Imagination and Words
Fate versus Self-Determination
1:3:2:Clap it, Rap it: Build a Graffiti Wall
TITLE OF LESSON
English 1 Unit 3 Lesson 2 – Clap it, Rap it: Build a Graffiti Wall
TIME ESTIMATE FOR THIS LESSON
One class period
ALIGNMENT WITH STANDARDS
California – Eng 9-10: R1.0-3, 2.0, 3.0, 3.10, L/S1.0-1, 1.11, 2.0, 2.4a-d
MATERIALS
Romeo and Juliet, a class set
Paper for Graffiti Wall submissions
Markers
LESSON OBJECTIVES
• To observe the patterns and rules governing the composing of sonnets
• To create individual sonnets
• To present the works to the class
• To affix the sonnets to a Graffiti Wall in the classroom for display
• To understand the idea of Universal Truths and how they apply to Romeo and Juliet
• To understand that good works of literature transcend time and appeal to all audiences
• To define fate and self-determination
• To begin to apply the concepts of fate and self-determination to the play
FOCUS AND MOTIVATE STUDENTS – WARM-UP ACTIVITY
1) Homework Check – Stamp all homework. Collect complete set designs. Give credit tonight and post in the
room so that all can see for tomorrow, as students will be voting on the set design they would most like to
see used for the next 9 weeks. Collect signed syllabus. Remind students who have not turned them in that
tomorrow they will be marked late. Check and give credit to students who have their binders with them
appropriately labeled.
2) Daily Log – Have students copy down their Daily Log entry below.
3) Discussion – Why read Romeo and Juliet? Ask students why they think people continue to read and
perform a play that is 500 years old. Take as many answers as possible.
4) Mind Web – Write the words Universal Truth on the front board. Ask students to copy the words onto a
separate sheet of paper in the middle of the page. They are about to create a Mind Web. First, ask them
what they think a universal truth is. You can help them to figure it out if you have them take the two words
separately. A universal truth is an idea/truth that transcends time, race, gender, class, age, religion, and
culture. Write the definition underneath the words you have written on the front board. The idea is that all
people everywhere could easily understand and relate to a Universal Truth. Now, have students get into
their groups. Tell them they will have five minutes to write out as many universal truths as they can think
of on their Mind Web.
5) Presentations – At the end of five minutes, call time. Ask each group to present their ideas of universal
truths (e.g., honor, trust, truth, jealousy, hatred, immortality, beauty, etc.). Write them in the form of a Mind
Web on the front board. Be sure everyone can agree that the ideas listed meet the requirements of the
definition. Remind students that if you are writing, they are writing too. All students should be adding any
ideas they don’t have to their Mind Web. When all groups have presented, ask students which of the
universal truths listed do they think they will find in Romeo and Juliet. Yes, one of the reasons Romeo and
Juliet (along with many other older classics) is read, performed, and studied is that it embodies Universal
Truths. Today, they begin their study of Romeo and Juliet, too. Collect their Mind Webs.
Date
Journal
Lecture
Activity
Readings
Homework
© 2001 ESubjects Inc. All rights reserved.
1
Imagination and Words
Fate versus Self-Determination
Discussion
Discuss sonnets
and couplets in
Shakespeare.
1:3:2:Clap it, Rap it: Build a Graffiti Wall
Write group sonnets,
quatrains, and couplets.
Romeo and
Juliet, The
Prologue
1.
Present the poetry.
Help build a Graffiti Wall.
2.
3.
Finish writing your
sonnet. Practice reading
it out loud tonight. You
will perform it in class
tomorrow.
Study vocabulary to date.
Define the words fate
and self-determination.
ACTIVITIES – INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP
1.
Reading a Play – Plays are meant to be heard, to be performed. So students will be acting out/performing the
scenes in Romeo and Juliet frequently. The best way to start is to dive right in. Ask students to stand and form a
circle. Pass out a copy of the Prologue (found in the Readings section of this unit). Tell students that often the
most difficult part of Shakespeare is the language. But it is Shakespeare’s clever use of language to convey
complex ideas that makes the play so appealing to so many people. It takes some getting used to and some
work. So students will be helping each other to try to access Shakespeare’s ideas. They will start by reading the
Prologue together to get a feel for the rhythm (meter) and rhyme. Ask for a volunteer to begin reading. Before
students begin reading, tell them that they need to listen carefully to instructions. Ask the volunteer if he/she
would like to go to the right or the left. Whichever way the student chooses, tell the class they will read in that
direction until they have finished the Prologue. Everyone must participate. No passing. They just have to give it
their best shot. No one will make any comments about how someone else reads. They are all in it together. Each
reader should read one line only. If someone forgets and reads more than a line, everyone has to start over until
the entire Prologue is read correctly. So everyone needs to pay attention. Tell students their goal is to have no
pauses between readers. Listen carefully to make sure that students read only to the end of one line. When they
have read the entire Prologue correctly, stop and ask them what they noticed about what they read. Write their
ideas about what they read on the front board.
2.
Reading 2 – Now, tell students they are going to read again. This time, each student will read to the punctuation
stops, this includes semi-colons and periods, not commas. If a student slips and reads past the punctuation stops,
they have to start over. Again, the goal is to have the students create a smooth reading of the entire Prologue
with no pauses between readers. Listen carefully to make sure that students read only to the end of the
punctuation. When they have read the entire Prologue carefully, stop and ask them what they noticed this time.
Was this a clearer reading that helped them understand the text better?
3.
Reading 3 – Now they are going to read the text a third time. This time, each student is to read to the end of a
sentence. The same rules apply. Listen carefully to make sure that each student reads to the end of the sentence.
When they have successfully completed the reading, ask them if they noticed anything different about what they
read. How were the readings different? And what did each reading emphasize differently than the others? Ask
them about how the text sounded with each reading. What did they notice hearing it that they might not have
noticed when they were reading or if they had read it silently? It may take some prompting or reference to
music, but students should be able to pick out both the rhyme scheme (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG) and the meter
or rhythm (iambic pentameter). If they are not familiar with iambic pentameter, you may have to teach about
meter.
Quick Teach: In poetry, meter is measured in feet. A common metric foot, the one in which most of
Shakespeare's plays were written, is an iamb, measured as one unstressed followed by one stressed syllable.
Today is pronounced like an iamb, as is above. To note the stresses, we normally use a
∪
above an unstressed
syllable and a ' above a stressed syllable. Because lines are (meter is) measured based on the number of stressed
syllables, a line of iambic pentameter would have how many stresses? Do they know what the prefix pentameans? Some may know that it means five, otherwise, tell them. Thus, iambic pentameter means verse with
lines of five iambs, since each iamb has one stressed syllable.
© 2001 ESubjects Inc. All rights reserved.
2
Imagination and Words
Fate versus Self-Determination
1:3:2:Clap it, Rap it: Build a Graffiti Wall
Tell them that the prologue is a sonnet. Ask them if they can think of anything similar today (music, rap,
poetry). Point out that the entire play is a poem. Finally, tell students that there are many ways to perform and
read Romeo and Juliet. Today, they looked at three. As directors and actors (which they will all be), they will
have the opportunity to choose the way that best conveys the ideas (Universal Truths) found in the play. First,
they must discover what those ideas are. So their job now is to get into their groups and decide what the
Prologue means.
4.
Deciphering Meaning – Assign group roles. Assign each group a portion of the Prologue, depending on your
class size. Tell them they will have five minutes to translate the meaning of the lines they have been assigned.
5.
Presentations – At the end of five minutes, call time. Ask each group (in order of the occurrence of the lines in
the Prologue) to present their interpretation of the meaning of their lines. All students should be writing down
the meaning next to the lines on their handout. Make sure that you agree with their interpretation and that the
rest of the class does, too. When all lines have been deciphered, ask students what the purpose of the Prologue
is. Why would a chorus of people read this out loud together? Shakespeare is setting the audience up for what?
To expect these things in the play. Is that giving the play away or hooking his audience? According to the
Prologue, what Universal Truths will the students be looking forward to in the play? Finally, tell students that
this unit is about the idea of fate versus self-determination.
6.
Creating a Sonnet – Again, they may or may not have studied sonnets before, so you may have to do some
background teaching here or you may not. If you do, a quick synopsis is that there are two primary forms of
sonnets (there are other forms also), the Italian (also known as the Petrarchan, as Petrarch was the best known
writer of Italian sonnets) and the English (also known as the Elizabethan, as it was most popular during the
reign of Elizabeth I, Shakespeare's time). All sonnets have 14 lines and a highly structured rhyme scheme
(varied) and meter (iambic pentameter). The Italian sonnet is written in two stanzas, the first of 8 lines (the
rhyme of these lines is always ABBAABBA) the other of 6 lines. The English sonnet is normally written in 3
sets of 4 lines, followed by a couplet. In a Shakespearean sonnet, the rhyme scheme is almost always ABAB
CDCD EFEF GG, but in English sonnets in general there is leeway: ABBA CDDC, ABAB CDDC, and so on.
Because they are reading Shakespeare, they will be writing an Elizabethan/English sonnet.
Post the rules of a sonnet: Rhyme scheme – ABAB CDCD EFEF GG; 14 lines; iambic pentameter. Have
students assign group roles (see Group Roles below). Tell them they must create a group sonnet. They will
present the sonnet to the class tomorrow. All group members must present. So every member should have a
copy of the complete poem. They should make sure they have written down who will be reading which part of
the poem before they leave the room today. Using the information from the prologue and the universal truths
discussed, create an original sonnet. They will write these on sheets of paper that will be posted to a Graffiti
Wall tomorrow. They can use any size, color, or design of paper they choose, and may illustrate their work.
Remind them that they should try reading their work aloud, clapping it out, or echoing it to see if it has the same
“music” as the sonnet in the Prologue.
7.
Check in with groups as they write.
8.
Homework Review – As groups finish, they may practice reading their work out loud, or designing their
submission for the Graffiti Wall. If they do not finish creating their sonnet in class, the whole group is going to
have to meet outside of class to finish it. That means, they may want to exchange phone numbers to work at
home tonight, or meet at lunch, or meet after school.
HOMEWORK
1) Finish writing your sonnet. Practice reading it out loud tonight. You will perform it in class tomorrow.
2) Study vocabulary to date.
3) Define the words fate and self-determination.
GROUP ROLES
© 2001 ESubjects Inc. All rights reserved.
3
Imagination and Words
Fate versus Self-Determination
1:3:2:Clap it, Rap it: Build a Graffiti Wall
Facilitator – Your job is to keep the group focused on the task at hand and to help them identify possible lines for
rewriting. It is not your job to come up with the ideas. It is your job to encourage/help other group members to
come up with the ideas.
Notetaker – Your job is to keep notes on the new sonnet or couplet, and write the final draft for the Graffiti Wall.
It is not your job to generate all of the ideas. It is your job to help others to give you as many ideas as possible to
write.
Presenter – Your job will be to help your group members to present the sonnet or couplet. It is not your job to
conduct the entire presentation.
Process Observer – Your job is to observe how other members of your group work together. It is not your job to
say anything to them about what you are observing during the exercise, but you will report back to them after the
exercise is complete.
DOCUMENTATION FOR PORTFOLIO
Unit 1
•
Final Exam Unit 1
•
Hero Myth
•
Trickster Myth
•
Monster Myth
•
Creation Myth
Unit 3
None
Unit 2
Final Project #1: Creating Your Own
Autobiography Web Page
•
Final Project #2: Book Project of all of their
writings to date: 4 Autobiographical Incidents, 2
Evaluation Essays, and 4 Myths
•
Final Exam Unit 2
•
Unit 4
None
© 2001 ESubjects Inc. All rights reserved.
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