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Lesson 10

We will write one-paragraph expository responses that identify a theme and how it is developed in Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

Lesson Goals

Reading and Knowledge

  • Determining Meaning and Purpose: How well do I determine a theme and explain how it is developed in Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet?
  • Attend to Details: How well do I recognize and interpret language and sentence structures to deepen my understanding of themes within Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet?

Writing

  • Form Claims: How well do I develop and clearly communicate a meaningful and defensible claim about how a theme is developed in Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet?
  • Develop Ideas: How well do I use descriptions, reasoning, and evidence to support and elaborate on coherent and logical explanations about themes developed within Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet?
  • Organize Ideas: How well do I sequence and group sentences and paragraphs and use devices, techniques, descriptions, reasoning, and evidence to establish coherent, logical, and well-developed claims about how a theme is developed in Romeo and Juliet?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare, Folger Shakespeare Library, Simon and Schuster, 2004

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Write

We will use our notes from the text-theme Note-Taking Tool to draft a thesis statement for our Section Diagnostic.

For this Section Diagnostic, you will make an analytical interpretive claim and support it with textual evidence. An analytical interpretive claim states observations or conclusions reached by closely examining information or ideas.

As you read Romeo and Juliet, you analyzed key details and made interpretations about their significance. You are now ready to draft a formal claim.

Your first step in drafting an analytical interpretive claim is to draft a thesis statement. In this exercise, write a one-sentence thesis statement that concisely expresses the main idea of your written response.

Your thesis statement should express a theme from Act 1 and a brief explanation of how it is developed.

Sentence frames:

In Act 1, Scene _____ of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare develops the theme _____ by _____.

or

The theme of _____ is developed in Act 1, Scene _____ of Romeo and Julietthrough _____.

Using one of the sentence frames, draft your thesis statement.

Activity 2: Read – Write

We will compare our draft thesis statements to a model thesis statement.

Examine the following thesis-statement models.

In Act 1, Scene 4 of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare develops the theme that the characters cannot escape their doomed fate by foreshadowing an ominous consequence of Romeo going to the Capulet party.

The theme of destiny controlling the characters’ lives is developed in Act 1, Scene 4 of Romeo and Julietthrough Romeo’s foreshadowing of a negative outcome from the night’s events.

Underline or highlight the theme in each statement.

Underline or highlight the brief explanation of how the theme is developed.

Return to your draft thesis statement and make any necessary revisions based on the thesis-statement models.

Use your notes from your Text-Theme Note-Taking Tool to make an outline of the textual evidence you will use to support your claim. You should support your claim from multiple places in the text.

Activity 3: Discuss – Write

We will read our thesis statement and outline of supporting evidence to a partner to gain feedback and make improvements to our thesis statement.

With a partner, read your thesis statement aloud. Ask your partner the following questions:

  1. Does this thesis statement present an accurate interpretation of a theme?

  2. Does this thesis statement answer all parts of the prompt?

  3. Is this thesis statement punctuated correctly?

Read your outline of supporting evidence aloud. Ask your partner the following questions:

  1. Does the outlined evidence support the claim found in the thesis statement?

  2. Does it come from multiple places in the text?

  3. Is there any stronger evidence available to use?

Make revisions to your thesis statement and supporting evidence based on your partner's answers.

Activity 4: Read – Discuss

We will examine a model paragraph on our Model Claim 1 handout that includes specific textual evidence and connects it to the claim.

Read and annotate the model paragraph to analyze how it uses and connects specific textual evidence to the analytical interpretive claim.

With a partner, discuss the following questions:

  1. What evidence is used to support the thesis?

  2. How is the evidence connected to the thesis statement?

  3. How is the evidence elaborated on so that the reader can understand the connection?

  4. What transitions are used to connect ideas?

  5. How is the textual evidence cited? How are the quotes punctuated?

Activity 5: Write

We will compose our response to the Section Diagnostic.

Using your thesis statement, outlined evidence, and the model, compose a paragraph response to the following questions:

  1. What is a theme that is developed in Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet?

  2. How is that theme developed?

Be sure to do the following:

  • Include a thesis statement that expresses a clear claim addressing all parts of the prompt.

  • Support your analytical interpretive claim with strong textual evidence from the play.

  • Connect the textual evidence to your claim.

  • Properly cite the textual evidence.

  • Use appropriate and varied transitions.

  • Use significant words from your Vocabulary Journal.

  • Use a writing technique from your Mentor Sentence Journal, such as parallel structure.

  • Use correct conventions.

Activity 6: Write

We will reflect on our work on the Section Diagnostic and assess our progress toward the Culminating Task.

Step 1

Choose at least three of the questions below and respond to them:

  1. How well did you take the necessary actions to prepare for the task?

  2. What went well for you during the completion of this task?

  3. What did you struggle with during the completion of this task? How did you push through that struggle?

  4. How well did you actively focus your attention during this independent task? How well did you develop and use an effective and efficient process to maintain work and materials during this task?

  5. What would you do differently during the next Section Diagnostic?

Review your Culminating Task Progress Tracker. Think about all you have learned and done during this section of the unit. Evaluate your skills and knowledge, and respond to the following question:

  1. How prepared are you to succeed on the Culminating Task? What do you need to do to succeed?

Step 2

Review the Central Question of the unit:

Why do we still read Shakespeare?

Use the following questions to guide a discussion with a partner or small group:

  1. What new knowledge do you have in relation to the Central Question?

  2. What are you still curious about in relation to the Central Question?

  3. What is the relationship between the question and the texts you have read so far? How do the texts shed light on the question? How does the question help you understand the texts?

  4. How has your response to the question evolved, deepened, or changed?

In your Learning Log, write your response to Question 3. You will return to this response in later lessons to examine how your understanding of the Central Question has evolved.