Common Core Standards: RL.9-10.6, RI.9-10.7, RL.9-10.3 Wednesday, March 6th, 2019 Aim: Why should we learn about William Shakespeare’s life and the novel’s themes in preparation for reading Romeo and Juliet? Objective:Students will familiarize themselves with William Shakespeare, his life, and time period to be able to better understand Romeo and Juliet. Do Now: Answer one of the following questions. 1.) What makes for a good love story? 2.) What makes a movie, TV show, or work of literature a “classic”?

Common Core Standards: RL.9-10.6, RI.9-10.7, RL.9-10.3 Wednesday, March 6th, 2019 Aim: Why should we learn about William Shakespeare’s life and the novel’s themes in preparation for reading Romeo and Juliet? Objective: Students will familiarize themselves with William Shakespeare, his life, and time period to be able to better understand Romeo and Juliet. Agenda 1). Do Now: Answer one or both questions, turn and talk with your tablemates. Captains will share with the class. 2). Work Period: Create a K/W/L chart in your notebook. In the "K" column, answer the following: What do you KNOW about William Shakespeare, his works, his background, the time in which he lived, and any other information? Try to fill the entire column if you can. Write at least THREE questions that you WANT to know in the "W" section. Start thinking about what's important to learn about the author of a text that we'll be studying. 3). Mini-Lesson: Review important facts about Shakespeare's life and time period that will be referenced in Romeo and Juliet. 4). Reflections: How do you think learning about William Shakespeare will help you better understand the text? Can you compare or contrast Shakespeare’s life in any way to your own?

Elizabethan England (1558–1603) The time of the English Renaissance There was a high infant mortality rate (No more than 60% of people born lived past their mid-teens) Disease spread at high rates through animals due to poor sanitation. In 1563 the bubonic plague hit London and killed close to 25-33% of the population. Food shortages were another worry, which led to starvation of the elderly and the sick. Queen Elizabeth assumed the crown upon the death of her half-sister, Mary She ruled a peaceful and hopeful Protestant England. A lot of religious tension in England--Catholicism vs. Protestantism; Protestantism was trying to establish itself as the national religion Queen Elizabeth kept England unified and mostly peaceful

Shakespeare’s Life Wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets His words were difficult to comprehend for even Shakespeare's original audiences Shakespeare coined and popularized many words that we use now; Words like assassination, bedroom, countless, fashionable, laughable, lonely, successful Used Iambic Pentameter to help actors remember their lines and alert both actors and audiences what’s important through stressed and unstressed syllables. Shakespeare’s plays were heavy on poetry and poetic language to convey images and depth as there were no sets and very little props in his plays Passed away April 23rd, 1616.

Sonnets and Iambic Pentameter A meter in poetry is made up of patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables. In Iambic Pentameter, each line of a poem or line can be broken down into two-syllable blocks or iambs. Iambs are defined as a unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. What does this really mean though? When we speak we put slightly more emphasis on certain syllables than others, those are the stressed syllables. For example, do we put an emphasis on the first or last syllable of Shakespeare? SHAKE/speare or Shake/SPEARE. Let’s use another word as an example. In the word “Donkey”, which syllable is stressed, which is unstressed. In terms of structure, a Shakespearean sonnet consists of 14 lines and is written in iambic pentameter. It also is composed of 3 quatrains (4 line sections) and one rhyming couplet. The rhyme scheme is as follows abab (quatrain 1), cdcd (quatrain 2), efef (quatrain 3), and gg (rhyming couplet).

At your tables attempt to find which syllables are stressed and which are unstressed. “Two households, both alike in dignity.” “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” “Was he not born of woman? The spirits that know” “Let me not to the marriage of true minds” “As yet but knock, breathe, shine and seek to mend.” “When I do count the clock that tells the time,” “If music be the food of love, play on;” Mark stressed syllables with an accent mark (slanted line above the syllable “/” Mark unstressed syllables with a long “U”

Reflection: How do you think learning about William Shakespeare and his writing will help you better understand the text? OR How do sonnets compare to other forms of poetry you are familiar with?