1. Homework check. Students got out L32, their answers to Sonnet 130. I checked their homework as I walked around. During that time, we also listened to Billy Collins’s “Litany” after reviewing some of the similes in Shakespeare and Petrarch’s sonnets.
2. Homework for tonight. Students picked up tonight’s homework assignment at the door: Rhythm Homework web. Students learned about why their poem only has to be four lines long (because Ms. G. could only write that many lines of metered poetry in high school). During the story, we reviewed terminology about sonnets.
3. Rhythm and Meter Notes. Students gave examples of nursery rhymes — Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet — that use rhythm. Then, students took notes on rhythm on L33. If you were absent, you need to get notes from a friend.
4. Rhythm and Meter Practice. In small groups of their choosing, students received a set of four poems and a wet-erase marker. They scanned the poems, marked the rhythm and meter, and explained how the rhythm and meter were related to the meaning of the poem. Here are the poems we used: rhythm cards.
HW: Write a four (or more) line poem using rhythm and meter. Then, scan the poem to show the stressed and unstressed syllables.
ALEXA GARVOILLE 