A few weeks back I posted a little teaser about an up-coming product from ReadWriteThink.org:
Poetry trio
Needs a new companion app
Details forthcoming
I'll
note that no one took a stab at guessing what the product might be, so
no one gets the really cool prize for guessing it correctly.
"But you never said anything about a prize!" you might say.
"I'm whimsical like that," I would reply.
The
poetry trio mentioned in my little poem are the current interactives
already available on ReadWriteThink--and soon to be available on your
iPad or Android tablet:
The new companion app, that would be Haiku.
Maybe
I shouldn't be showing off the concept art...but I'm going to show you
the current concept art for the load screen! Cause I'm excited about it
and that's what this blog is for, revealing cool things like that.
Please note that as concept art, the final app design might look nothing
like this, and we cannot vouch for the correctness of the characters
used in the image--though we are pretty sure they say "haiku." Anyone
out there who can officially vouch that for us?
The
real difficulty of the project is teaching the haiku writing process.
We want to make sure that the app provides solid haiku writing
instruction, not to take it out of the teacher's hands but to make sure
students have all the scaffolding they need when it comes time to do the
writing. A refresher on what the teacher modeled in the classroom
couldn't hurt, right?
But
how do you teach haiku writing? That sounds rhetorical, but it isn't.
I'm asking: If you have ever taught haiku writing, what did you do? What
did you teach? How did you frame the lesson? I've been doing research,
and I found fun little inconsistencies like the follow:
From my research, haiku writing is fairly free form--not at all what I was expecting when I first delved into the project.
I
don't want to write How to Haiku instructions in the app and find them
counter to what teachers are teaching in the classroom. I don't want to
create an interactive and app that promote a rigid conformity to a three
line, 5-7-5 syllable paradigm if that isn't what teachers are modeling.
Just
to note, our Haiku app won't force the writer to use three lines
(though it will only have three lines available), nor will it enforce a
syllable count--in fact, it won't count syllables at all. We leave such
checking and correction up to the user. The app can be used to write
free-form poetry. But what should the instruction model?
If
you have any information about how haiku writing is currently taught in
the classroom or how you'd like to see it presented in this product,
let me know.
Or to put it another way:
Seeking opinions
On proper haiku techniques
--Wes doesn't have a clue
Wes
Needs a new companion app
Details forthcoming
- Traditional haiku are themed around nature or philosophy...but that's not a requirement.
- Traditional haiku have a juxtaposition statement...but not always.
- American haiku have three lines...but they don't need to.
- American haiku follow a 5-7-5 syllable count for the lines...but not all of them.
On proper haiku techniques
--Wes doesn't have a clue
