Intro to Shakespeare:

Sonnets
Lesson Plan for Grade 9/10, English/Language Arts
Prepared by Ms. Katie Fauria
16 June 2017

OVERVIEW

By the end of the lesson, students will be familiar with the structure of an Elizabethan sonnet. Students
will read sonnets by Shakespeare and will analyze them by looking at the structural aspects of the sonnet
as well as figurative language and implicit and explicit meaning. Then, they will work together to create
their own sonnet to demonstrate their knowledge.

STANDARDS ADDRESSED

1. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1 : Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support

analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

2. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2 : Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in

detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and
refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

3. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.4 : Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are

used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of
specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and
place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

4. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.10 : By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature,

including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9-10 complexity band proficiently, with
scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

OBJECTIVES

1. Become familiar with aspects of the structure of sonnets.

2. Begin analyzing sonnets for by looking at different aspects: structure, figurative language, and
surface and implicit meaning.
3. Apply their knowledge to write their own sonnets.

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IMPLEMENTATION
Group work, explicit vocabulary teaching, modeling, joint construction.
TEACHING
STRATEGIES

45-50 minutes
TIME ALLOTMENT

AUTHORS
COMMENTS AND
REFLECTIONS

PROCEDURE
This is an activity to introduce the topic, to build semantic knowledge,
ANTICIPATORY SET etc.

Begin class by saying, I want you to raise your hand if youve heard this before: Are you from
Tennessee because youre the only ten I see? Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by
again? Then ask students for their best clean pickup lines. After a few volunteers, then ask them, How
about this one: Shall I compare thee to a summers day? Explain how in Elizabethan times sonnets were
written as love poems, as expressions of adoration, for significant others or for people the writer wanted
to become involved with or for people the writer never met but were inspired by. In some ways, sonnets
during Shakespeares time were pickup lines!

This is how the instructor gives specific details or information, or

DIRECT INSTRUCTION teaches a skill or idea

Explain the structural aspects of a sonnet: meter (iambic pentameter), amount of lines, rhyme scheme, and
volta. Define volta, iambic pentameter. Explain how stress of syllables in a line works and how to mark
a line to show stress of syllables. Put up on an overhead or on a SmartBoard Shakespeares Sonnet 18
(Shall I compare thee to a summers day?). Then remind them of how to analyze a poem: look for
figurative language, analyze word choice, and alternative meanings.

This is an opportunity to model the task, to collaboratively create

GUIDED PRACTICE meaning, etc.

Re-read the first line in iambic pentameter and tap out the rhythm on a desk or on your torso. Mark up
the first line to show stress of syllables. Have students help you figure out the next few lines by tapping
out the line for iambic pentameter with you and have them help you mark up the next few lines to show
stress. Have them help you identify the volta and give reasoning why. Work together with them to

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analyze the sonnet by looking at figurative language, syntax and word choice, and implied and explicit
meaning.

This is where students will work on their own to complete the task
INDEPENDENT PRACTICE begun in the guided practice, or where they will apply the
skills/information they learned in the guided practice section to a new
task

Have students to split into the groups assigned or work in groups with their tablemates. Pass out other
sonnets by Shakespeare to the groups and have them work together to mark up the sonnets according to:
rhyme scheme, meter, figurative language, syntax and word choice, implied and explicit meaning, and
find the volta. Some sonnets to use: Sonnet 130 (My mistresss eyes are nothing like the sun), Sonnet 138
(When my love swears that she is made of truth), Sonnet 24 (Mine eye hath playd the painter and hath
stelld), Sonnet 116 (Let me not to the marriage of true minds), or Sonnet 104 (To me, fair friend, you can
never be old).

This is where students will demonstrate what they have learned from
ASSESSMENT the lesson.

Have students work together in groups or by themselves to write their own sonnet in the style of
Shakespeares sonnets. Make sure they keep in mind the aspects of an Elizabethan sonnet that have been
gone over in class. Write on the whiteboard the rhyme scheme so they can create their own graphic
organizer to help them write a sonnet.

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES

Overhead projector/ELMO system with a tablet or laptop. Whiteboard with markers and erasers or
tablet/laptop with Stoodle (app thats a virtual whiteboard). Shakespeare sonnets as handouts (poems are
double spaced to allow for note-taking).