Haiku courtesy of students in 4/5K @ Redbank State School

Today I was given the privilege of teaching the students of 4/5 K at Redbank State School. During this year, I have chosen to do Relief Teaching, and that entails going from class to class, school to school over the course of the week. I am enjoying this gig for now, it gives me more time to focus on my two books coming out in 2013. More often than not, I am called in to a class where the teacher has called in sick on the morning and has left no plan as to the day's activites. Not a worry! I always have my own stuff I like to teach i.e. poetry, HPE, anything English or SOSE related. What I taught 4/5K today was the poetry artform of haiku. I was so, so impressed with the quality of works, I am most compelled to blog about it. Before I share with you the "Haiku All-Stars", as we decided to call it, the lesson goes a bit something like this.

Haiku

Is a:

• short, three-lined poem
• a snapshot of something in nature using words
• avoids rhymes
• does NOT have to be a 5-7-5 syllable count

(These are the general rules for haiku I got them to write down in their books. I explain dot point by dot point the rules... First, a haiku is a short poem, so the length of it would barely reach half-way in their exercise books, and also that it has three lines. Secondly, haiku is a snapshot of something in nature using words, similar to the concept of a camera taking a photo, except in the case of haiku we are using our words to describe that thing in nature. Thirdly, haiku avoids rhymes, reason being is that the poetic use of rhyme is a form of 'trickery', in the lyrics of pop-songs for example, rhymes are employed to add rhythm and catchy-ness, but when we're dealing with the artform of haiku, we want to just simply capture that moment in time for what it is. Lastly, and perhaps the most important point of all, is that haiku does NOT have to be a 5-7-5 syllable count! A common misconception in the general public and in schools as well, the reason why is that if we're so focused on the number of syllables in each line, the process of writing haiku becomes more of a math game, as opposed to a form of art or a beautiful image, that is after all, the focus.)

Then we move on to Examples of Haiku: 

tired of bamboo gazing
I look to the pond--
bamboo reflection

(by Vuong Pham)

roadside puddle
a street dog licks
the winter moon

(by Chen-ou Liu)

my house burnt down
now I can better see
the rising moon

(by Basho)

(for each haiku example I ask the students for two things 1. the image and 2. the narrative. The first haiku we see an image of a bamboo shrub, a pond and its reflection; the narrative is I am looking at the bamboo for a very long time, so I get tired of staring at it, because I am tired of staring at it for so long I wish to divert my attention to something else, so I look to the pond, but then all I see is the reflection of bamboo in it, I usually get a few laughs for those that do get it. The second haiku is by Chen-ou Liu, one of my favourite haiku of all time, images we are seeing are a road, a puddle, a streetdog, the moon; the narrative is we are taken to a street at night, a dog comes along licks the puddle, and because the puddle has a reflection of a moon in it, it appears that the dog is licking the moon, a beautiful image! I then go on to make the point about figurative language, and that we are not robots, but human beings that have such potential to think creatively, or 'outside the box' [classroom]. The last haiku is my all time favourite haiku by Basho, image: a house burnt down, a rising moon. There is so much going on in this haiku. Obviously the author's house burnt down, so all of his possessions, and particularly his roof, now that his roof is gone, he has a better view of the moon. But it doesn't stop there. It tells us so much about the author he has a positive mindset, values nature over material things.)

I then move on to Haiku Listening:

We listen to a song that has nature connotations in it. From the Gladiator soundtrack, "Earth". A very calming song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AMnOFmwMSs. And once we finish listening to the song we list down everything we experienced from the song in terms of the five categories of senses: Sight, Sound, Feel, Taste, Smell.

Based on everything we have listed in the diagram, we move on to Haiku Image. This is where the magic happens. Everything the students have listed in each category, they are to convert it in to the form of an image. And based on the image they have drawn, they are then going to circle and capture the image they have circles by writing a haiku about it. So that's the general gist of the lesson. Enough on the pedagogy of the lesson I am most excited and honoured to be sharing with you some haiku my students wrote today!

Haiku All-Stars from students of 4/5 K @ Redbank State School

the desert wind
whistled
in my ears

branches
falling off
the trees

trees swaying
in the breeze
that pick the leaves

water splashed
on the kid's
shining boots

autumn leaves
sway
in my hair

there is a blueberry pie
sitting
at the window

the sweet smell
of the flowers
tickle my nose

the waving grass
joins
the trees

the colours
of seashells
brighten my eyes

the moon
bathes
in the river

the trees curve
to form
a cave

the smell
of leaves
in the canteen

Bravo to you all students of Redbank State School, you all inspire me so much! Mr. Pham.