Objectives: Cognitive (Know/Understand) Students will know that concrete imagery appeals to the five senses.

. Students will know the rules of a haiku. Students will understand that we can use concrete imagery to create more powerful, vivid scenes in our writing. Affective (Value) Students will value the use of concrete language/imagery not just in poetry but in all forms of writing Performance (Do) Students will notice and discuss the kinds of imagery/ language used in a haiku. Students will brainstorm concrete images related to the Fourth of July. Students will construct and share their own haikus.
1) Defining the Haiku (10 Minutes) Look at three haikus: summer sunset baby finds his shadow on the kitchen wall -Lee Gurga the smell of iron as I come down the stairs-winter evening -Lee Gurga winter sun begins to warm the steering wheel-prison visit day -Lee Gurga

Questions to ask: What do you notice about these haikus? What do you notice about the language? About the imagery? Students may notice the 5-7-5 rule; however, inform them that, as we see in our examples, not all haikus follow these rules. Discuss: What defines a haiku? How do we know if a poem is a haiku? Come up with haiku rules together and write them on the board or project them on a word document. Guide students to the idea that haikus use imagery that appeal to the five senses: taste, smell, touch, hear, see. Explain that haikus are short poems that use concrete and oftentimes natural imagery to create or intensify powerful moments in time.

2) Image Pull (10 Minutes)

Reiterate that haikus rely on clear, concise, and concrete language. Explain that we will do an exercise to help us generate some concrete images. Have students close their eyes; then, lead them through a guided meditation on Fourth of July Images: What do you see, smell, taste, feel, hear? Afterwards, I will ask students to tell me what images, smells, sounds, etc. came to mind; I will record them on the board for all to see.

3) Have students use word bank from the image pull to write 2-3 haikus (15 Minutes) Students will write their haikus by hand. Instruct them to mainly use the words from the image pull, but inform them that they may add additional words. Afterwards, tell students to go into their shared drive, find the haikus google doc, and write their best haiku next to their name (I will have already written the student names and shared the document). 4) Sharing Our Work/ Praising Student Creativity in Concrete Language Usage (5 minutes) Once time is up, project the haikus and as a class, look closely at the poems that students created, noticing the concrete language and how this kind of imagery makes their writing more vivid. Questions to ask: What poems or lines stand out to you? Why? Materials needed: Projector White Board Copies of Lee Gurga haikus Access to Google Drive Methods of Assessment: Student-generated haikus Informal group discussion of concrete/vivid language in student haikus