Resources for Lesson Plan

Note: The following is a Notetaker designed to accompany

the Lesson Plan I have provided. In an actual lesson, the
color images would be on a Power Point, which would mimic
the Notetaker; students would follow along with the printed
version. The only difference would be that the powerpoint
would have the color images, while for copying purposes, the
Notetaker would feature only the black and white text.
Students would fill in any underlined words, which would be
left blank on their version.
For ease of viewing in this format, I have combined the
powerpoint and notetaker here, in order to give the best
sense of the lesson in its entirety.
This lesson draws on several online sources, which I credit
here:
Fredrickson, Lane. Stressed and Unstressed Syllables.
(2014) Rhyme Weaver. Retrieved from
http://www.writingrhymeandmeter.com/?page_id=1787
Munroe, Randall. Wikipedia Article Titles. (2014). XKCD.
Retrieved from http://xkcd.com/1412/
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. [Video File] (2009). Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNa2Fr6CA0E

Notetaker: Meter
Bellwork: Respond to the following questions.
1. What musical elements do you like in songs and
why?

2. What is rhythm and how is it used in music?

Vocabulary:
: a regular, repeated patterns of sounds

: Pattern of stressed and unstressed

syllables

How would you describe the rhythm of the first song?

How does it make you feel about the song? Take
notes and share with a partner:

How would you describe the rhythm of the second

song? How does it make you feel about the song?
Take notes and share with a partner.

: rhythm or beat in poetic lines. Created

by a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Stress: emphasized or long syllable

Moving on
Meter is simply rhythm in poetry!
The key to understanding Meter is understanding the
difference between stressed and unstressed syllables.
STRESSED syllables are pronounced slightly louder, for a
slightly longer duration, and at a slightly higher pitch than
UNstressed syllabus.
In other words, stressed syllabus are LOUDER, LONGER, and
HIGHER

G
G Think of it like this:
G

When you say the word NOSTRIL, you pronounce the [NOS]
slightly louder, at a slightly higher pitch, and for a slightly
longer duration than when you pronounce the [tril]. The first
syllable [NOS] is STRESSED, and the second syllable [tril] is
UNstressed.

NOSTRIL
A great word for illustrating the difference between

STRESSED and UNstressed syllables is the word PRESENT.

The word PRESENT is really two different words depending
on which syllable you stress. If you stress the first syllable,
you get the word that means a gift. But if you stress the
second syllable, you get a word that is the root word for
presentation.

Remember: louder, longer, higher!

G
G

The words DISCUS and DISCUSS are also good for illustrating
the difference between STRESSED and UNstressed syllables.

Class Practice:
As a class, lets determine which of the following syllables is
stressed or unstressed. Well put a u above unstressed
syllables and a / above stressed syllables:
about
examples
poetry
emphasize
syllable
Independent Practice:
For the underlined word in the following sentences,
determine which syllable is stressed or unstressed. Put
a u above unstressed syllables and a / above stressed
syllables:

Darth Vader decided to crush the rebel

soldier.
Luke Skywalker will rebel against his father's
wishes.

Write your name as stressed and unstressed syllables.

Moving on
A METRICAL FOOT just a pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables.

Today, we are learning about a type of metrical foot

called a trochee: a stressed syllable followed by an
unstressed syllable.

Like so:
/u

TROCHEE

TROCHEE: A Metrical Foot consisting of one STRESSED

syllable followed by one UNstressed syllable.
STOR ies

BA by

Independent Practice:
Determine if the following are trochees. Put a / above a
stressed syllable and a u above an unstressed syllable. If the
pattern is / u , you know that you have trochee!

Chicken
Invent
Forceful

Write an example of a trochee below:

Moving on

Think of a metrical foot like a beat in music.

If were looking at a line of poetry, we want to know what
kind of beat is being used. So if we identify a pattern of using
trochees, wed call that trochaic.
Once weve identified the type of meter, we count the
number of metrical feet (in this case, the number of
trochees) in a line.

For example, if the pattern is trochaic, and there are four

feet of trochees in the line, and the wed call that trochaic
tetrameter.

For an example, lets listen to the Teenage Mutant Ninja

Turtles theme song (no, Im not kidding!).This is a perfect
example of trochaic tetrameter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNa2Fr6CA0E

Class practice:
Lets look at a line from the theme song, placing a u above
unstressed syllables and a / above stressed syllables:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

(TEEN-age MU-tant NIN-ja TUR-tles)

As you can see, there are four trochees. Thats four beats
or feet. Hence TETRA (meaning four) meter.
So, wed call this Trochaic Tetrameter.

The comic strip XKCD demonstrates that many Wikipedia

titles can be sung to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme
song, or in other wordsTrochaic Tetrameter!

Independent Practice:

Mark the stressed and unstressed syllables of the following

Wikipedia headlines, placing a u above unstressed syllables
and a / above stressed syllables. Hum the Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles theme song if it helps!

Act Ventura Pet Detective

Single Payer Health Insurance
Spotted Giant Flying Squirrel
Women Science Fiction Authors

Sowhat does this have to do with Macbeth?

Well, from the very beginning of the play, the Witches (and
just the witches!) speak in trochaic tetrameter! This is pretty
rare in Shakespeare. He tends to only use trochaic
tetrameter when writing supernatural creatures.
Class Practice
Lets look at one of the witches lines and mark the stressed
and unstressed syllables!

Round about the cauldron go

As we can see, thats trochaic tetrameter!

Independent Practice: Mark the stressed and unstressed

syllables in the witches dialogue below (This is called
scanning).
First Witch
Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Thought question: Why do you think Shakespeare only uses
trochaic tetrameter for the witches? Does this rhythm seem
appropriate for this scene?