Explain to students that paraphrasing means to rewrite a phrase in your own words. Now that your students have some preliminary understanding, they’re ready to start digging in. You may want students to record any of their classmates comments on their copy of the sonnet.Ĥ. Give students a chance to just float ideas about the sonnet. What do they think? What do they like about the poem? What do they notice? There are no right and wrong answers here. No fair writing, “What does this mean?”ģ. Encourage them to be specific with their questions. Then, ask them to jot down any notes, thoughts, or questions they have. Then, ask students to underline anything that pops out at them, any words or phrases they like, or anything that they notice. Or…you can show students this wonderful YouTube video: Start by just reading it! Provide a copy of the sonnet to each student and read it aloud while they follow along. (If you’re looking for more help teaching poetry, check out this post on “Strategies for Teaching Poetry.” It will help you every step of the way.) Steps to teaching a sonnetġ.
Understanding poetry is not unlike solving a puzzle. Don’t let your students off the hook too quickly. Analyzing a sonnet (or any poem) can be a real challenge. That’s why I asked!” And your response can be, “Let’s see if we can figure this out together.” Of course, then your student will say, “I don’t know. When students ask “What does this mean?” or “What’s the right answer?” turn the question back to them. If a student can support his or her analysis with evidence from the text, why can’t that analysis be correct? This is what turns so many students off from poetry - they think there is just one answer and the teacher has it. Prove it! What a great way to have students build and defend arguments. Poetry is flexible! There are many ways to interpret a poem. Literary critics are still debating meanings and symbols of works whose authors are long, long gone. Step away from the edge!! Think about the thousands of dissertations written about single poems.
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