Monday, February 28, 2011

Haiku Guy, Haiku, & Hannah Tinti

Today, please post a response to the novel Haiku Guy on your blogs. Your response should discuss the characters, plot, or setting of the novel, as well as what you noticed about the writing style and whether or not you enjoyed the read. Would you recommend this book to friends or should you reserve it for your enemies (and explain why).

Also on your blog, please post 3-5 of your best Haiku. If you don't have 3-5 haiku written, use the blog entries below to complete this assignment.

Transfer these haiku on a single sheet to be handed in as completion of your haiku unit. These poems may be submitted to upcoming Haiku contests. More information on these forthcoming. Haiku poems and blog response due today.

Finally, with the time remaining please spend some time today learning a little about our visiting artist: Hannah Tinti. Check out her blog. Hannah Tinti edited and publishes One Story. Take a look at this here.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Haiku Guy (group reading) & Haiku Sharing

Today during 3rd period, please read further in the book Haiku Guy. As you read, please complete the following task:

AT THE END OF EACH CHAPTER you read with your group, select one or two group members to share one of his/her haiku. Keep going around your circle, reading a chapter, then sharing haiku until all group members have shared at least one haiku.

Together as a group vote for your favorite top 3 haiku. Write these haiku on an index card and hand in to Mr. Craddock at the end of period 3.

Period 4: After our discussion, continue to compose haiku today and through the break. Keep writing in your journal. Post sample haiku on your blogs, share them with friends/family, enter them into upcoming contests.

Some summer Kigo:
Summer solstice, summer evening, summer morning, slow day, short night, summer fog, lightning, sudden shower, summer dew, cloud peaks, scorching/blazing sun, bare feet, awning, sunburn, sunglasses, ice tea, sweat, cactus flower, summer grove, lake, fly, swatter, carnation, marigold, gardenia, moth, cicada, perfume, waterfall, fan, independence day, weeding, blue cornflower, honeysuckle, cherry, strawberries, blackberries, sunflower, snapdragon, potato, carrots, melons, lotus

Some spring Kigo:
balmy night, departing spring, tranquility, vernal equinox, lengthening days, muddy road, melting snow, lingering snow, slush, thin mist, haze, moon, flood, Memorial Day, Easter, Passover, kite, balloon, wild geese returning, any baby animal, nightingale, hawthorn, pussy willow, tulip, snow drop, plum blossom, cherry blossom, violet, Mother's Day, April Fool's Day

Some autumn Kigo:
Lingering summer, short day, wild geese, crows, woodpecker, red dragonfly, raking/burning leaves, rose of sharon, BBQ, pomegranate, pumpkin, fallen leaves, shrike (bird), black cat, mushroom gathering, gleaning, harvest, corn field, deer, Labor Day, Halloween

Use the time in lab to write and compose haiku.

HOMEWORK: Please complete Haiku Guy over the break.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Haiku Guy & Haiku Booklets

Haiku are a type of Japanese poem meant traditionally to be spoken in one exhale or breath. In Japanese, they are three line poems (closed form) with an alternating syllable count of 5,7,5. In contemporary translation, though, we lose the rigid form and state that haiku should be a short three line poem with FEWER than 17 syllables, preferably comprised of 10 or fewer words.

Choosing a topic for your haiku should involve figuring out what kind of emotion you want to evoke. Feeling happy? Try a summer kigo. Themes reflect common human interaction and emotion, often through nature.

Since haiku is so short, every word needs to hold weight and infused with tone. Above all, it is important to be specific. Haiku poems are not titled and do not need them.

The Cutting Technique (Kireji)

Haiku juxtapose or contrast ideas. Frequently, contrasts are set up with the first two lines presenting one idea and then switching suddenly to another idea by the closing of the poem. This technique is referred to as cutting or kireji.

Cutting involves juxtaposition of images. One image balances a second, effectively creating two parts to a haiku. These two sections should enhance and work off each other like a good friend. In English, the contrast is often emphasized with punctuation such as a long dash (em-dash) or ellipsis. One handy way to do this is to read the first two lines (they should make sense), then read the 2nd and last line. If both phrases make sense, you've probably got a good haiku.

Haiku uses a seasonal or key word called kigo. Each season has its own kigo.

Winter imagery, for example, often depicts grief, death, distance, and serenity. Take a look at some winter Kigo and see if you can use it as a central image in your own haiku:

Season: Winter

Freezing rain or freezing drizzle
Sleigh rides
Snowfall, Blizzard
Snow or ice sculptures (snowmen, etc)
Football Playoffs: "The Super Bowl"
Ice fishing
Ice hockey
Ice skating
Polar plunges
Sledding, Tobaggoning
Snowboarding
Skiing
Snow shoeing
Snow shoveling
Candles, firewood, fireplaces, etc.
Christmas Eve, Christmas Day
Earth Day
Epiphany (Episcopal, Catholic)
Groundhog Day
Hanukkah
Martin Luther King Jr., Day
Lincoln's Birthday (12th February)
President's Day
Pearl Harbor Day
St. Valentine's Day
Washington's Birthday (22nd February)
Midterms
Blue jays
Cardinals
Chickadees
Juncos
Mockingbirds, northern
Owls
Sparrows
Crows (Rochester)
Titmouse, tufted
Woodpeckers
Poinsettia
Norway pines

Activity: Write a page of haiku. Expect some of these haiku to find their way into the dung pile.

HOMEWORK: Please continue reading until pg. 22 in Haiku Guy.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Fences & the 10-Minute Play

3rd period, please complete and turn in your 10-minute play scripts. If you have not yet read or completed Fences, please complete this as well. Save your work on a flashdrive. You will be moving.

4th period we will get into our new book/workshop groups. In your new groups, please listen to instructions and conduct your group discussion on the play.

Monday, February 7, 2011

10-Minute Play Script Draft

Continue to work on the 10-minute play script draft. This project will be due Friday, along with the completed play reading of Fences by August Wilson.

Sometime today, when you need a break from writing, please check out this link about August Wilson. In your journal take a few notes about how he got started writing plays and what he was attempting to do. What are his plays generally about?

Information about August Wilson can be found here. Please check out this interview as well. August Wilson interview

Use your time today to work on the 10-minute play script. You may also begin reading the play with a partner if you both need a break.

HOMEWORK: Take notes on August Wilson, Read Fences, write a 10-minute play script draft.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

10-Minute Play Script Draft

Using your brainstorming list and experience with the communication process, begin writing a 10-minute play. Use the time in the lab to:

1. Brainstorm and come up with a topic
2. Create characters & choose an appropriate setting
3. Begin writing dialogue

The best way to write is to jump in after you've had a moment to think about what you want to say about human life and communication. Your play should be highly dramatic (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf). I suggest starting just before the climax of the play. A 10-minute play script is usually 5-10 pages in length.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf Conclusion (Sketch)

After we conclude the film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, please turn in your viewing notes.

Complete the following tasks today:
1. Complete your sketch. Some of you have already done this and handed it in. Thank you. If you have not yet done so, please complete this project today and turn in.

2. Alone (yes, alone) please brainstorm an idea about problems with the communication process. Make a list of problems that you have experienced or witnessed due to communication problems. Choose one of these from your list to work with. Fictionalize the events (change names, location, ages, culture, etc.) Write a 5-8 page play script centered or using the communication problem as a central or starting issue in the play.

Work on this play script. Use the common play script format used in "The Zoo Story."

Deadline: Turn in your sketches. These are due today. The 10-minute play project is not due yet.

The Graveyard Book - Discussion Questions

  In your discussion groups, please answer 5 of the 10 discussion questions. Choose a member of your group to record your answers. Make sure...