Find and share

Purpose

This activity allows all students the chance to explore haiku before reading the book. Some students may be more familiar than others and this allows all students to show what they already know and to gain more knowledge about haiku and poetry in general. Having agency through finding their own poem will also help to engage students in the unit.

It is important to place emphasis on the juxtaposition in haikus. Students should write down the word and definition in their book and place it on the wall in the room. Encourage students to use the word in their writing in this unit.

Juxtaposition

1. an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast
2. the state of being close together or side by side

Create a poster that details the rules of a haiku. Place this around the room.

Resources

Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein and art by Ed Young. Little, Brown & Co, New York, 2008.

Haiku

A haiku is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:

• The essence of haiku is 'cutting' (kiru). This is often represented by the juxtaposition of two images or ideas and a kieji (cutting word) between them, a kind of verbal punctuation mark which signals the moment of separation and colous the manner in which the juxtaposed elements are related.
• Traditionally haiku consist of 17 on (also know as morae), in three phrases of 5, 7 and 5 on respectively. Any one of the three phrases may end with the kireji. Although haiku are often stated to have 17 syllables, this is in accurate as syllables and on are not the same.
• A kigo (seasonal reference), usually drawn from a saiijki, an extensive but defined list of such words.

Teaching Tips

To help scaffold this activity, allow students to share their haiku poems in table groups, discussing what they think a haiku is and drawing on their knowledge of other poetic forms such as ballads, epic poems, sonnets, free verse, parodies, odes, cinquains, rhyming poems, blank verse etc.

The haikus provide a data set from which students can draw conclusions about the structure and features of haiku.

Placemat

This activity is designed to allow for each individual’s thinking, perspective and voice to be heard, recognised and explored.

1. Form participants into groups of four.
2. Allocate one piece of A3 or butcher’s paper to each group.
3. Ask each group to draw the diagram on the paper.
4. The outer spaces are for each participant to write their thoughts about the topic.
5. Conduct a Round Robin so that each participant can share their views.
6. The circle in the middle of the paper is to note down (by the nominated scribe) the common points made by each participant.
7. Each group then reports the common points to the whole group.

They might conclude that haiku is similar to most poetry in that it has economical use of words, is entertaining, is rhythmic through its syllables and has an inferential or deeper meaning. Some may know about its form or be able to deduce its syllabic patterns, that it connects to nature in some way and has two parts. Students than share these ideas and their haiku in a circle time and through posting their poems and a comment in their Scholar Community.

download (Circle_Time.doc)

Explore the book

Purpose

The purpose of this activity is to immerse the students in the book and further engage them in the unit. It is also designed to identify reading strategies and to give students metacognition about what good readers do to comprehend a challenging text such as Wabi Sabi.

Reading and then responding through open-ended questions are important to value diversity. It is also important for students to re-evaulate the experience of a text, elaborate their thinking, test their understanding, seek reactions from others and reflect on their interpretations, revising and reshaping their own interpretations, make judgements, evoke feelings or emotion, imagine, recall memories of people, places, events, sights, smells, feelings, attitudes and knowledge, identify and learn about new textual language, evaluate importance and accuracy, make connections between meanings derived from previous textual encounters and their current reading, viewing and listening, and identify the ideology, values and beliefs communicated by the author. (from Cairney, T. (2010), Developing comprehension: Learning to make meaning.Marrickville, NSW: e:lit.)

Teaching Tips

To ensure accountability as the students explore the books, record what the students are doing and let them know that you are doing this. In a circle time students share their ideas.

In the circle time you should also share your observations of what the students did while they were exploring the book. Where possible, describe what reading strategies you saw demonstrated. These might include:

• Predicting - looking at the front and back cover, and the blurb and author and illustrator information to get an idea of what the book was about or flicking through to get an overall impression.
• Looking at the visuals to help make meaning.
• Reading the text and going back to look at the blurb, cover and visuals to help you make meaning.
• Pointing out interesting things and discussing the book with another person.
• Connecting the book and story to other things you have read, seen or know about in your own life.
• Trying to work out the meaning of some words from context or by asking someone.
• Reading and rereading definitions and background information about haiku and the history of wabi sabi.

Explain that this is what good readers do when they are trying to comprehend a difficult text which Wabi Sabi is.

Purpose

The purpose of this activity is for the students to engage closely with the text by reading and rereading it to identify vocabulary and to understand that while many words might seem easy to define initially, it is their deeper meaning in the context of haiku which will be challenging.

This activity also enables students to begin to grasp the complex feeling (rather than an idea) of 'wabi sabi'.

Teaching Tips

Word Wall

Students create a poster or wall display in which they display all the vocabulary that they know in relation to a topic. The teacher may also add words to give students exposure to words they might encounter in a new text. The word wall can be continuously added to throughout the topic with students taking an active role in contributing to it and sorting words. The word wall can also become part of the print environment of the classroom and used to refer to for spelling and to identify words to study in spelling journals.

Possible categories that the students might create through the word sort:

• descriptive words - sharp-edged
• new words - awed
• names of characters and animals
• words that capture the meaning of 'wabi sabi'
• words that have a deeper meaning in the haiku
• Japanese vocabulary

Think-Pair-Share

Attempt to tackle a new question or problem by silent thinking, comparison with another learner’s attempt to answer the same question, and share this dialogue with other learners.

• Think: Take a few minutes to think in silence about a new idea or a difficult question. Make mental or written notes.
• Pair: Talk about your thoughts with a neighbor or partner. Compare notes: What are the most original, most convincing or most accurate ideas?
• Share: Present the best ideas of the pair to the group or class.

Adaptations of this strategy include Think-Write-Pair Share and Timed-Pair-Share.

The retrieval chart will enable students to see the balance through describing opposites and harmony through complementary descriptions that the author has created and deepen their understanding of the feeling of 'wabi sabi'. Students can draw their table in their books. Model a few examples as a class. Then students could complete as many as possible, working in pairs. Students may need individual support to identify the first column as not all are straightforward and easy to identify.

Purpose

This activity emphasises to the importance of inferential reading in this text.

Posters with the definitions for literal and inferential should be displayed around the room. Also displayed should be the inferential reading strategy poster. It is important to refer to these while teaching.

Teaching Tips

Students should have an understanding of inferential and literal; however they may need to be prompted in revising it. When creating definitions ask students to draw on their prior knowledge, thinking about literal meaning, and then inferential.

Literal meaning - A story about a cat trying to find the meaning of her name.

Inferential meaning - Wabi Sabi is about a cat who finds out about what is important in living her life by understanding how there is beauty and harmony in ordinary things, especially in nature, about being humble, and about accepting that things change and may become old but still retain beauty.

See definitions of 'wabi sabi' in the text and more information.

Placemat

This activity is designed to allow for each individual’s thinking, perspective and voice to be heard, recognised and explored.

1. Form participants into groups of four.
2. Allocate one piece of A3 or butcher’s paper to each group.
3. Ask each group to draw the diagram on the paper.
4. The outer spaces are for each participant to write their thoughts about the topic.
5. Conduct a Round Robin so that each participant can share their views.
6. The circle in the middle of the paper is to note down (by the nominated scribe) the common points made by each participant.
7. Each group then reports the common points to the whole group.

Think-Pair-Share

Attempt to tackle a new question or problem by silent thinking, comparison with another learner’s attempt to answer the same question, and share this dialogue with other learners.

• Think: Take a few minutes to think in silence about a new idea or a difficult question. Make mental or written notes.
• Pair: Talk about your thoughts with a neighbor or partner. Compare notes: What are the most original, most convincing or most accurate ideas?
• Share: Present the best ideas of the pair to the group or class.

Adaptations of this strategy include Think-Write-Pair Share and Timed-Pair-Share.

Balance and Harmony in Japanese culture

Purpose

In this activity students expand their knowledge base about Japanese philosophy and culture in order to gain an appreciation of the importance of 'wabi sabi' in the lives of Japanese people and how this might relate to the topics and thmes in haiku.

It will also enable students to make connections to what they are learning in their Japanese language class. It is important to make these connections throughout the whole learning module as a way of engaging students more in their study of Japanese language.

Teaching Tips

As extension, students may read and view more. By the end of this learning activity, all students should have had some exposure to the information in the articles. This may mean you have to be strategic and lead students to read certain articles and work with certain students. The more information read and viewed, the more information students will have. Completing the 'Zooming In and Zooming Out' retrieval chart will ensure accountability.

Some videos use words or poems with pictures. Encourage students to 'read' the pictures and practise inferring wherever possible.

Zooming In and Zooming Out

Zooming in and Zooming out

Purpose

In this activity students look closely at the visual features of the images in order to understand how they contribute to the meaning of 'wabi sabi'. It also enables them to make choices when creating their own visuals.

In this activity students will also be required to present their findings and lead the class in a discussion around their page and their findings. Let students know that they will be taking on the role of facilitator - a bit like being the teacher in the circle time discussion - and they will be informally assessed on how they run their class discussion.

Teaching Tips

Model this activity with one double page first (The red page with Wabi Sabi and the dog Rascal), completing a retrieval chart on the mode, field and tenor. Students can copy this into their books and use it to refer to when analysing their own double page spread. Here is an example which could be used to model the activity to the class.

Students work in pairs to complete the retrieval chart, focussing on one double page spread.

Mode, Examples and Effects

The mode is the mode of communication. It may be linguistic, visual, audio, gestural and spatial. The posters are presented in the visual mode.

Examples includes the action, what’s going on, the characters, themes, topics, setting and processes. This varies according to the genre. In analysing the mode, students will provide examples from the field.

Effects involves evaluating the text to understand how it impacts on an audience, especially how it might position an audience or make them respond with feelings such as empathy, suspense, judgment and humour.

Purpose

It is important that students are given time to re-read the text to themselves. They now have more information about Japanese culture and the concept of 'wabi sabi' which will inform their choice and help them to understand the literal and inferential meanings of the poems they choose.

Teaching Tips

After reading, students should silently pick their favourite haiku and respond in Scholar.

Nature and Haiku

Purpose

The purpose of this activity is to define what makes a great haiku.

Teaching Tips

Each pair should find 10 picture haikus, not all 20. Each group should have a different group of pictures, mix the 10 up for each group. This will mean that each group has to think about their own reasons and refer back to the list.

Elements of haiku

• 3 lines with 5, 7 and 5 syllables repectively.
• Two parts - two idea/images - that are juxtaposed but connected
• Includes a kigo or word to show the season or is connected to the natural world in some way?

Not all haiku are nature poems and can be about everyday objects or occurrences observed by the writer of the haiku.

There is a lot of debate about haiku, especially about whether they are metaphorical and also the differences between haiku in English and Japanese, especially in relation to the number of syllables.

Round Robin

Round Robin in is an effective brainstorming strategy, ideal for generating lists of new ideas and data in a short period of time. Students are placed in groups of 3-4 and asked to respond to a topic or question, such as “What do you know about…” or “List the features of…” All students are scribes with the paper being passed around the group and students support each other with ideas and spelling. At a signal from the teacher the groups pass their pieces of paper to the table group on their left. After reading the responses from the previous table the group continues to generate and record more ideas on the new piece of paper. This process is repeated up to four more times, at which point the teacher can ask the groups to further explore the ideas by ranking or classifying them.

Another form of Round Robin brainstorming is where students, in groups of 4, add ideas to a topic. At the signal the first student says an idea related to the topic, similar to those suggested above, and each student adds their idea moving around the group one at a time. One student can scribe the ideas or it can be a verbal interactive activity.

Alternatively place sheets of paper around the room with different topics, questions or issues on each one. Students then move around the room in pairs or small groups and add their ideas to each sheet. They can also add reflections or comments on what other students have recorded.

Haiku, harmony and balance

Purpose

The purpose of this activity is for students to draw together key ideas about Japanese culture and philosophy, how these are reflected through haiku, and how important they are in the lives of Japanese people. It is also a way of exploring values such as living harmoniously, accepting and respecting difference and being tolerant, which students can apply to their own lives.

Teaching Tips

321 RIQ

This strategy assists students to reflect on their learning.

• 3 Recalls: Students recall 3 facts from a recently viewed text or experience.
• 2 Insights: Students identify an insight into the text or experience considering relevance, implications, connections to others, society or school and correlations.
• 1 Question: Students formulate a question about text or experience.

Students then present their 321 RIQ to a partner. The partner asks clarifying questions in order to gain a good understanding of the other's points. It is also possible at this point to ask students to share some insights with the whole class. They could also use their question as the starting point in a Socratic dialogue, eg Why is Wabi Sabi so important in Japanese culture?

Students may make other links to the importance of tradition in Japanese culture as well as the Japanese people's coping strategies to deal with earthquakes, tsunamis and even disasters such as the breakdown of nuclear reactors.

Socratic Dialogue

Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher who developed a method of investigation through conversation involving deep questioning. Socratic dialogue involves an interlocutor or questioner who:

1. Starts with a question: what is the philosophical problem we want to tackle? (For example, ‘Is it possible to be completely honest all the time?’)
2. Leads us to discuss our own concrete, personal, everyday experience of this problem and asks critical, leading questions about that experience. Don’t be afraid to express your doubts and uncertainties. Do not use examples which are not from your own experience or which are hypothetical. Listen, be patient.
3. Clarifies the deeper meanings that lie underneath this experience in a key generalisation, including the limitations of personal experience. This requires that you talk honestly and do not pass judgment. It also requires a certain level of openness and sensitivity to other people’s feelings.
4. Strives to create a reasoned understanding that can be shared between the members of the dialogue, and a deeper level of knowledge than everyday or commonsense knowledge. What are the supporting arguments? What does the key generalisation presuppose or require? You need to respect other people’s points of view and be willing to change your view.
5. Concludes with a statement of philosophical principle. Try to bring the conversation to a point of agreement—it’s not about one person in the conversation proving they are right.

Five Whys

The 5 Whys is a simple problem-solving technique that helps you probe for information and get to the root of a problem quickly. Based on a Japanese philosophy, the 5 Whys strategy is about thinking long-term and looking both ahead and behind, not just in the present. This can be done in twos or threes with the third person being a silent observer. One person takes the role of questioner and the other answers the questions. The questions and answers can be recorded for further discussion and or a final reflection. Very often, the answer to the first “why” will prompt another “why” and the answer to the second “why” will prompt the third “why” and so on. It can show the role of questions beginning with “why” and deepen thinking.

Multimodal text

Purpose

In this activity students apply their understandings of haiku and 'wabi sabi'.

Teaching Tips

Allow students to work on this individually. It is important that you offer the students inspiration; however some may want to draw on their own experiences. Discourage students from creating haiku which have very little meaning. The rubric will guide them in what is expected.

Purpose

This extension activity, allows students to explore their concept further than the original assignment. Students should be given the opportunity to extend themselves in creating a new text and in reflecting about Japanese philosophy and how it impacts on the way people live their lives.

Teaching Tips

Prompt students' thinking by telling them to look for ideas in other picture books, novels, poetry anthologies, magazines and news items. They can create their picture book using modern technologies and computer applications such as Scholar, Prezi, Powerpoint and perhaps a blog or Glogster.

Project Rubric