Rationale
Originally this unit was set to coincide with my AP English Literature and Composition course. While that is still my intention, as I spent time with the syllabus and the summer reading list I started thinking about how I could create a unit that tackles my students' main hurdle – reading proficiency. My students have considerable oral fluency and can read aloud flawlessly, yet their reading comprehension skills are lacking. My plan is to have students focus on the arrangement of the sonnet to help them clarify meaning in other kinds of poetry.
I often find students poetry-phobic. They can't see the use of it because they have had a hard time finding or explaining the interest of this or that poem they may have read. The sonnet, on the other hand, provides a nice formula in small compass to aid them in uncovering compressed meaning. Sonnets are convenient because they are compact, but they do pack a punch. Additionally, the sonnet implies a lot about other forms of poetry, including free verse.
Comments: