In this wacky wonderful world of the Kidlitosphere, I have met so many awesome writers and teachers and teacher/writers. It becomes an even richer experience when we work together to teach and inspire students. When Leigh Anne Eck tweeted me about Skyping with her summer writing camp, I agreed, of course. I was actually flattered. As the day got closer, I worried that I didn’t have what I needed to adequately teach this workshop. We had a quick email exchange and decided to do haiku. All my books are packed away at school, so I turned to another online friend, Linda Baie. She had written a haiku every day in April and made a catalog of them all on her site. How perfect and convenient! Thanks, Linda!
These were the poems I selected and a few things we talked about.
snow shadows again
blossoms tighten their hold
no open window
(Note the use of the word shadows. Why do blossoms tighten? What does the last line tell you?)
That little boy
digs into warm earth –
wiggle in his hand
(What is in his hand? How do you know? Poets can tell you that it’s a worm without using the word.)
from snow to puddles
mother nature’s pasttime –
trees drink deeply
(What is happening? How do you know? Note the personification of trees. What is a pasttime?)
Following our discussion, we looked at this image from National Geographic. First we collected words and phrases that the students shared. Together we wrote this haiku.
Three pairs of flip-flops.
Shadows of three kids playing.
Puddle reflection.
We pulled up a Google image search of “summer days.” Each student chose their own image to write from. Sacred writing time for about 7 minutes. Then some wonderful sharing time. I had such a good time teaching from my living room, even if it was early in the morning. (two time zones)
I wrote a haiku to an image of daisies. Teachers write, too, during workshop. I borrowed a line from Linda, “no open window,” and made it “open your window.” I talked about how poets get ideas from other poets.
Open your window
Summer daisies are here.
Golden sunshine smiles.
–Margaret Simon
I love so much about this post…your connection to other teachers and writers, your ability to teach from your living room, via Skype, and your poem. Beautiful!!
Again, I’m so honored that you used my poems, Margaret. This is a rich post example of connecting and teaching across space. I love that the students learned different approaches to think about, then used their own photos to write. Great idea, too, Leigh Anne. Thanks very much.
Thank you Linda for sharing your work with my students. This was a wonderful experience to share with my students.
Wonderful Haikus Linda and post about them Margaret.
A trifecta learning extravaganza from Leigh Anne, Margaret, and Linda! Lucky kids!!!
Love how you used Linda’s poems in your lesson — and your summer daisies photo and poem are a perfect Friday treat. 🙂
I am so glad we did this! Many teachers commented about our “connection.” If they only knew what they are missing by not being connected with other teachers outside of our classroom walls. I will send you the link to the camp website as soon as it is up so you can see all of their work. Thanks again, it was a delight!
Amazing! Amazing connections! Amazing haiku! Amazing armchair teaching! Amazing “out of the box” thinking! Thanks for sharing this.
I love “wiggle in his hand”! Yay for poets telling things indirectly, and yay for connections :-)!
What a great experience for all involved! Win-win-win… there is no losing in the sharing of poetry. Ever.
Haiku–always a good choice!
So much collaboration! Fun!
You are living digital literacy as teachers and writers with students! Wow! Kudos to you, Leigh Anne and Linda.
Haiku + friends = lots of learning. So cool! =)
Margaret,
This is a rich post. Rich in poetry. Rich in the cooperation we are gifted in this community. Rich in literacy. (What a great trio: you, Linda, and Leigh Ann)
Thank you for sharing,
Cathy
What a great writing and learning experience for all!
You inspire us to try new and wonderful ways to write – bravo!
Margaret, I love the way your created your Skype lesson for Leigh Anne’s students. What a fantastic connected experienced of digipoetry for growing minds this is. Of course, expanding children’s writing horizons using poetry is a wonderful experience for all involved. Haikus are such special ways of articulating thoughts.
[…] haiku lesson itself was a collaboration because I used another colleague’s poetry project. Linda Baie […]