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LEARN NC was a program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education from 1997 - 2013. It provided lesson plans, professional development, and innovative web resources to support teachers, build community, and improve K-12 education in North Carolina.

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NCTE CAEP Standards 3, 5

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NCTE/CAEP Standard 3, 5

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From frustration...

...to understanding

Don't let an abstruse lexicon heighten your trepidation. Rewordify.com can assuage your anxiety.

Don't let a difficult and confusing word list increase your fear and nervousness. Rewordify.com can calm your fear and stress.

Rewordify.com simplifies difficult English. Enter hard sentences (or whole chapters) into the yellow box at the top of the page. (You can also enter a web site URL.) Click Rewordify text and you'll instantly see an easier version, for fast understanding. The reworded words are highlighted- click them to hear and learn the original harder word. You can change how the highlighting works to match the way you learn!

Do you dislike dictionaries because they're confusing and unhelpful? You'll love Rewordify.com's clear, easy-to-understand definitions-they change to match the original word or phrase's part of speech, verb tense, and singular/plural form, so they make sense. Our amazing Rewordifying Engine is what makes it all possible, and no other web site has it.

Want to see something now? Click Classic Literature at the top and start reading-easier.

Learn more words faster. Our exclusive Learning Sessions actively teach you words so you learn them. Any time you paste in a block of text, our software finds all the hard words, lets you pick which ones you want to learn, and then teaches them to you in a Learning Session.

A Learning Session isn't an online quiz: it's an effective, step by step process where you hear words and phrases, type them, and read them. The software re-teaches you exactly what you need when you need it, and moves ahead when you're ready. When you've learned a word, the site stops "rewording" it, so the site grows with you as you learn! Learn more about Learning Sessions.

Learn the way you want-from what you want to read. You can change the way the site works to fit your learning style as you read and learn from almost any text passage or web page. See the different highlighting styles in the box? You can pick any of them, and lots more options. Click the Settings link (at the bottom of the page now, or at the top of any page) to see all the choices you have. (The demo text in the box here never changes.)

Chart your progress and have fun. You can keep track of your learning with lots of detailed charts that show how you're doing. Plus, as you use the site, you earn points and get Learning Stars -a fun reward for reading and learning!

Now you can easily get your students involved in their learning: let them select the text that interests them. Let them print and complete the activities with which they're most comfortable. Imagine each student learning vocabulary customized to his or her interests, while you have time to teach instead of typing. Could differentiation by interest or readiness be any easier? You can start doing it today, for free.

You never have to type another vocabulary list or quiz again.

Type (or copy-paste) in any block of text in the yellow box at the top of this page, click Rewordify text, and click the Print/Learning activities button. Here's how. You (or your students!) can select from a rich variety of quizzes and learning activities, with or without answer keys.

Do you need to teach (or not teach) particular vocabulary words and phrases? Rewordify.com gives you the exact control you need for specialized vocabulary instruction. You can make customized word lists so the site rewords and teaches any word or phrase exactly the way you want.

Learn the way you want-from what you want to read. You can change the way the site works to fit your learning style as you read and learn from almost any text passage or web page. See the different highlighting styles in the box? You can pick any of them, and lots more options. Click the Settings link (at the bottom of the page now, or at the top of any page) to see all the choices you have. (The demo text in the box here never changes.)

Chart your progress and have fun. You can keep track of your learning with lots of detailed charts that show how you're doing. Plus, as you use the site, you earn points and get Learning Stars -a fun reward for reading and learning!

Now you can easily get your students involved in their learning: let them select the text that interests them. Let them print and complete the activities with which they're most comfortable. Imagine each student learning vocabulary customized to his or her interests, while you have time to teach instead of typing. Could differentiation by interest or readiness be any easier? You can start doing it today, for free.

Save all your documents online so anyone can read them and learn from them at any time.

Just log in, rewordify something, and click the Share button.

Select how public or private you want the document, enter the title, author, etc., and you're done!

You get a link that you can put in your online lesson plans, teacher web pages, or blog. No more rewordifying the same thing over and over again!

You can view, manage and edit all your documents from any computer. Just log in (or create a free, safe account) and start building your learning library. Here's how to do it.

At Educator Central, you can create and manage student accounts, monitor your students' learning, and get detailed reading and learning analytics that help you make smart classroom decisions. For free. Now.
(In a hurry? Log in. Click Educator Central at the top.)

In a few minutes, you can create student accounts on Rewordify.com, and easily monitor your students' reading and learning progress. Get actionable learning and error analytics as your students read and learn from any document you post, or from any document or web page they want to read.

Imagine each student learning different words based on his or her interest or ability level. It's easy to do: Rewordify.com designs and teaches individualized vocabulary lessons with our highly effective Learning Sessions, so you have the time to teach students the important stuff: how to learn, how to break through obstacles, how to believe the words "I can do it."

As your students read and learn, get detailed charts and reports that tell you what you need to know-by student, by class, or for all your classes.

Effectively match interventions with students, based on detailed error breakdowns that let you see what you need to see in a few clicks.

Student accounts are anonymous, and they keep your students safe and focused on learning.

Start using it now: Log in and click on Educator Central at the top. Read more about Educator Central.

Rewordify.com is free online software. You're using it now. There's nothing to buy or install. It works on any computer, tablet, or smartphone. Just point your browser to Rewordify.com and start reading and learning. Yes, it's tablet-friendly-no mouse needed. Yes, your whole school district can create teacher and student accounts, without entering any personal information. When? Now.

It's fast. Wasting your (and your students' time) is bad. That's why Rewordify.com was designed from the ground up to be lightning-fast and use very little data. The site doesn't have a hundred images of puppies and kittens and a hundred links to a hundred lists. What it does have is speed and ease of use, which are very nice when you have to teach a room full of teenagers. Or adults.

It's an app. Want the app? You're using it. Wasn't that easy? The site is a web app, which is great for you, because you get almost-daily site updates automatically -so you can read and learn, not download and install app updates.

We keep kids safe online. Rewordify.com requires no personal information. Student accounts are completely anonymous and cannot post or share anything. Read more about how we protect children's privacy.

Rewordify.com can display simplified versions of web pages. Our state-of-the-art web filtering technology blocks millions of inappropriate sites and questionable language, to protect kids online and keep them reading only what they should be reading. Read more about how we protect children from inappropriate material.

Difficult English is intelligently simplified with our exclusive Rewordifying Engine

Saves time when reading hard text, improves comprehension and self-confidence, and increases total reading time

Copy-paste entire text passages into the yellow box and press Rewordify text. You'll see a simplified version. Read more.

Definitions are easy to understand, context-aware, and match verb tense and part of speech

Reduces frustration and improves comprehension by maximizing time spent reading versus dictionary research

Copy-paste any text passage into the yellow box and "rewordify" it. Click the highlighted words. Read more.

Learning Sessions actively teach individualized vocabulary lessons with research-proven multimodal techniques

Improves vocabulary and word retention

After you "rewordify" text, you'll see a purple bar at the top. Click the buttons to pick hard words and learn them in an effective Learning Session. Read more.

Site carefully monitors student reading time, learning progress, and learning errors, and gives educators full-color, real-time charts and reports

Gives actionable learning data that helps improve student learning outcomes

Create an account. Click on Educator Central. Create free student accounts. Post assignments online. Get learning data. Make smart classroom decisions based on valid data. Read more.

Site identifies and extracts over 58,000 difficult words and phrases from any text and creates a rich variety of learning activities with answer keys

Saves time when teaching and gives students individualized learning activities

Copy-paste any text passage into the yellow box and "rewordify" it. Click Print/Learning Activities. Pick the quizzes, activities, vocab lists, cloze activities you want, with keys. Print them. Read more.

Software allows users to change the difficulty level and presentation style of the output text

Improves engagement by allowing easy differentiation by learning style and readiness

Copy-paste any text passage and "rewordify" it. Click Settings. Change the text presentation style, "rewordifying level" (difficulty level), even the highlighting style. Read more.

Site works as an app on any device, using a minimum of data

Allows for easy district rollout on nearly any existing device while conserving Internet bandwith

Point any device's browser to Rewordify.com and it works like an app. Here's how to make an app icon on your home screen or desktop.

Site calculates accurate text complexity measures, including our exclusive READ score

Improves engagement and learning through the selection of appropriate reading materials

Rewordify any text passage. Click the Stats button. Read more.

Site's browser app (bookmarklet) extracts most web pages to Rewordify.com for learning in one click

Improves engagement and total reading time through independent selection of high-interest materials

Install our free browser app. Browse the web. At any page, click the "Rewordify text" button. Read the extracted text on Rewordify.com.

You can post any document and share it publicly, privately, or with a password

Increases reading time and organization of learning materials

Log in. Paste in a document and "rewordify" it. Click the Share button, share it, and get a link. Post the link to your teacher page. Or, add it as a Rewordify.com assignment. Here's how to post documents. Here's how to create assignments.

Site calculates points and displays Learning Stars based on total minutes read and words learned

Increases reading time and engagement by making the site more fun

Log in and start reading and clicking on the purple bar to do Learning Sessions. Points and Learning Stars will display. Click My Learning/My Documents to see charts of your progress. Read more.

Over 300 pieces of classic literature are available

Improves comprehension of the classics-from Shakespeare to Douglass to Austen

Click Classic literature at the top. Or, type a word like Frankenstein into the search box at the top.

Here's what to do next:

First, do the demo. You'll be an expert in five minutes: Click here for the demo.

Learn the site, step by step. Our First-Time User Guide clearly shows you how to get started.

Teachers: Learn about Educator Central and all it can do to help improve student learning outcomes. Also, you can print lots of free, full-color literature to help you get started in the classroom.

Have some fun. Are you up for a vocabulary challenge? Play Rewordo. Be aware: it's not easy.

Browse some classics. Want to be more sure of Shakespeare, or brush up on Bronte? Scroll to the top, and click the Classic Literature link. It's a fast way to get started using the site. Or, use the Search bar at the top. Try entering the word raven to understand the deal with Poe, that black bird, and the "Nevermore" thing.

Check out the goodies. You can install our One-Click Learning browser applet that lets you rewordify most web pages in one click. Our cool (and free, of course) School Clock tells you the current time and date, what class period you're currently in, countdowns to the next period, and more. You can customize it for any school's schedule, and make as many different School Clocks as you have different day schedules. Use it now.

Show the love! Please tell us about mistakes the site makes when "rewording" and defining words. That feedback is the single most valuable thing you can do to help the site (and learners around the world). Click here to contact us. Do you want to help defray the site's operating costs, and read a great thriller at the same time? You can! Get your copy of Electric Dawn.

Contact us. We want to help you! Please use the Contact page with any questions or comments.

Site summary: Rewordify.com helps with reading comprehension and vocabulary development by simplifying English to a lower reading level. It lets you reword a sentence or reword a paragraph. It will simplify English by reducing text complexity. It's a dictionary alternative that will improve comprehension and teach vocabulary. It's an important part of reading instruction and vocabulary instruction for ESL students, people with reading disabilities, people with a learning disability, or anyone who wants to improve reading skill.

35650 / 9.0

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Rewordify.com | Understand what you read

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Rewordify.com helps you read more, understand better, learn new words, and teach more effectively.

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Code Switching/ Valuing Funds of Knowledge
NCTE/ILA Standards 1, 2, 4; CAEP 5, 6

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NCTE/ILA Standard 4; CAEP 5, 6

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Jamila Lyiscott: 3 ways to speak English | TED

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Humorous video to help students understand code switching
NCTE/ILA Standards 1, 4; CAEP 5, 6

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We know you want more Key & Peele -- indulge in the ultimate sketch experience with curated collections, GIFs, memes and an illustrated dictionary. Nooice! http://on.cc.com/1RNbs9n Two guys on the phone try to avoid disaster.

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Educator Moderated Twitter Chats through Particpate

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Educator Moderated Twitter Chats through Particpate

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NCTE/CAEP Standard 2

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2ndaryELA is a group of middle and high school English Language Arts teachers looking to share ideas and best practices. We chat every Tuesday night at 8 pm EST using #2ndaryELA. We'd love for you to join us!

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NCTE/CAEP Standard 2

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NCTE amplifies the voice of educators through personal connection, collaboration, and a shared mission to improve the teaching and learning of English and language arts at all levels.

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Professional Association of Georgia Educators

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Professional Association of Georgia Educators

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NCTE/CAEP Standard 2

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Preparation to interact professionally with others.
NCTE/CAEP Standard 2

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Pairing Pride & Prejudice with "A Vindication of the Rights of Women"
NCTE/ILA Standard 2; CAEP 1

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Introduction to Critical Lens Essay
NCTE/ILA Standard 10, 11; CAEP 4

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Rhetorical Analysis and More for Julius Caesar
NCTE/ILA Standards 2, 5, 11; CAEP 4

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Lesson plan from SIOP
Resource 6: NCTE/ILA Standard 10, 11; CAEP 4

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Introduction to Shakespearean Sonnets
NTCE/ILA 4, 5, 6; CAEP 2

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Introduction to Sonnets and Shakespearean Language

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Introduction to Sonnets and Shakespearean Language

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Unit Timeline
Resource 5: NTCE/ILA 4, 5,  6; CAEP 2

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Introduction to Sonnets and Shakespearean Language

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Introduction to Sonnets and Shakespearean Language

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Resource 5: NTCE/ILA 4, 5, 6; CAEP 2

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John Legend - All of Me (Official Video)

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Introduction to Sonnets and Shakespearean Language

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Introduction to Sonnets and Shakespearean Language

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Resource 5: NTCE/ILA 4, 5, 6; CAEP 2

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with Culture Shock videos and contextual study of the book when considering Samuel Clemens' life.
NTCE/ILA 3; CAEP 1

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Day of Tears/ Modern-Day Slavery Project
NCTE/ILA Standards 7, 8, 9, 12; CAEP 6

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Catch You Later, Traitor, Film Noir, and The Black Mask.

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Pair with Catch You Later, Traitor for introduction to detective periodicals.
Resource 2: NCTE/ILA 2; CAEP 1

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Pair novel with Modern Day Slavery Project
Resource 3: NCTE/ILA Standards 7, 8, 9, 12; CAEP 6

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Pair with Day of Tears for Modern-Day Slavery Project
Resource 3: NCTE/ILA Standards 7, 8, 9, 12; CAEP 6

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True Justice International - Fanny Kemble

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The WillFORCE initiative of True Justice International (truejusticeinternational.org) is committed to: † increasing awareness of human trafficking and modern-day slavery among youth and young adults † decreasing the vulnerability of youth to being victims of human trafficking † empowering youth to participate in the anti-trafficking and anti-slavery movements † increasing youth knowledge and understanding of the issues and injustices fueling human trafficking † encouraging action by youth on behalf of their peers locally, nationally, and globally Special thanks to Rose Hill Estate (www.rosehillestate.com) for graciously donating their location.

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Pair with Day of Tears for Modern-Day Slavery Project
Resource 3: NCTE/ILA Standards 7, 8, 9, 12; CAEP 6

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Nearly everything we consume - from clothing, to the batteries in our cell phones, to the fish we eat - has forced labor and exploitation hidden somewhere inside its production.

Many of us, including the businesses who make the products we buy, have no idea when or where the exploitation occurs.

And it's growing every single day.

About 45.8 million people today are living in slave-like conditions. That's bigger than the population of California, Canada, or Argentina.

Nearly every country on earth is affected, including the United States.

And more than $150 billion in profits are generated annually by businesses employing slavery and exploitation. This is bigger than the revenues of Google, Microsoft, Apple, Exxon Mobil, and JP Morgan Chase combined.

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Nearly everything we consume - from clothing, to the batteries in our cell phones, to the fish we eat - has forced labor and exploitation hidden somewhere inside its production. Many of us, including the businesses who make the products we buy, have no idea when or where the exploitation occurs.

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Pair with Day of Tears for Modern Day Slavery project.
Resource 3: NCTE/ILA Standards 7, 8, 9, 12; CAEP 6

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The Facts

Join the fight to end slavery-Until all are free.

people are trapped in slavery right now

Join the fight to end slavery. #UntilAllAreFree

That's five times the population of New York City.

(Or the combined population of 80 countries.)

That's five times the population of Bangkok.

(Or the combined population of 80 countries.)

That's five times the population of London.

(Or the combined population of 80 countries.)

But what is slavery?

Slavery is the use of lies or violence to force another person to work for little or no pay.

Pictured: IJM's largest rescue operation ever freed 564 people in India from slavery in a brick factory.

Children as young as 4 years old are being violently exploited as slaves.

Slavery is illegal almost everywhere. So why does it exist?

Millions of the world's poor are trapped in slavery, because there's no one there to protect them. In many places, the laws against slavery simply aren't enforced by the police and courts-so slave owners and traffickers know they can prey on the poor without fear of any consequences at all.

Where Slavery is Most Prevalent

See where we are already rescuing thousands from violence and abuse.
Learn More
Source: Global Slavery Index, 2016.

Slavery is a violent crime.

Slavery goes beyond just a bad working condition. People trapped in slavery live under constant control and fear. They face physical, verbal and sexual abuse daily, and cannot leave to find other work or protect their families. In IJM's cases, we have met slaves who report being beaten, gang raped, locked in tiny rooms, starved and even witnessed murder.

Slave owners prey on poor families seeking a better life

Gowri

Gowri and her husband wanted to support their children and pay for their medical bills, so they took out a loan from a factory owner.

This turned out to be a trick, and the owner continually increased the loan, violently forcing the family to continue working long hours for him. This abuse continued for nearly 10 years, until IJM was able to send rescue. Today, the slave owner is standing trial, and the family is safe.
Watch Gowri's Story

Gideon

Gideon's grandparents sent him to a man who promised to take care of him and help him go to school. Instead, the man enslaved Gideon* in a fishing boat on Lake Volta in Ghana.

Gideon's grandfather was not wealthy enough to file charges against the slave owner, but early last year we were able to rescue Gideon and bring him home.
Watch Gideon's Story

Elsa

When Elsa* was 12 years old her father died, and her mother left. Elsa was determined to find work, save some money and support her brother.

A bar owner offered her a job that promised good pay. But it was a trap. The bar owner forced her into prostitution, and for years she faced violent abuse and sexual exploitation every single day. But now, Elsa is safe. She is a brave survivor of sex trafficking and describes herself as strong.
Watch Elsa's Story

The End of Slavery-Until All Are Free

Modern-day slavery is as brutal as ever; more vast than ever, but more stoppable than ever.

Gary Haugen, IJM CEO

IJM is dedicated to ending slavery. We want you to understand what modern-day slavery is, and we want you to help us stop it.
JOIN US

Gowri

Gowri and her husband wanted to support their children and pay for their medical bills, so they took out a loan from a factory owner.

This turned out to be a trick, and the owner continually increased the loan, violently forcing the family to continue working long hours for him. This abuse continued for nearly 10 years, until IJM was able to send rescue. Today, the slave owner is standing trial, and the family is safe.
Watch Gowri's Story

Gideon

Gideon's grandparents sent him to a man who promised to take care of him and help him go to school. Instead, the man enslaved Gideon* in a fishing boat on Lake Volta in Ghana.

Gideon's grandfather was not wealthy enough to file charges against the slave owner, but early last year we were able to rescue Gideon and bring him home.
Watch Gideon's Story

Elsa

When Elsa* was 12 years old her father died, and her mother left. Elsa was determined to find work, save some money and support her brother.

A bar owner offered her a job that promised good pay. But it was a trap. The bar owner forced her into prostitution, and for years she faced violent abuse and sexual exploitation every single day. But now, Elsa is safe. She is a brave survivor of sex trafficking and describes herself as strong.
Watch Elsa's Story

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The Facts Join the fight to end slavery-Until all are free. Join the fight to end slavery. #UntilAllAreFree Slavery is the use of lies or violence to force another person to work for little or no pay. Children as young as 4 years old are being violently exploited as slaves.

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Pair with Catch You Later, Traitor for introduction to Film Noir and detective novels.
Resource 2: NCTE/ILA 2; CAEP 1

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Analysis of the classic film The Maltese Falcon

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NCTE/ILA Standards 1,2; CAEP 1, 5

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Pair with Catch You Later Traitor for background on McCarthyism.
Resource 1: NCTE/ILA Standards 1,2; CAEP 1,5

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Guided Readings: Anti-Communism at Home | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

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How can we account for our present situation unless we believe that men high in this Government are concerting to deliver us to disaster? This must be the product of a great conspiracy, a conspiracy on a scale so immense as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man.

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Pair with Catch You Later Traitor for background on McCarthyism.
Resource 1: NCTE/ILA Standards 1,2; CAEP 1,5

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Lesson Plans, Sonnets, and Other Ideas

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Author: Lucretia M. Anderson, Former Elementary School Program Coordinator, Folger Shakespeare Library

Editor: Greta Brasgalla, Folger National Teacher Corps and Curriculum Specialist at El Dorado High School, El Paso, TX, and Corinne Viglietta, Assistant Director of Education at Folger Shakespeare Library

Common Core Anchor Standards: R.1, R.2, SL.1, SL.6, W.9

Text: Romeo and Juliet, prologue

Lesson Overview

Students will perform the prologue to Romeo and Juliet as a pre-reading activity. Through movement and vocal work, students will work in groups to create a brief presentation of the prologue to clarify meaning, get to know the style and language of the text, and make inferences about the play's central questions.

Time: Two to three 45-minute class periods
Materials:
What To Do

Day One

1. Have students break up into groups of two or three. Give each group two or three numbered lines from the fifteen minute plot narrative.

2. Allow students a few minutes to practice how they might say the line with some slight movement or gesture. Each person must say at least part of the line, if not all reciting chorally.

3. Once the groups have practiced, have students stand in a circle. The leader should read the narrative, calling out each number that corresponds to a line from the play as it appears on the page. When a group's number is called, students should enter the circle and perform their line(s) as they have practiced, stepping back into their place in the circle when finished.

4. Discuss the possible themes from the play and write them on the board.

Day Two

1. Distribute copies of the prologue to students. Read it aloud and invite student questions about vocabulary and structure. Help students use context clues to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words.

2. Have each quatrain (four line chunks) of the prologue typed on cards to distribute to the students in groups. There will be one card with only two lines for the rhyming couplet.

3. Divide the students into four groups. Have students rehearse a performance of their card's lines that includes reading chorally or individually, physically expressing the words through movement and gestures, and showing the meaning of their lines of text in at least one frozen dramatic pictures (tableau).

4. After rehearsal, students should perform their part of their prologue in front of the class in sequential order.

5. Compare and contrast the contemporary plot narrative from the warm up and the prologue from the play. One strategy for this activity is to project both passages side by side on the board. Invite students to point out differences either orally or as a "chalk talk" in which students mark up the board silently before a whole-class discussion. If your students know rhetorical and literary devices, have them identify them and compare the two texts on this basis. Almost always, students reach the conclusion on their own that Shakespeare's original language is superior in its style and richness. If you choose to take a deep dive into this activity, it alone can take up a whole class period. Afterwards, though, students are poised to close-read and appreciate the real thing, not a paraphrase.

Assessment

Possible writing prompts:

What is the tone of the prologue? What words and phrases make you say this?

In your opinion, which line tells us the most about the world we are about to enter? What makes you say this?

Write a brief paragraph of the plot of the story in your own words.

Summarize the differences between the prologue and its plot narrative paraphrase. Use evidence from both passages to support your claim.

Exit ticket: Three things I know about the play; two things I can guess will happen; one question I have.

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Pre-Reading Romeo and Juliet: Performing and Analyzing the Prologue

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Author: Lucretia M. Anderson, Former Elementary School Program Coordinator, Folger Shakespeare Library Editor: Greta Brasgalla, Folger National Teacher Corps and Curriculum Specialist at El Dorado High School, El Paso, TX, and Corinne Viglietta, Assistant Director of Education at Folger Shakespeare Library Common Core Anchor Standards: R.1, R.2, SL.1, SL.6, W.9 Text: Romeo and Juliet, prologue Students will perform the prologue to Romeo and Juliet as a pre-reading activity.

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Mostly Medieval: An Archive of Medieval Ballads

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Mostly Medieval: An Archive of Medieval Ballads

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Ballads, Synopses, Additional Links

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Ballads: Introduction and Index at Mostly Medieval - Exploring the Middle Ages

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Presented in this section is a selection of ballads covering the fundamental aspects of the era: love, war, heroic deeds and their tragic aftermath, and a look into the supernatural and superstitious nature of the time. In order to preserve the historical integrity of the ballads, they are presented in their original dialects.

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Explanation of Danish Laws of Succession to explain why young Hamlet did not become king upon his father's death.

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Any modern production of Hamlet needs to navigate three separate rules of succession. The way we, especially as Americans, imagine the laws of succession today differs greatly from the Elizabethan view, which is itself removed from the rules of the story's Danish origin. 21st Century America

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Complete Guide with background information, graphic organizers, comprehension and discussion questions, and vocabulary.

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Online tool for parsing poems.

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Instructions

What's For Better for Verse for? It's an interactive on-line tutorial that can train you to scan traditionally metered English poetry. Here you can get practice and instant feedback in one important way of analyzing, and developing an ear and a feel for, accentual-syllabic verse. That's the kind of verse that remained standard in English during the half millennium from Chaucer's age until the time of Hardy, Yeats, and Frost about a century ago - and it remains alive and well with some of the best poets active today. By choosing among texts that range metrically from the straightforward to the intricate, you can sharpen your skill at taking an x-ray of the architecture of verse. This inner structure arises from the interplay of meter (the bones of a poem) with rhythm (its flesh); of abstracted, regular pattern with the pulse of felt, voiced meaning.

We'll turn in a moment to how this metrical radiology can illuminate the life in poems. First a few words of orientation to the site.
THE TOOLS
The 4B4V tutorial consists of several elements. Besides the general Help overview you're now reading, you will find back on our homepage a Poem workbox, a List of Poems, and a Glossary.

The black workbox is the stage or gym where you interact with poetry, and where the real learning of trial-and-error takes place. In the box appears whatever text you select from the List of Poems to its right. As you move the cursor just above a line of verse, the space above each syllable glows. Click once over a syllable to mark it as stressed, twice as unstressed (slack); a third click clears the air for a fresh start. Once you've marked each syllable to reflect your reading of the line - and we'll get soon to some guidelines for doing that - cursor over to the right of the box and click the first icon (arrows). A green, red, or yellow light will let you know you've scanned the line correctly, incorrectly, or somehow problematically. If at first you don't succeed, this is the place to try, try again.

Moving the cursor directly across the verse line highlights the printed syllables one by one. By clicking within the text you can divide the emerging pattern of stresses and slacks into the constituent units that prevail in English metrics: iamb, trochee, anapest, dactyl, spondee, pyrrhic. (Feel free, at any point in this overview or anywhere else on the site, to look up unfamiliar terms by clicking the Glossary tab above.) These are called feet, as you'll be reminded when you cursor to the right and click on the middle icon (footprints) to see how you did with this part of the exercise. Once you've gotten the green light here, click on the last icon (triangle) to open a drop-down menu from which to identify the meter of the scanned line: e.g., iambic tetrameter.

Stress and foot patterns are interdependent. But sometimes you'll want to concentrate visually on just one of them, so at the bottom of the Poem workbox are checkboxes that permit you to toggle your stress or foot marks on and off. Next to them a third checkbox lets you light up the caesuras, or strong mid-line pauses, within the text. These can fall between feet or within them, in a sometimes complex overlay on the meter proper. To keep things manageable, 4B4V doesn't test you for caesura but gives it away for free.

We do, however, offer you practice in plotting a poem's rhyme, using standard notation such as abba, aabbcc, etc. Click the Rhyme tab in the lower left corner of the workbox, and a column of highlighted boxes will open above it. Locate your cursor in the box beside each line of verse, type in the lowercase letter corresponding to that verse's place in the rhyme scheme, and when you've marked the whole poem click the bottom checkbox to see how you did. Your computer's Tab key will facilitate descent from line to line as you enter your letters. Note: for a stanzaic poem (see Glossary), where the recurring pattern of meter and rhyme begins again with each new stanza, the rhyme scheme begins again too: not abab cdcd efef for a three-quatrain poem, therefore, but abab abab abab.

A couple of other features adorn the Poem workbox. Sometimes next to the green check a lightbulb icon will turn on. Clicking this will take you to a note that discusses oddities or beauties of the line in question. Occasionally the note will press beyond appreciation of the poem into matters of interpretation. This is inevitable, because interpretive understanding plays a key role in the way any reader hears (and thus scans) a given line. But 4B4V keeps this interpretive aspect to a minimum, for the very good reason that the challenge of interpretation belongs to you.

Because the richest challenge arises where the actual rhythm of a line diverges from its normative meter, there is one more feature, which 4B4V displays only once your scansion of the full text is correct. At that point a Syncopation checkbox appears next to the others down below. Try it, and you'll see the poem's rhythmic discrepancies brought out in new color. These are the poem's planned prosodic accidents, its signal idiosyncrasies; and with luck you'll find that reflecting on these knots of stress leads to what Emily Dickinson called "internal difference, / Where the Meanings are."

A tab just above the box will open a cross-referenced Glossary containing brief definitions of some traditional terms that prove handy when discussing versification analytically - when, in other words, you want to describe to your professor or your friend what technically underlies a given poetic effect. Many of these terms are pretty arcane, thanks to their derivation from ancient classical poetics. Prosody's outlandish terminology is sometimes charming, sometimes annoying; in the final analysis, it matters because it's the vocabulary that just about everybody interested in versification, including the poets, has learned to use. A click on the Poem tab will take you back to the workbox; shuttling back and forth should let you build up your vocabulary as your scansion wits grow stronger. The Help tab that brought you here remains accessible at all times, whether you want to review this introduction or to consult a given section by clicking on one of the subtitles at the top of this page.

In cases where 4B4V provides further resources on a given poem, you will also find a Resources tab beside the others. Click there to find, e.g., a short bibliography of scholarly critical treatments of the poem, or an audio clip that you may open in order to hear it read aloud. Listening to a vocal performance will probably help you most in the early stages of the tutorial. In later stages you'll find more profit in saying a poem out loud yourself. Learning to hear your own reading analytically and with precision forms a key step in the process of learning to scan. By the end of the process, if all goes well, you should be hearing metered poems with your eyes, so to speak, and uttering them in your mind.
WHAT IS SCANSION?

How is scansion done? Why does it count? Sophisticated consideration of these questions occurs in the list of books that is accessible through the Resources subtitle above. Several of these books lay out more thoroughly graduated systems of scansion than the one introduced here. In 4B4V we keep things simple: for us scansion means a two-stroke engine for marking the patterning of syllables on which traditional metrics in English is based. In the binary system we use here a syllable either is stressed or it's slack, period. For our purposes a foot is iambic or it's anapestic, trochaic or dactylic, spondaic or pyrrhic, and that's that. Moreover, it's by preference either iambic or anapestic: 4B4V subscribes to the view that verse in English privileges rising feet, i.e, feet that move like the iamb and anapest from slack to stress. (This view has consequences for certain folk or comic rhythms that some prosodists treat as trochaic or dactylic instead. As issues like this arise in particular poems, look for lightbulb notes that outline what's at stake in choosing between two plausible scansions of a line.) We think that erring on the side of bluntness and rule fosters a confidence in basic and intermediate scansion that will let you join a fancier, subtler prosodic conversation once the work you've done here has prepared you for it.
RULES OF THUMB
How do you know where the slacks and stresses fall? Mainly, you listen. You say the verse out loud, more than once, paying attention to the pattern of emphases as you go and considering alternative patterns that occur to you. Stress is expressed vocally in a number of ways: accent, pitch, volume, duration, or a combination of these. And stress is relative, not absolute: whether a syllable is a slack or a stress depends on how you hear it in relation to neighboring syllables that take more or less stress than it does. Keep the best faith you can with what the verse says: the plain sense of statement or query or command. Listen too for what it implies about what it says: how it insists or coaxes, beseeches or mocks. Then test your provisional line reading against scansion's basic rules, which you may consult at any time by clicking on the Rules of Thumb subtitle at the top of this page. (You should expect to do this often while getting started!) The rules:

1. Locate any polysyllabic words and mark their stresses, as given in a dictionary.

2. Mark the stressed monosyllables. These will be most (but not always all!) of the following: nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs, interjections, interrogative pronouns; and rhymes.

3. Mark the rest of the syllables slack. These will be unstressed syllables within polysyllabic words and most (but not always all!) of the following monosyllables: articles, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions, relative pronouns.

4. Perform the score you just wrote, by playing it back to yourself. That is, read your scansion out loud and check it by ear against your provisional reading, negotiating between the two as needed, and adjusting your scansion marks to reflect any changes of mind. This two-way double-check can be hard work at starting, and is likely to entail some frustrating practice: you're now on your own, in a zone just past the rules, where odd things can and will happen. But cheer up! The listening that this stage involves is the very skill 4B4V is designed to help you hone. It's what you came here to practice. Don't stress out, stress in.

Time now to click on the arrows icon and see how you did. A red cross usually indicates a technical mistake in following rules 1-3 above; a yellow asterisk means you're in technical compliance but probably have overlooked a nuance that's worth listening harder for. In either case, try again till the green light goes on.

The next job - one involving the eye more than the ear - is to group your scanned syllables into poetic feet. Remember that 4B4V recognizes only the six kinds of feet already listed above. Here they are again, this time alphabetically (as in the Glossary): anapest, dactyl, iamb, pyrrhic, spondee, trochee. Gather the syllables into repeating units of the same foot where possible; where that won't work, be sure at least that each foot you've indicated is one of our permitted six. After getting the entire line distributed into feet, check the result by clicking the footprints icon. If the shoe doesn't fit (sorry), remember that traditional metrics gives the poet a license to drop slack syllables at either end of a line (called catalectic) or to add them in feminine endings; and try a different grouping of syllables with these options in mind.

Once you've gotten the green light on the footprints for several lines running, it should be apparent what the poem's dominant foot is. On this basis you can proceed with confidence to the last icon and name the meter that structures each line as you go. Any red crosses that pop up at this point are likely to be due to your unfamiliarity with the names, which will, never fear, eventually stick in your mind; or else to a larger pattern of variation in the length of lines as they constellate into a stanza. What won't change, except in a handful of poems written as prosodic stunts, is the prevailing foot. That's the metronome the whole poem marches, skips, and dances to.

Sometimes discerning what the prevailing foot is can serve you as a key that will open up the syllabic scansion of a tricky poem faster than will sheer toil over the syllables alone. In such cases it may help if you switch over temporarily to scanning for feet, then return to scanning for stress; move back and forth between the two scansion levels until the prosodic x-ray comes into focus and a clear meter emerges. Generally speaking, when you can't decide whether to obey the meter or flout it, be meek: it not seldom happens that a promoted stress (where you bully a line reading a bit into metrical conformity) unlocks a surprising insight.
WHY SCAN?
Thus far the what and the how of prosodic study. Saying why you should devote some hours to such preliminary study - and it will be a matter not of a few minutes but of some hours, spread across days on your own schedule, since not even enthusiasts tolerate very much of this stuff at a single sitting - takes us back to where this overview began. When you learn to scan, you are learning something that anglophone poets from the 14th into the 20th century learned before you. To some extent they learned it by analogy to the classical Latin and Greek versification drilled into nearly all of them at school; in every wider and finer sense, however, they learned it by osmosis, through a process of total immersion in poetry they loved. The poets absorbed their English metrics right off the page, the way a tap dancer picks up a lick on a street corner or a fiddler fingers a riff at a harvest supper. Because, being poets, they had an extraordinary ear for word music, they learned its unwritten rules fast; having mastered them, they took the art in new directions that blazed trails in literary history.

Practicing scansion won't make you a poet. What it will do, though, if you'll let it, is transform your approach to the reading of poems. There is simply no better way for readers to get an inside line on what versecraft is about. While our commanding topic here is the interplay of rhythm with meter, listening hard for that will tone up your attention to other aspects of the soundtrack poetry rides on too. Good poets coordinate their metrics with other patterns of sound like consonance and anaphora that you should cultivate an ear for. Robert Frost grasped memorably a paradox underlying our entire project here: "The possibilities for tune from the dramatic tones of meaning struck across the rigidity of a limited meter are endless." Limited meter, endless possibilities; the two are entwined. As with the computer you're working at, accentual-syllabic prosody is a binary system that poets have ramified into virtually analog complexity. The sky's the limit. Better yet, the brain is. On that theme let's give Dickinson the last word: "The Brain - is wider than the Sky." Nor did she stop there:

The Brain is just the weight of God -

For - Heft them - Pound for Pound -

And they will differ - if they do -

As Syllable from Sound -

TWO TEST CASES
The founding premise of 4B4V is that scansion is learned by doing, that practice makes perfect, that it's by repeatedly bumping into walls that you learn where the path lies and solve the maze. So it's time to send you back to the tutorial itself, with an advance look at the two tiniest poems it contains.

Here come two epigrams in couplets, nearly the shortest form that a complete poem may take. Each example is a joke that turns on something most verse shares with most humor - repetition - and each example depends for its punch on the set-up that is furnished by a title just about as long as the poem itself. First, Robert Browning's genial Victorian mischief in a "Rhyme for a Child Viewing a Naked Venus in a Painting of 'The Judgement of Paris'":

He gazed and gazed and gazed and gazed,

Amazed, amazed, amazed, amazed.

Only three words make up the whole poem, stuck as it is on the goggle-eyed boy who is transfixed to see, in plain view, what 19th-century society kept ostentatiously hidden. Browning's obsessive verbal repetition performs a prosodic slapstick routine: the clownish exaggeration of helpless stupefaction. The boy's outward state of absorption and inward state of wonder explain each other with a completeness whose formal sign is the rhyme sound. That one sound recurs not just once across the two lines but seven times. And each time it carries the extra burden of a rhythmic stress that strictly corresponds to the mesmerized automatism of the iambic tetrameter:

            u    /      u    /      u    /      u    /

            He gazed | and gazed | and gazed | and gazed,

            u   /    u   /    u   /    u   /

            Amazed,| amazed,| amazed,| amazed.

This bemused poem about an intense shock to a tender mind leaves room for only one kind of change, which is the thrilling, or drilling, intensification of repetition itself. The refusal of Browning's epigram to change plays a little joke on us. It highlights - by stubbornly disappointing it - our expectation that poetry should so arrange its recurrences as to make a difference.

Turn now to a poem of exactly the same size and form that puts change much more pointedly on the agenda. Alexander Pope wrote it early in the 18th century and called it an "Epigram Engraved on the Collar of a Dog Which I Gave to His Royal Highness" - a prince who entertained courtiers at his palace in the London suburb of Kew:

I am his Highness' dog at Kew;

Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?

Line 2 springs an ambush that is all the more effective for the polite reader's having been lulled by line 1 into an attitude of relaxed condescension. Even line 2 trots out like a star pupil in obedience school:

            u  /    u    /   u     /     u  /

            I am | his High|ness' dog | at Kew;

             u     /     u    /      u    /     u   /

            Pray tell | me, sir, | whose dog | are you?

So regular is the gentle iambic rhythm that Pope's ventriloquizing feint has insulted the reader by calling him a son of a bitch before he knows what's hit him. This is one of those poems - or jokes - that elicits a double take. The real finesse of its taunt comes out when we return to the scene of the crime, halfway through line 2, dust off the magnifying glass, and replay it in an altered, sharper scansion. Try it this way:

            u     /     u    /      /    u     u   /

            Pray tell | me, sir, | whose dog | are you?

The slight change this scansion introduces after the comma-marked caesura - transposing the next slack and stress by a trochaic substitution in the 3rd foot- puts the bite on the reader in a subtly new way. Stressing "whose" rather than the metrically anticipated "dog" expands the impertinence of Pope's jest immensely. Since we are both here in service at court, Sir, says the cute doggie, and since each of us, Sir, wags his well-fed tail in the king's livery one way or another, then it goes without saying, Sir, that we're both dogs; and the question then becomes, Sir, just who is it you do your tricks for, anyhow? The simplest of shifts in stress registers a tonal change as pungent as the angling of an eyebrow in a closeup. "What mighty contests rise from trivial things," Pope marveled at the start of his most famous poem The Rape of the Lock. We could do worse than embrace that principle as our motto here in 4B4V.

These two gems, with a few others not much bigger, are found among the Warming Up cluster in our List of Poems. You might open these in the Poem workbox as first fingering exercises with which to practice the scansion and feedback tools you will then use in attempting other poems in that cluster. Two other clusters, Moving Along and Special Challenge, will offer more interest as you reach the point where an increase in difficulty does indeed feel interesting rather than intimidating. Our clusters do no more than indicate general levels of challenge. You're free at any point to try any poem in 4B4V you like. So if you prefer working sequentially on poems of similar kind - sonnets, say, or ballads - you'll find the titles sorted according to Type in the List of Poems. The default order for the List is alphabetical by title. You may return to a given poem as often as you please. But once you've put a new poem in the workbox, your former scansion whether partial or complete is erased, and in order to see it again (unless you've saved it as a screen shot on your computer) you'll have to reconstruct it from scratch.

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What's For Better for Verse for? It's an interactive on-line tutorial that can train you to scan traditionally metered English poetry. Here you can get practice and instant feedback in one important way of analyzing, and developing an ear and a feel for, accentual-syllabic verse.

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Pride & Prejudice: Comparing Fact and Fiction

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Pride & Prejudice: Comparing Fact and Fiction

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Lessons combining the novel with historical primary texts: Jane Austen's treatment of class and the status of women.
NCTE/ILA Standard 2; CAEP 1

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making inferences and drawing conclusions

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representing ideas and information orally

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Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice": The Novel as Historical Source | EDSITEment

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Using a novel as a "primary" source-a way to learn about social history, students can gain valuable insights. Fictional accounts, particularly those judged "realistic" by contemporary observers, can tell us things that are not typically explored in supposedly more reliable, factual accounts.

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And other interesting tidbits to use when reading British Literature and trying to understand all those titles and customs

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Description of the origins of chivalry and contrasts between chivalric and 20th-century behaviour

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Timeline of literary periods, summaries of periods, summaries of classic texts, quizzes over classic texts.

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Subscribe for ad free access & additional features for teachers.Authors: 267, Books: 3,607, Poems & Short Stories: 4,435, Forum Members: 71,154, Forum Posts: 1,238,602, Quizzes: 344

Literature Network " Literary Periods " Timeline

Here you will find our graphical timeline representing literary periods & movements, as well as major events or authors from literature history. To learn more about specific eras you can browse back to our Literary Periods page.

You may purchase this timeline in poster form here.

Art of Worldly Wisdom Daily

In the 1600s, Balthasar Gracian, a jesuit priest wrote 300 aphorisms on living life called "The Art of Worldly Wisdom." Join our newsletter below and read them all, one at a time.

Shakespeare wrote over 150 sonnets! Join our Sonnet-A-Day Newsletter and read them all, one at a time.

Languages: English, Espanol | Site Copyright © Jalic Inc. 2000 - 2023. All Rights Reserved.

As Seen In: USA Today "Hot Sites"

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Subscribe for ad free access & additional features for teachers.Authors: 267, Books: 3,607, Poems & Short Stories: 4,435, Forum Members: 71,154, Forum Posts: 1,238,602, Quizzes: 344 Literature Network " Literary Periods " Timeline Here you will find our graphical timeline representing literary periods & movements, as well as major events or authors from literature history.

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Lesson Plan from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Animal Farm

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Lesson Plan from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Animal Farm

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Activity 1. Animal Farm and Allegory

George Orwell's 1945 novella, Animal Farm, is the story of an animal revolution. The animal residents of Manor Farm, spurred on by the dream of the pig, Old Major, decide they will change their "miserable, laborious, and short" lives. They overthrow Mr. Jones, their master, and take over the management of the farm. Rather than living under the heel of their human master, the animals of Manor Farm decide that they will take control of the products of their labor, working for the good of the farm and other animals, rather than for the good of humans.

How is this story allegorical? You may provide your own definition of allegory, or you can ask your students to read the definition of allegory that is available through EDSITEment's Literary Glossary. If an allegory is "an extended metaphor in which characters and objects hold both a literal meaning as well as a secondary, implied meaning," then what is the additional or alternative meaning contained in Orwell's story of animal rebellion?

Activity 2. The Collective Farm and the Communist State

Many of the events at Manor Farm are closely linked to political events in Russia during the first half of the twentieth century. The rebellion by the working animals of the farm against the oppressive human farmer who lives off the fruits of their labor is directly analogous to the Russian Revolution of 1917 in which workers and peasants revolted against a feudal system in which feudal lords lived luxuriously from the toil of the peasants who farmed on their lands. If your students are not already familiar with some of the main events of Russian history from the turn of the twentieth century to the end of World War II, you may wish to have them read an overview of the history of the Soviet Union.

Ask students to answer the following questions about the events that take place on the Manor Farm, and how they are an allegorical retelling of the events from the Russian Revolution to the end of World War II in Russia.

How is Orwell's Animal Farm an allegorical retelling of the end of feudalism and the rise and consolidation of communism in Russia?

How does Orwell parallel Czarist Russia and the life of the Russian peasants in the characters and events of Animal Farm?

What internal feud within the Communist party is paralleled in the struggle for power between Napoleon and Snowball?

During the Stalinist period the Communist State repeatedly set industrial and agricultural production goals that were often difficult or impossible to reach. These goals played a major role in the government's Five Year Plan and similar plans. How are these plans represented in Orwell's novella?

Activity 3. What's in a Name?

Many of the characters in Animal Farm are clearly meant to represent historical figures. The human inspiration for Orwell's fictional characters can often be found in the characters' parallel actions, and sometimes even in their names. As an important structural component of the novella as an allegorical tale, each of the characters in the story is representative of players in the historical narrative the story represents.

After discussing with the class the trajectory of the Russian revolution and subsequent Communist Party fracturing, ask students to work in pairs on the characters of Animal Farm. If students are less familiar with the historical context, or if this lesson is not being taught in conjunction with a close reading of the Orwell text, you may prefer to work on completing this chart together as a class.

Once students have filled out their charts ask them to think about the names of each of the characters. What importance and symbolism is contained in Orwell's choice of names? Draw their attention to Napoleon and Boxer in particular.

Finally, ask students to answer the following questions:

What is the metaphor at the heart of Orwell's allegorical tale?

How do the characters support the larger allegory of the story?

How is Orwell's choice of animal and name for each character important in contributing to the larger story?

Activity 4. Tyranny by any other Name...

Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984, are often cited as works that are designed to show the weaknesses of Communism. These works took aim at the Soviet Union, however Orwell's larger target was tyranny, in whatever form it appeared. He was as much concerned with the repression of rights and the injustice of the economic system in his own England as he was about Stalinist Russia.

As an allegorical tale about the dangers of tyranny, Orwell's Animal Farm uses the story of Napoleon, Snowball, and Boxer as a form of rhetoric. Rhetoric can be understood as the use of language to persuade an audience of a belief or point of view. In the case of Animal Farm, Orwell is using the story of Manor Farm's animal rebellion to caution people against the encroachment of tyranny. More information on rhetoric can be found in EDSITEment's Literary Glossary.

Ask students to contemplate the use of rhetoric in Animal Farm using the recommended questions:

How is this allegorical tale also a rhetorical tale?

What is Orwell trying to persuade the audience to see or understand?

What is Orwell cautioning his audience against?

How does the story of Boxer act as a persuasive argument against tyranny?

What are the lessons to be learned from Napoleon's behavior?

What is the warning contained in the changes to the list of commandments?

What is the lesson contained in the final, single commandment: All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others?

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Animal Farm: Allegory and the Art of Persuasion

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Allegories are similar to metaphors: in both the author uses one subject to represent another, seemingly unrelated, subject. However, unlike metaphors, which are generally short and contained within a few lines, an allegory extends its representation over the course of an entire story, novel, or poem.

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An explanation of Joseph Campbell's archetypal Hero's Journey.

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Socratic Seminar and More for Julius Ceasar

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Socratic Seminar and More for Julius Ceasar

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Ideas for teaching the speeches in Julius Caesar. Writing frames can be adapted for rhetorical analysis of other works as well.
Resource 7: NCTE/ILA 2, 5, 11; CAEP 4

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For the first eight years of my teaching career, my Shakespare daily lesson plans went something like this:

"Good morning! Turn to Act II Scene 1 on page 234. I'm going to push play on the CD, let's listen to a few lines..."

(Actors performing while students follow along for about 30 seconds. Pause CD.)

Me: "Ok, what just happened there?" (The same 2-3 students telling me the plot.) "Great! Let's continue on..."

Once in awhile, I would have the students act out a scene or two... but that usually led to monotone recitations and awkward moments helping students pronounce words.

I think many people would relate to these methods. In essence, I was a human Cliff's Notes, regurgitating the plot to the point that we only studied the surface of the story. I usually had the same 2-3 students respond, and when I called on other students I usually got a response that went something like, "I have NO idea what they are talking about!"

We were studying the play a mile wide and an inch deep. That is how my teachers in high school taught me Shakespeare, so that must be the best way. Right?

This year, my English II colleague Blake Revelle and I decided to try something completely different when we taught Julius Caesar. With the onset of the Common Core State Standards, we asked ourselves: "What is more important: That our students know all of the plot details of Julius Caesar, or they know how to read, write and talk about a complex text, no matter what text it is?"

We felt like the answer was clear: In 10 years, it will be far more important for our students to know how to annotate, analyze and explain a complex text they have to read for work or college, rather than be able to answer plot questions or create a poster with all of the characters.

Our mantra became, "We will teach an inch-wide and a mile-deep."

We decided to go deeper into fewer scenes. Students weren't going to get as much of the plot, but that was not our goal. The text just served as a vehicle to teach concepts in reading, writing and speaking that would prepare them for college and their career.

Going into the unit, we decided to only focus on four of the speeches from the play. We spent about a week studying each piece, and we had our students read & annotate the speeches, write about them, then discuss them through a Socratic Seminar.

We kept it simple: Read it. Write about it. Talk about it.

This unit hit on virtually every one of the Common Core State Standards for reading, writing and speaking.

Each week followed a consistent schedule:

Monday

Explain what happened in the plot since the last speech we studied. Video SparkNotes was a great resource for this.

View a video performance of the speech we were going to study

Read/annotate the speech. Students circled key terms and underlined claims.

Tuesday

Chart the text: In the left margin, write what the author is SAYING (summarize). In the right margin, write what the author is DOING (analyze).
Wednesday/Thursday (90-minute block)

Timed writing assignment - using templates.

Here are the materials we used:

1. Cassius' speech to Brutus (I.ii)
Text for annotation
Writing template

2. Brutus' soliloquy (II.i)
Text for annotation
Writing template

3. Brutus' funeral speech
Text for annotation

4. Antony's funeral speech
Text for annotation

5. Synthesis paper
Graphic organizer to answer the question: "Who delivered the more effective speech: Mark Antony or Marcus Brutus?"

Students developed this into a 2-3 page argument, citing the text and backing up their claim.

This unit was extremely effective for teaching students the skills they will need to critically read and write about complex texts, as the Common Core asks us to.

In past years, students would say things like, "I don't understand Shakespeare. It is written in another language." The close reading strategies taught them to closely analyze what they DID know about the text, and make their own inferences.

All students were engaged. They could not just sit back and let other people answer the questions. They had to dig into the text, summarizing, making inferences, asking questions. This definitely ups the rigor in studying Shakespeare.

Students did not rely on me to tell them the plot. It became completely self-driven, with the students asking and answering their own questions.

In the course of a six weeks, we wrote two short papers and one longer paper. The quality of these papers were the best I had ever seen. The templates served as a guide to help their thinking, and it went far beyond plot and surface-level thinking.

Students gained confidence in analyzing complex texts. I equate it to lifting weights: In order to get stronger, you have to lift heavier weight. Now that they can read and analyze Shakespeare, other readings will seem easy.

How have you begun to modify your units to fit the Common Core State Standards?

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Teaching Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: Common Core-Style

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For the first eight years of my teaching career, my Shakespare daily lesson plans went something like this: "Good morning! Turn to Act II Scene 1 on page 234. I'm going to push play on the CD, let's listen to a few lines..." (Actors performing while students follow along for about 30 seconds.

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Hundreds of Poems from every era and poet bios
NCTE/ILA Standards 1, 2, 4; CAEP 5, 6

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Maya Angelou - Maya Angelou Poems - Poem Hunter

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Browse through Maya Angelou's poems and quotes. 53 poems of Maya Angelou. Still I Rise, The Road Not Taken, If You Forget Me, Dreams, Annabel Lee. (born Marguerite Ann Johnson on April 4, 1928) was an American author and poet who has been called.

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Huck Finn, Racial Sensitivity, & Clemens' Biography

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Huck Finn, Racial Sensitivity, & Clemens' Biography

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Lesson Plans for teaching The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn along with 10-20 minute videos with interviews and thoughts about the controversy of Huck Finn.
Resource 4: NTCE/ILA 3; CAEP 1

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Huck Finn Teachers Guide: Film Index: "Born to Trouble: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"

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The book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is introduced, as is Mark Twain and his experience growing up in the slaveholding town of Hannibal, Missouri. The film moves to McClintock High School in Tempe, Arizona, where Kathy Monteiro and her daughter, Raquel Panton, object to Huck Finn as required reading due to the use of the word "nigger" in the novel.

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Lesson Plans and other resources to assist ELLs
Resource 6: NCTE/ILA Standard 10

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The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model is a research-based and validated instructional model that has proven effective in addressing the academic needs of English learners throughout the United States.

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The Wednesday Wars
NCTE/ILA Standards 1, 2, 5, 8; CAEP 1, 3, 5