Wednesday, May 27

Here's the blog post assignment for today, but we'll work more on them tomorrow morning before our trip to Cox Arboretum (they won't be due until 3:15pm Thursday): 

"My time at Delco Park…"

Option 1: My time with Rob E. Boley: poems and stories are hiding everywhere; include original line of text and your haiku and dialogue.

Option 2: Small World Exercise: include detailed description of what your small world looked like as well as a picture of your Small World 

Day 2 and I'm sure we're all going to sleep well tonight! Here are some highlights from today.

Morning
"Take a Closer Look" by Tom Brown, Jr.
walk to Delco Park
writing workshop with Rob E. Boley
"Small World" Activity (adapted from Tom Brown, Jr.)

During our writing workshop with Rob Boley, we wrote "seed poems" using words from nature magazines and publications.  For example, "arc of Appalachia" were the three words from my publication and it became a haiku:

Arc made from mountains
Of yellows, oranges, and browns
Appalachia, home.

Or "flower, invisible forces" became:

Flower billowing,
invisible from my view,
forces me to stop. 

He also taught us how to take a longer string of words (a sentence or multiple sentences) and create a dialogue between two people. He shared words of wisdom about writing - - "Words are not like bricks;  you don't want to feel like you're building a wall.  Words are like clay; they can be molded and played with."  His seed poems and dialogue helped us see that poems and stories are lurking in any text if we take the time to look at them closely and see them in a different way; as long as you have words, you have poetry.

The "Small World" Activity by Tom Brown, Jr.: (1) Mark off a single square foot of ground with string or sticks. (2) Look at it from a standing position. Notice what you see, and describe the area.  (3) Kneel down and describe it from that vantage point.  Notice things that you missed when you were standing.  Notice how the square patch of ground begins to take on more interesting aspects as you get closer to it.  (4) Lie on your belly and explore the enclosed area in detail.  Look at it as though you were an astronaut on a strange planet.  If you find something in that square foot - an insect, worm, or plant - that captures your imagination, follow it/observe it for as long as you like.  Don't analyze it, just experience and appreciate the difference. 

Can you find the frog?

Afternoon
Hershey Kiss activity (using our senses to describe an everyday item in a brand new way)
yoga w/ Tori Reynolds