McNeese State University

Department of Education Professions

Lesson Plan Template
Name Katelynn Adrian Email Msu-kadrian@student.mcneese.edu Phone 33757406747
Primary Subject Area English Grade Level 12th
Analyzing Shakespeare’s “Sonnet
Title of Lesson 12" and Woodworth’s “We Are Approximate duration 1hr
Seven”

Overview of Lesson
Two poems will be read, analyzed, and compared.
Essential Question(s)
What are the themes found in each poem?
Prior Knowledge Expected of Students
Know who Shakespeare is
Common Core Learning Standards
Cite strong, thorough, and relevant textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text,
including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Educational Technology Standards
Cite strong, thorough, and relevant textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text,
including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Additional Standards

Interdisciplinary Connections
History references when talking about authors and the setting of the poems

Student Outcomes
The learner will be able to analyze and dissect a poem on their own.
Lesson Procedures
Pre-Planned Seed
Time Step-by-Step Lesson Procedures with Embedded Coding
Questions
 5 min 1. Ask question and discuss answers 1. In Sonnet 12 by
a. -by days and nights passing: And see the brave day sunk in hideous night (Shakespeare 2) Shakespeare, how
-seasons changing: does he show the
And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves passing of time in
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard (Shakespeare 7-8) the poem?

2.What does
10 min 2. You can’t slow down time and I think he’s saying that the person he is speaking to should Shakespeare mean
have a child before death takes him away. when he states ” And
nothing ‘gainst Time’s
scythe can make
defense/Save breed, to
brave him when he
takes thee hence”
(Shakespeare 13-14)?
Who is taking him away
and where are they
taking him?

3. What 3 colours
3. He uses silver and white, symbolizes old age: are referenced in
5 min Shakespeare’s
And sable curls all silver’d o’er with white (Shakespeare 4) poem? What do they
symbolize and how
He uses green, symbolizes youth: do they contribute to
the mood of the
And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves poem?

Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard

Students should know understand the sumbols in this poem and comprehend the meaning behind the
words

“Read first line”

 4. He mentions a baby, feeling everything in his limbs and he mentions death. I think it’s 4. In William
15min eerie, because when we think of newborns, we think of hope and life and happiness. I Wordsworth’s poem,
do find this approach very effective. It lent a very dark tone to the poem. ‘We Are Seven’, how
does the author create
eeriness at the
beginning of the poem?
Do you find this
approach effective?

5min 5. What is the author and the young girl in the poem discussing? Where are her siblings? 5. The author and the
young girl are discussing her
siblings.

-”Seven are we;

And two of us at
Conway dwell,

And two are gone to sea.

“Two of us in the church-yard

lie,

My sister and my brother;

And, in the church-yard

cottage, I

Dwell near them with my

mother.”
 5min 6. 1798. Yes, many children died back then because of malnutrition and they didn’t have 6. Look at the year this
the medicinal knowledge we have today. poem was written; does
the time period have
–In bed she moaning lay, any significance on why
the young girl had two
Children in a more modern time would have gone to a hospital or a doctor and would siblings die?
probably have survived what this young girl died from.

Students should now understand this poem as well.

Students should know the rhythmic scheme of these two poems now.

7. How is rhythm created

5min 7. ababcdcdefefgg; only 1 stanza; 14 lines in this poem as you
read each line? How
many lines are in each
stanza?

Which of the two poems did

10min students will then give personal opinions you enjoy the most and why?
Be sure to provide your own
personal opinion while also
referencing the structure of the
poem.

Teacher Materials Student Materials Technology Resources References

Copy of poems with personal Copy of poems that they can Projector (optional) to project Shakespeare’s Sonnet 12 and
notes write on sonnet on board Woodworth’s We Are Seven
Relevance/Rationale
Understanding sonnets helps with the understanding of all kinds of poetry. Analysis skills always help with real world situations.
 Exploration, Extensions, and Supplemental
Continue reading more poems
Assessment Criteria for Success
Informal-watch class go through poem before discussion; formal-small quiz after discussion at the end of class
Accommodations and Access for All

Post-Lesson Reflection