The third lesson of five in an eighth-grade poetry unit has young scholars comparing Shakespearean sonnets with Petrarchan sonnets. To begin, they examine the different structures of the two forms and their different rhyme schemes. After...

What was the relationship like between George and Martha Washington? To protect their privacy, Martha Washington destroyed all her husband’s letters after his death so historians have little evidence of their lives together. Two letters...

Two sonnets provide seventh graders with examples of Shakespearean sonnets. After discussing the story of the poems and analyzing their rhyme scheme and rhythm, young poets craft a Shakespearian sonnet and share their work with two...

Combine poetry and reading comprehension with an engaging writing assignment. Readers of The Winter's Tale craft a sonnet in the voice of one of the characters in Shakespeare's play.

It's fun to write a poem with iambs! Practice using iambs in all types of different poems with an online poetry lesson.

Are your middle schoolers writing a sonnet? Here's a worksheet to help them craft their first sonnet! Make edits as you see necessary. 

Looking for a great lesson to teach your class everything they need to know about Shakespearean sonnets? Here's such a lesson. "Sonnet #18" launches a study of the Shakespearean sonnet. Scholars watch two Prezi presentations that provide...

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...

Who is Emmet Till? An important historical figure, your kids will be shocked by his story! Discover the details of his life and collaborate to write a crown of sonnets in the style of Marilyn Nelson.

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...

Young scholars investigate how sound influences meaning in poetry by listening to sonnets. They write an analysis after listening to and reading sonnets.

Young poets are asked to craft a poem in the voice of a first person narrator, a dramatic monologue of sorts, that reveals not only a dramatic situation but something of the narrator's character as well.

Eighth graders craft a Petrarchan sonnet and respond to a performance assessment to demonstrate what they have learned in this five-lesson poetry unit.

To assess what scholars have learned throughout a five-lesson poetry unit, seventh graders first craft a Shakespearean sonnet based on a poem they have studied. In part two of the assessment, scholars complete a four-texts performance task.

A six-week unit takes high schoolers through various works of African-American literature, including poems, plays, and short stories. The lesson plan format includes a week-by-week description of activities, goals, materials, and...

Poetry isn't all sonnets and rhyming couplets! Introduce your class to three fun types of poetry: shape poems, acrostic poems, and diamante poems. Each type is explained, and an example is provided. Challenge your class to write one in...

Explore the concept of rhyme scheme within a Shakespearean sonnet. After writing out their favorite (appropriate!) rap song and explaining why they like it, middle schoolers define a rhyme scheme. Afterward, they examine a Shakespearean...

Examine two of Sor Juana's sonnets in depth. Learners first listen to an audio recording or a reading of the sonnets and then analyze the structure and form, paying attention to elements of the Baroque and el gongorismo. Assess student...

Tenth graders decide if the song lyrics that they listen to, could be considered a sonnet or a poem. They are invited to explore lyrics and their meaning. Students write a persuading argument on whatever they decide, but it must be...

Young scholars practice reading sonnets line by line to find the message of the sonnet.  In this sonnet lesson, students read a sonnet one line at a time as the teacher projects it for the entire class.  As each line is shown,...

High schoolers 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...

Get even your most reluctant pupils reading, writing, reciting, and maybe even enjoying poetry! A four day activity, young writers learn about Golden Shovel poems: a poem format that uses borrowed words from other poems as the last words...

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...

In this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 8 short answer and essay choice questions based on various Shakespearean sonnets. Students may also access an online quiz on the sonnets using the link...