In these activities, students will conduct a close linguistic exploration of the Romeo and Juliet text, which considers the central and deadly role that words play in the lovers' fate. They will also engage in broader tasks that contextualize the play in terms of its relationship to its main source, Brooke's Romeus and Juliet, and the fashion for sonnet writing in the 1590s. Included are discussion questions, primary sources, a compare/contrast chart, and activities.

Students read sonnets, charting the poemsŐ characteristics and using their observations to deduce traditional sonnet forms. They then write original sonnets, using a poem they have analyzed as a model.

This lesson allows students read various sonnets and chart the basic characteristics of the poem, using their observations about traditional sonnet forms. After, students write original sonnets, using one of the poems they have analyzed as a model.

The 11th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 11th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Students move from learning the class rituals and routines and genre features of argument writing in Unit 11.1 to learning about narrative and informational genres in Unit 11.2: The American Short Story. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.

This unit uses William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing as a vehicle to help students consider how a person is powerless in the face of rumor and how reputations can alter lives, both for good and for ill. They will consider comedy and what makes us laugh. They will see how the standards of beauty and societal views toward women have changed since the Elizabethan Age and reflect on reasons for those changes. As students consider the play, they will write on the passages that inspire and plague them and on topics relating to one of the themes in the play. Finally, they will bring Shakespeare’s words to life in individual performances and in group scene presentations.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students read Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing .
Students read two Shakespearean sonnets and excerpts from an Elizabethan morality handbook dealing with types of women, and they respond to them from several different perspectives.
For each work of literature, students do some writing. They learn to write a sonnet; create a Prompt Book; complete a Dialectical Journal; and write an analytical essay about a topic relating to a theme in the play.
Students see Shakespeare’s play as it was intended to be seen: in a performance. They memorize 15 or more lines from the play and perform them for the class. Students take part in a short scene as either a director or an actor.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.

What are society’s expectations with regard to gender roles?
Does humor transcend time? Do we share the same sense of humor as our ancestors?
How do we judge people?
How important is reputation?

BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT (Cold Read)

During this unit, on a day of your choosing, we recommend you administer a Cold Read to assess students’ reading comprehension. For this assessment, students read a text they have never seen before and then respond to multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. The assessment is not included in this course materials.

CLASSROOM FILMS

The Branagh version of Much Ado About Nothing is available on DVD through Netflix and for streaming through Amazon. Other versions are also available on both sites.

In this lesson, students will take the second in a series of three Cold Write assessments in the narrative genre. The Benchmark Assessment (Cold Write) is an unassisted and unrevised piece of writing whose purpose is to provide a quick gauge of the student’s mastery of the characteristics of a given genre. Today’s Benchmark Assessment (Cold Write) measures and provides a benchmark of students’ mastery of narrative writing. Following this, students will analyze the basic parts of a sonnet and learn how they, too, can create one.

In this lesson, students will gain a fuller understanding of the beauty standards for women in Elizabethan England. This understanding will help them appreciate Sonnets 130 and 18 and how Shakespeare plays with his readers’ expectations.

In this lesson, students will be reintroduced to William Shakespeare and his world. To prepare to study his language more closely, they will analyze humor and see if they can identify just what it is that makes something funny.

Here, read the poems, epistles, sonnets, and fragments of John Keats. Includes a four-page introduction discussing Keats' life and career.

Access the complete works of William Shakespeare - all his plays, sonnets and other poetry - with a lot of interesting tools to aid in serious studies of the Bard's works. Each of the works is completely searchable. In addition, the site offers a concordance which allows users to trace all uses Shakespeare made of any particular word. Users can also view sonnets individually, or choose any two to examine side by side.

Compilation of various English poems. The poems are classified chronologically, alphabetically (by author), by title, and by first lines.

Explore this comprehensive site featuring lesson plans about Shakespeare's plays and life in Elizabethan England.

A comprehensive site dedicated to the English sonnet. Site includes numerous pages grouped by country of origin and historic period. Also included is literary criticism of various sonnets and advice on how to write a sonnet. Click on the pictured links for find the desired information.