What is Haiku?

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Description: Students will explore Haiku poetry to enhance their understanding. Students will learn about the origins of Haiku, purpose, and author’s intent. Students will analyze the components of traditional Haiku.

OBJECTIVE
Students will:

1. Respond to creative writing using interpretive, critical, and evaluative processes
2. Identify literary elements, such as mood and dominant impression
3. Employ relevant pre-writing strategies and organizational techniques

MATERIALS

1. Multiple examples of Haiku poetry
2. What is Haiku? (PDF)
3. Computers with Internet access, or a large collection of poetry books

SET UP AND PREPARE

1. Choose samples of Haiku to read to the class, old and new
2. Make a class set of copies of “What is Haiku?” (PDF)
3. Have sources of Haiku available through the Internet or a poetry library

REPRODUCIBLES

1. What is Haiku? (PDF)
   

DIRECTIONS
PART I

 

Step 1:
Review the information gathered during the Internet research. If a master list was compiled and copied, review or distribute to the students.

Step 2:
Ask the students what they learned about Haiku. Responses should include that it is a very old form of poetry, made popular by the Samurai warrior, Basho. Examples of Basho’s Haiku can be found on the Internet.

Step 3:
Explain that Haiku has gained popularity over the years, and continues to be written all around the world today.

Step 4:
Read chosen examples of Haiku to the class. After each example, ask the students what the poem made them think about. Which of the five senses did the poem relate to? This refers to the dominant impression or main idea, of the poem. What kind of mood did the poem set? Ask the students what the poems all seem to have in common.

Step 5:
Distribute the handout "What is Haiku?" (pdf) Review the simple rules of the Haiku with the class.

PART II

Step 6:
Students will explore web sites that offer collections of Haiku poetry, or will locate Haiku in poetry books. Students will be asked to work with their partners to record 5 examples of Haiku to share with the class.

Step 7:
Classroom Discussion: Encourage students to share the poems collected. Critique the poems by asking the following;

What feelings did you have from the poem?

1. Which of your five senses did the poem appeal to the most?
2. What mood was the author trying to convey?
3. What was the dominant impression, or idea?
4. What was the kigo, seasonal word? Some are harder than others to find.
5. What does Haiku look like?

Step 8:
Closure: Tell the students that they are now experts on Haiku, and for the next class session they will “Be the Poet.”

SUPPORTING ALL LEARNERS
Students can use multiple resources to collect poetry. ESL students can benefit from writing down the poems they choose. Working with the partners will help any students struggling with the assignment.

LESSON EXTENSION
Brainstorm a list of seasonal words that could be used in Haiku.

ASSESS STUDENTS
Check for comprehension through participation during the discussion and by collecting their selections of Haiku.

ASSIGNMENTS

1. Read the handout, “What is Haiku?”
2. Locate 5 examples of Haiku poetry

HOME CONNECTION
Encourage students to take their collection of Haiku poetry home to read to a parent/guardian.  They can also tell them about the origins and rules of Haiku poetry.

EVALUATE THE LESSON

1. Were your students able to successfully locate examples of Haiku?
2. Do your students clearly understand this form of poetry?
3. Are your students ready to write Haiku?
4. Is there anything you could have done to better prepare your students to write Haiku?

I Spy Poetry
Applies art, literature, music, poetry, reading comprehension, and technology, to learning how to write poetry with various rhyme schemes.

Be the Poet
Offers a lesson plan requiring students to write their own Haiku poetry based on past readings and research.

Responding to A Sound of Thunder by Writing PowerPoint Presentations
Students are asked to research and conduct a literary response in the form of a PowerPoint presentation.

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