Nitobe Memorial Garden Field Trip

We had wonderful weather for our excursion to the Nitobe Memorial Garden this afternoon.  The goal of this outing to a traditional Japanese Tea and Stroll garden, was to gather 5-senses information for use in writing Haiku poetry, a Japanese poetic form.  Ahh, the synergy!  Here’s the note taking organizer:

Also, I wanted to model the value in getting your students out of the four walls of the school and into the “real world” for curricular purposes.

In-Class Writing Task Assessment Description

I took some time to describe the nature of this task and to outline the format I’d prefer.  You can find the task handout on the Assignements page of this blog.  Also, below you’ll see a photo of the layout and a model task from a previous year’s TC:

• LLED 320 Sample In-Class Writing Sample Assessment Task – 2011

Here’s the generic, four-to-a-page rubrics for you to use if need be:

• Writing PS – Generic Quick Scale Rubrics

Please note that your completed task is due on Tuesday, 7 February 2012.  Please submit it all electronically or entirely on paper.

Energizer #1: Spelling Tag by Heather

The Writing Process: An Illustrative Example with Haiku

I struggled with the idea of how to present an interactive lesson on entire writing process in just an hour or two.  In the end, I settled on a lesson that involved the writing of haiku poetry, a form often used in elementary & middle school poetry classes.  We started to follow the Writing Process (as envisioned by writing teacher Diana Cruchley.  I took a workshop from her 2 years ago) –

and, to that end, engaged in a variety of pre-writing activities.  The activities were:

Brainwarming

Just as athletes get warm up their bodies before game play or practice, writers need to warm up their brains.  To this end, we worked through a Brainwarming activity designed by Julie Ferguson of Beacon Literary Services.  As a part of the Hillcrest Middle School staff, I took a workshop with her last year, enjoyed it, and I thought I’d pass along what I’d learned about improving the quality and quantity of the writing students do.

Here’s are some of the key pieces in Brainwarming:

• Your favourite word
• Power Words
• Power Triplets
• A 5-Winute Write
• Writing quickly
• Harnessing the power of the creative right brain
• Supporting the diversity of learners –  from Gifted to LD – in your classroom

The PowerPoint below is the one I used in class to guide you through the exercise.  You can find more info at Julie’s website, if you are interested:

• Brainwarming PowerPoint Slideshow

Modeling

We looked over numerous haiku, determined our favourite, and developed a list of key features for haiku poetry.  Here’s the list of poems we looked at:

• LLED 320 Sample Haiku

If you’re yearning for more haiku, check out these Zombie Haiku:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd1Ws9QnmZY[/youtube]

or Biff from the Back to the Future trilogy with some funny haiku songs:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwnqUmmJ-zE[/youtube]

or these “classic” Redneck Haiku.

Here’s a wonderful visual representation of a traditional Japanese haiku:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucc8l2Yg0qo&feature=related[/youtube]

Criteria Development

The haiku criteria we developed were almost bang on with the criteria outlined in the text I took this lesson from, Wordplaygrounds by John S. O’Connor.  His criteria are as follows:

Haiku poems…

• Are short

Typically 3 short  lines with a maximum of 17 syllables.  They may follow a 5-7-5 pattern but need not.  Here’s a one line haiku by Lee Gurga:

trying the old pump a mouse pours out

• Have a Twist (Juxtaposition of images)

Most haiku have two images, one on either side of a break in the poem.

• Focus a “Haiku” moment in time

They capture moments of epiphany or discoveries about the world and our place in it.  To best capture the immediacy of the moment, haikus are generally written in the present tense and benefit from an economy of language.

• Focus on nature, including human nature, shown concretely

Haiku avoid figurative language (similes, metaphors, personfication and the like) in favour of direct and specific descriptions of the world around us.

• Are 5 senses specific

Powerful haikus are based on vivid imagery based on the five senses.

Pre-Writing

In an effort to make those criteria as clear as possible, we engaged in a variety of short writing tasks:

Word Seasons (handout: Word Seasons Word List)

I showed a list of words and asked you to associate each one with a season.

Sandwich Poems (handout: Sandwich Poems Examples)

These are three-line poems in which the first two lines and the second two lines form a different compound word.  Here’s an example:

fire

alarm

clock

Energizer #2: Who Am I? by Amanda

Drafting Based on an Image Pool

I gave out the first line of a haiku:

Halloween night —

then asked you to visualize your most memorable Halloween night and share a few images to create a class image pool.  After that, you generated a haiku of your own and many examples were shared with the class.  Here are a few of the poems written on the board (Thanks to Tim for today’s photos – LH):

Homework for Next Class Session

Haiku Writing

1. Write 3 haikus that fit with the key features of haiku that we explored in class.  I suggest you use the info gathered from your Nitobe experience as a stimulus but this isn’t necessary.  Your poems can be on any topic.
2. Bring your 3 haikus to class on Tuesday, 31 January 2012

Student Diversity Reading

Please read your assigned chapter in Student Diversity and summarize its main ideas in a graphic organizer of your choosing.  Bring your completed G.O. (and your S. D. text) to class on Tuesday, 31 January 2012. The readings are assigned by surname as follows:

• Atsma t0 Jones = Chapter 4: Writers’ Workshop
• Kent t0 Wright = Chapter 5: Introducing Narrative Writing

My goal with these readings is to deepen your understanding of the writing process in general and, specifically, how that process might play out in an elementary/middle school classroom.  My goal with having you use a graphic organizer is to play with ways that information can be summarized.  Graphic organizers are incredibly useful tools to support the learning of all students.

The interwebs are full of many sites with information on graphic organizers.  Here’s a few:

• Education Oasis: Graphic Organizers.
• Education World: Teacher Tools and Templates.
• Teacher Vision: Graphic Organizers

– Lawrence