In this lesson, students are taught to use the Haiku format as a way to solidify the theme of their paper. First students learn about the traditional Haiku structure, and then use the structure to reflect on the cohesiveness of the main ideas in a paper they have written.
This unit covers 4 types of poems and a culminating activity to wrap up the lesson. It covers haiku, cinquain, diamante, and acrostic poems. It is listed as being for 7th grade, however, it can be tweaked to fit grades 4 - 8.
Medieval Japanese society and culture from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries, when political power rested largely in the hands of feudal warriors. Topics include religion (especially Zen Buddhism), changing concepts of "the way of the warrior," the century of Japanese contact with Christian missionaries and European traders beginning in the 1540s, and the dynamic period of seclusion and urbanization which followed and witnessed, among other things, the vibrant "floating world" of the pleasure quarters. Presentations include weekly feature films.
Learn more about the Japanese form of poetry known as haiku. In this video segment from Poetry Everywhere, the poet Robert Hass reads a short collection of amusing, often ironic haiku by Japanese poet Kobayashi Issa.