Wednesday, April 4, 2012

D is for DRAW - Dictionary Hike

DRAW
Photo by Amy LV



Students - Once again, I was very happy to point to today's word!  (One might think that I was CHOOSING these words - they are so good - but I am not.) When I sat to write this, I first began writing about my own experience of drawing, then I wrote about drawing with a grandmother, and finally I arrived at a cavechild artist.  Prehistoric paintings enchant me, and stories swirl all around them.  And so, I started wondering, "Did cavepeople ever feel nervous about what to write and draw on their walls?"  Sometimes I'm unsure of what to write and draw.  Perhaps they were too.

You may notice two things.  One is that this is a story poem, a fiction story poem much like my poem for letter B.  This one, however, has a little moral at the end: Someday/we will all be gone./But art we make lives on and on. Consider trying this.  After writing your poem, ask, "Does this verse have a moral?  Would it make sense to state the moral directly or to let the readers figure it out for themselves?"   Each of Aesop's fables tells the moral right at the end.

Another thing you may notice is my use of italics.  Many times, I use italics to indicate that someone is talking.  I think that italics look neater in a poem than quotation marks.  So, if you were wondering, "Why those italics?" now you know.

You can see pictures and read more about cave paintings at Wikipedia, in this Google archive of photographs, or at the Bradshaw Foundation.

This week, if you visit Sharing Our Notebooks, you will be able to hear Janet talk all about how she (doesn't) keep notebooks, the way she revisits old ideas, and you (like me) will learn some great revision strategies for your own poems.  You can also leave a comment on that post through Thursday to be entered in a drawing for four of Janet's books, generously donated by Janet!

You can win these books over at Sharing Our Notebooks!

Each day of this project, Lisa V. will write and post a haiku for that day's word at her blog.  You can read all of these over at Lisa's Poem of the Week.  Please join us and share in the comments if you wish!

If you would like to read my poems for letters A, B, and C, just take a look at the upper left hand sidebar!  Tomorrow we hike to the Land of Letter E.

And if you look at the (new!) top tabs, you will see that The Poem Farm is becoming searchable by topic and poetic technique.  Slowly, I am linking to all that is here as I hope this will make this resource more valuable for teachers and young writers. If you have a suggestion for me, please share as I welcome ideas!

Please share a comment below if you wish!
You can like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poemlove...

12 comments:

  1. Good morning, Amy! I love Cavemom. She is really cool. Last night my 13-year-old son gave me a lesson in the different sub-genres of heavy metal. It was fascinating! Here is my "D" haiku for today.

    Connect the Dots

    Draw a line from moon
    to sea and back to the place
    where our two hearts meet.

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  2. I loved meeting Caveboy! I have a particular fondness for poems that include art/creation of art somehow... I just did a whole series inspired by photos archived by the National Park Service, and a couple of them included pictographs. It's proof that humans MUST create, must tell our stories...

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  3. What a sweet poem. I love cavemom's gentle encouragement of her boy's artistic impulses.

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  4. Nice to hear that mom encouraging, & then drawing with her son, just like teachers can draw & write to encourage their students. You made me wonder about this scenario Amy. Don't you wonder what it was truly like way back then? Thanks!

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  5. I just realized what bell this was ringing. Recently paleontologists Jess Cooney and Leslie Van Gelder have published their research into the participation of children in cave art. The images are spellbinding and Dr. Cooney tells the story so beautifully here: http://www.theworld.org/2011/09/rouffignac-cave-drawings-children/
    Now I am going to send Dr. Cooney a link to your post!

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  6. What great connections. I like your tabs at the top of the page.

    http://windows2mylife.blogspot.com

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  7. If you hear loud clapping right now, Amy, it is coming from my living room. I. Loved. This. Poem. I loved its rhythms. I loved its rhyme. I loved its story. I couldn't help but think how similar this is to our beginning days of writer's workshop when we draw and write together side by side. Slowly students begin to draw their own cave pictures on their own cave walls.

    You ending is perfect. Hard to believe 14 words can say so much.

    Cathy

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  8. Oh Amy this one's priceless. One of your best ones no foolin'.

    I LOVE the recording. Might want to think about doing that more. It's adds a great touch.

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  9. A. Love the poem.
    B. Love the moral.
    C. Love the recording. (SO good to hear your voice. How do you do that?)
    D. Love the companion haikus at Lisa V.'s blog.
    E. LOVE LOVE LOVE the new tabs and the findability of your poems/techniques!!!

    Luv,
    ML

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  10. Thank you so much, everyone, for these comments. That cavemom made me very happy. And Mary Lee - I have 2 words for you. Sound Cloud. It is free, and even I could figure it out. It would be a fantastic way to publish your students poems. Hey...want to do that and post here? ;) a.

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  11. Hi Amy! My class and I were just looking through your poems and we love the Draw poem. We especially liked being able to hear you read it to us! Keep up the great work! We will keep checking!
    Love,
    Mrs. Faas' Class

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