitedly, telling me to read what she’d just wrote.  It was a bit of dialogue between two people in her story and it was funny. “I totally forgot about that part,” she said.  “It’s funny, isn’t it? I forgot that something funny happened.”

Another kid, who felt miserable because his story didn’t have a bit of conflict in it, almost fell out of his chair in glee when he discovered a piece of tension in his story. He never reads from his writing, but on this day, he proudly read what he’d found out.

Twisting the truth into something new.  That’s what I think is going on in my classroom right now. Their stories are still true.  I think the students are learning how to make them shine a bit more.