Literally Poetic

Yesterday in class, we were enjoying the poetic works of Shel Silverstein, one of my absolute favorite authors. After reading the poem, I had all of the students use their fingers to point to the word "charming" in the last stanza.

"Kevin, can you tell me what 'charming' means?"

Kevin looked at me with a look of complete despair. It was obvious that he did not know the answer, but I thought he might be able to make a guess.

"Kevin, it's okay for you to guess. Just take a stab at it."

Taking the pencil in his right hand, he swiftly brought it down and pierced a hole in his paper.

I guess my next lesson will have to be about idioms.