STUDENTS TEACH ONE ANOTHER POETRY

Corinne and Kathryn speak! 

At the moment we are doing a students teaching students programme. We are studying poetry and we learnt about a poem called the sonnet. It was a form of poetry used by Shakespeare. Firstly, we researched it and found out that a sonnet has fourteen lines with ten syllables in each line. It has three quatrains with the rhyming pattern of ABAB meaning the first and third line rhyme and the second and fourth line rhyme. This is repeated twice before a couplet, which is simply two lines that rhyme with each other.

We created this poem together!   

Teacher Response: As a teacher, I am blown away by the power of peer teaching. From the outset of this exercise, all students were highly engaged in the lessons each pair was preparing. As the fortnight came to an end, students were keenly selecting the days for their presentation. Engagement during Corinne and Kathryn's presentation was high. All students have had a really good go at writing the first quatrain of their sonnet. We will publish some of their efforts. And how do I feel as the teacher? Excited, engaged and enthusiastically brainstormimg the next possibility.

Corinne and Kathryn: your sonnet is beautiful, reflective and creates amazing images for me. You have captured the essence of this form of poetry. You have attended to the strict requirements of a sonnet's structure. Have you explored one of Shakespeare's sonnets?

 Sonnet 18, Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? is perhaps the most famous. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/18.html  It is thought to be one of the most widely read poems in all of English Literature. Try reading it then click the link for further explanation of the meaning. See how close you were to interpreting Shakespeare's intention!