Message from aaguilar

[Anonymous]

hello. great idea. i recently had my students write tanka poems
this website:
http://www.edu.pe.ca/stjean/playing%20with%20poetry/Hennessey/hennessey.htm
was a great resource.

you can have students search hennessey haiku and click on link if you don't want to type the whole thing.

anyway. so students studied japan's courtier lifestyle. once they learned courtiers wrote poems we accessed the tanka poem website. students then used inspiration from pictures in website , nature, mountains, rivers and trees to write their own tanka poems. i then had the art teacher help me to get students to paint nature scenes based on their tanka poem using japanese water colors. (it is a great medium and we should all try it.) i then grouped students into groups of six. they were asked to present their poems in some sequence. the poem was recited when their painting was showcased. i used a cranky theater but students can just hold their painting while poem is read by someone in group. we also listened to ancient japanese music and groups took inspiration from it to create their own music using simple sticks and bells to create a beat and a rhythm to accompany their presentation. the finished product showcased students tanka poems, paintings, and music. it was a lot of fun and we presented to other classes.