New ELAR Standards: What should our lessons look like?

I started thinking these thoughts when I was asked to help administrators understand what they are looking for in lessons that help the gaps we are seeing in performance for ELL and SPED students. I observed a lesson where the teacher was using a text that had figurative language and realized that there are many more steps to the process that we are addressing in our instruction. Here's my first draft of thoughts. 

1. Figurative language has a purpose: Writers use figurative language to help readers see what they say, understand what they mean, and feel empathy for the characters or emotions about the topic. When the writer says the character was a fish out of water, the author wants you to understand the situation the character is in. The writer wants the reader to understand how that is changing the character (dynamic vs static character), is connected to the setting (how the setting influences plot), and how the dilemmas the character faces influence their next actions (plot, conflict, and rising action.)
2. Figurative language has a process: There are steps we go through to analyze figurative language. When the writer says that the character is a fish out of water, we are to first think literally about what that means. We are to visualize a fish out of water: see it flopping awkwardly in contrast to the graceful moves it can make in water, hear it gasping and slamming its scales against the ground, and imagine what actions need to take place to stop it’s pain. Second, we must think about what that means. That the fish is not thriving. That the fish will die. That something has to change. Third, we must think about how this image helps the author explain what the character is feeling and why. Melanie is a fish out of water because she doesn’t fit in with her peer group. We connect that with other text evidence that she has changed her appearance (hair and makeup) and that other girls are establishing rules that don’t make sense (specific colors of hairbows on each day, confrontations and rude remarks about how dumb she is, etc.).
3. Figurative language is a tool for comprehension and inference: Because we have a process for analyzing figurative language, we can now make some decisions about the text. Because the figurative language helps us make a movie in our minds, we have more cognitive space to understand more complex reading acts. We can infer that Melanie is not going to survive in this friend group. We understand that when her face is white as a ghost that the situation is literally affecting her breathing – just like a fish out of water. We realize that something must change to end her suffering. We can make predictions about what the character might do next.
4. Figurative language is a tool for composition: Analyzing figurative language without application stops too short. We must think about how we can write with figurative language as well. In what place in our text would we like our reader to visualize our character? How might an idiom like fish out of water help the reader understand very quickly what we are trying to show them about the character? How might a metaphor help the reader make inferences about the strength of that character’s emotion and experience?

Then, I realized that there's much more to say about this, particularly in light of our new ELAR standards. I've fleshed out the ideas in this ppt. Check out the notes section for explanation and commentary.