Rhyme Scheme

Minilesson by: Rachel Wood

Purpose:

The goal of this lesson is to familiarize students with the concept of rhyme scheme in poetry. Not only should they understand the definition of this device, but they should also understand its importance and the reasons it is used.

Time:

20 minutes

Materials:

Copies of 3 song lyrics (each student only gets one of the four)

Objectives:

NCSCS 7^th Grade

Competency Goal 5: the learner will respond to various literary genres using interpretive and evaluative processes.

5.02: Study the characteristics of literary genres (fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry) through:

• reading a variety of literature and other text (e.g., mysteries, novels, science fiction, historical documents, newspapers, skits, lyric poems).
• Analyzing what genre specific characteristics have on the meaning of the work.
• Analyzing how the author’s choice and use of a genre shapes the meaning of the literary work.
• Analyzing what impact literary elements have on the meaning of the text such as the influence of setting on the problem and its resolution.

NCTE/IRA 7^th Grade

6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.

Note: This lesson should be conducted at the beginning of a poetry unit after students have already learned about the various types of poems, but before they have learned about poetic devices. This will be the first poetic device they learn so that afterward, students can better understand lyric poetry and begin to learn the other devices many lyric poems incorporate such as imagery and metaphors.

Dialogue:

“Today we will be learning about an important poetic device called rhyme scheme. First we need to come up with a definition of this term. The easiest way to do this is to break the word up. Raise your hands and give me some definitions of what the word ‘Rhyme’ means.” The class will respond and the teacher will write a bubble diagram with the word ‘Rhyme’ inside and all the class responses in the other bubbles. “Now, let’s do the same thing with the word ‘Scheme’. This one might be more of a challenge. What do you think of when you see this word written on the board?” The class will respond. “So let’s put these two definitions together. Rhymes are words that end in the same letters and sounds and a scheme is a kind of plan or way of organizing. So rhyme scheme is an organized set of lines in a poem that have specific letter sounds that go together. Yesterday we looked at different types of poems and the basic structure of each. Remember that stanzas are the groups of lines in a poem. Today we are going to look at song lyrics that are also written in these stanzas. I will give you each a song to look at and analyze. To determine the rhyme scheme of the song, you must take the song one line at a time. After reading the first line, write a capital A to its side. Every line after that in that stanza that rhymes with the A line, simply write another A beside it. If a line does not rhyme with the A line, give it another letter. After doing this, you will have a simple rhyme scheme outline using only these letters. Let’s do one together.” Class looks at one stanza together and creates the rhyme scheme. The teacher will then hand out a copy of one of the songs to each student and the class will work independently on creating the rhyme schemes for five minutes. “Now let’s come back together. Who will volunteer to read his/her rhyme scheme. Tell us which song you had and those of you with the same song check to make sure you agree.” Students share. “Okay class you now understand what rhyme schemes are and how they can be determined. Musicians and writers use this device to help make their poems flow easily. Lyric poems use rhyme scheme and although we looked at songs, songs are definitely forms of lyric poems.”

Reference: www.lyrics.com