Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Listening to Poetry: Sounds of the Sonnet

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate how sound influences meaning in poetry by listening to sonnets. They write an analysis after listening to and reading sonnets.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Analyzing Sonnets

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Model for your class how to craft an analysis of a sonnet by examining the literary techniques used, the background of the poet, and critical reviews of the poem. As guided practice, learners are assigned a sonnet, complete a preliminary...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Sonnet Challenge

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students are given information about two popular sonnet forms-English and Italian. They are given the rules for writing a sonnet. Students are asked what type of sonnet they would use. They are each given a sheet of paper and asked...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Listening to Poetry: Sounds of the Sonnet

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students experience and enjoy the sounds of poetry. They erform sound experiments with sonnets and closely read and analyze a sonnet by Shakespeare. Students write an analysis of how sound affects meaning in a sonnet chosen from the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sonnets

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students examine the structure of sonnets. They compare and contrast them with modern day poetry. They write their own sonnet after changing the language in another sonnet to see why the author choosed certain words.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring the Sonnet

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Pupils research English/Shakespearean and Italian/Petrarchan sonnet forms. They write an original sonnet on their preferred form (English or Italian), write the poem on the wordprocessor and publish and post it on the net at the Sonnet...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Superb Sonnets

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students identify and compare the characteristics of both Italian and English sonnets. They read examples of each, then write an original sonnet in either the Italian or English style.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The English Sonnet: Michael Drayton

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Young scholars discover literature by conducting a free writing experiment. For this sonnet lesson, students read the sonnet "The Parting" and compare it to modern-day songs about breaking up. Young scholars listen to pop music in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Sonnet: Renaissance Representative

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars compose couplets, quatrains, and sonnets after learning about Italian and English sonnets. In this sonnets lesson plan, students read sonnets, analyze them, connect them to the Renaissance and present times, and then write...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Tear him for his bad verses:" Cinna the poet and Shakespeare's Sonnets

For Teachers 10th Standards
Poor Cinna, the poet. His dream of “things unlucky” certainly comes true as the mob tears him apart, at first because they mistake him for Cinna, the conspirator, and then continue to “tear him to pieces for his bad verses.” As part of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Here's much to do with hate, but more with love": The Prologue in Romeo and Juliet

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students participate in a guide close reading of the Prologue to Romeo and Juliet. They write a prologue sonnet to another piece of literature they have read.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sonnet 130

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students identify and interpret the structural features of literature through the study, analysis and production of Poetry. Including the structural characteristics. Students write a sonnet including required elements, such as length,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wordsworth's Poetry

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students read Wordsworth sonnet, "The World is Too Much With Us," and complete reader response criticsm worksheets. They examine the poet's ideas and techniques then write a letter to Mr. Wordsworth and explain how he might feel about...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Poetics of Hip Hop

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers consider the role of rhythm, form, diction, and sound in poetry. In this integrated arts lesson, students discuss the attributes of poetry as they analyze Shakespearean sonnets, hip hop music lyrics, and poems by...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Statue of Liberty: Bringing the 'New Colossus' to America

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners discuss meaning of symbols associated with Statue of Liberty, read and analyze Emma Lazarus' sonnet, "The New Colossus," and write persuasive letter to a nineteenth-century audience to gain support for bringing statue to America.
Lesson Plan
Poetry Out Loud

Creating "Golden Shovel" Poems

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Get even your most reluctant pupils reading, writing, reciting, and maybe even enjoying poetry! A four day lesson, young writers learn about Golden Shovel poems: a poem format that uses borrowed words from other poems as the last words...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Analyzing the Use of Irony in a Short Story

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

10 Things I Hate about Shakespeare

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students look at the works of Shakespeare to describe and explain relationships among some of the different texts. The writing of the learners has the intent of increasing comprehension, interpretation, and critical analysis skills.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry Through the Eyes of An Actor

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students examine the ways poetry has been used by actors. After reading a poem, they discuss the characters and the differences in how the male and female students view them. In groups, they read a few of Shakespeare's sonnets and write...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry Unit

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners, after examining three forms of poetry, review and document a variety of literary terms. Vocabulary words are enveloped into the literary terms as well and are cited from each selection by each student.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Responding To Literature

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners prepare for and respond to literature selections. This package includes nineteen lessons, each covering a different reading selection. Pre-reading and response activities are included for each instructional activity as well as...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Concept of the Hero

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Learners explore the symbolic implications for the concept of the hero with a focus on the Beowulf theme. In this hero concept lesson, students find specific examples of monsters from Beowulf to complete the chart. Learners list the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Shakespeare Project

For Teachers 10th - 11th
Students research the life and times of William Shakespeare and present their research in a variety of ways. They make timelines, act out the story of one of his plays or create word searches.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduction to Poetry

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students determine the rhyme scheme of a poem and find examples of similes. In this poetry analysis lesson, students review definitions needed for the topic and analyze the rhyme or rhythm for the example poems. Students also find...