Ta DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM. The force will be strong in the hearts of your young Jedi as they use their lightsabers to strike the accentted syllables in lines from Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope. What a way to learn about the power of iambic pentameter.

Concepts

william shakespeare, literary analysis, iambic pentameter, iambic verse

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Have readers predict which character will speak in iambic pentameter
• Assign groups prologues from different Shakespeare plays, have them mark the stressed and unstressed syllables in the lines and then perform the prologues for the class using their lightsabers

Classroom Considerations

• Check your school's policy before asking class members to post their tweets
• The second in a 10-lesson series

Pros

• The post-lesson reflection includes suggestions for how to improve the lesson
• Includes a template for a lightsaber

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.9-10.4 RL.9-10.7 RL.9-10.9