NAMING YOU CHARACTER

by Mary Amato

A frequent question kids ask me is: how do you come up with your character names? I have fun with symbolism, metaphor, and connotation. The girl whose sisters tell her she is a chicken? Henrietta in The Chicken of the Family. The brothers who like to invent fun? Wilbur and Orville Riot from my Riot Brothers series.

Have fun using literary elements to create fictional character names for the following characters. There is no right or wrong. Examples are given for the first four.

A race car driver: Lefty Turner

A bus driver: Miles A. Head

A barber: Harry Shears

A smart guy: Noah Lott

A nurse:

A horse trainer:

A teacher:

A dancer:

An athlete:

An annoying brat:

A dentist:

Share ideas and be as creative as possible. You could use these characters in stories or poems.

www.maryamato.com

VEHICLES FOR CREATIVITY?

by Jane Harrington

I was listening just the other day to an NPR interview of Julie Bruck, the poet who just won the Governor General’s Literary Award in Canada (an honor about equal to our National Book Award). She recited an excellent poem about children and animals, and then went on to talk about how she keeps creativity moving along in her own life and the lives of her writing students. One way: Caves.

Yes, we writers and illustrators know about caves. At least those of the mind, where we have to regularly crawl into quiet nooks in order to hear the muse. And it was in that context that Julie spoke of caves, but it got me thinking of some creative hideaways of childhood. You know—the forts we made in our rec rooms, from couch cushions and blankets. These places had detailed backstories involving the Wild Things or the Star-bellied Sneeches, or sometimes they were train cars filled with escaped circus animals or dogs that found a door left ajar at the pound. The memory of these cozy conjuring compartments got me wondering if getting students to make “writing caves” at home might be a way-fun method to combat distractions and (oh, I’ve heard it from the mouths of babes) writer’s block. My own college-aged students would laugh at the notion of making a hideout—though secretly want to do it!—but the elementary set would probably hop right aboard.

Another vehicle for creativity that Canada’s poetess spoke of was…a vehicle! She free-writes something she calls “car pages” while sitting in a parking lot, and she asks her students to do the same. A lot of these ramblings seem to become excellent poems. So, that got me thinking, too. I don’t know about you, but I get the most amazing ideas when I am behind the wheel of a car. (Of course, I can’t write anything down, which is enormously frustrating, but….) What if we were to challenge our students to do some “backseat scribing”? Using Naomi Shihab Nye’s idea (from Mary Quattlebaum’s post of last week) the car could be that playful space filled with metaphor. I mean, what could possibly be a better symbol of protection than a seatbelt? Or maybe kids would get a kick out of creating dialogue between car parts, as with the side dishes in Jacqueline Jules’ November 19 post or Mary Amato’s “Talking Toothbrushes” (November 5). “Get your hands off of me!” the sassy steering wheel might say to Mom.

And, of course, verses borne of the world going by outside car windows or the folds of a fort—well, that’s poetry in motion, you’d have to say.

www.janeharrington.com

OF MUFFIN TINS AND METAPHORS

by Mary Quattlebaum

Laura Krauss Melmed posted about having students write from what’s looming large in their lives at any given moment (“If You Elect Me” (11/12/12).  Her students had been big with feelings about the presidential election and Hurricane Sandy, and so they had yearned to write about these things.

What about a room that looms large?  Like the kitchen?  Acclaimed poet Naomi Shihab Nye offers a playful kitchen prompt in “Sifter,” from her book A Maze Me. http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/naomi-shihab-nye?before=1312629478.  I love this poem for the way it encourages writers to reveal themselves through an ordinary object and in its assumption that boys as well as girls are familiar with cookware. You might share Nye’s poem after students have written their pieces so that they are not unduly influenced by her example.

1.  The prompt is actually a quote the teacher in the poem:  “Become a kitchen implement in 2 descriptive paragraphs.”

2.  Ask students to close their eyes for a moment and call to mind what’s in their kitchens at home.

3.  Have them write their descriptions; share some aloud.

4.  Read Nye’s poem, and discuss what the teacher therein says:  “This is the beauty of metaphor.  It opens doors.”  What does she mean by saying that metaphor opens doors?  In what ways is the speaker of the poem like a sifter?  How is that metaphor a “door” into better understanding her?

These days the approaching holidays are much on people’s minds.  This prompt might help your students to deepen their writing around this topic so that it emerges as a nuanced exploration rather than just a wish or to-do list.

www.maryquattlebaum.com

SPRING TWEETS

by Laura Krauss Melmed

The ancient art of poetry and the much, much newer art of composing the Tweet both aspire to pack lots of punch into few words.  Sometimes these forms of communication intersect.   This was illustrated recently in an NPR story by Steve Inskeep about Nigerian writer Teju Cole.  Mr. Cole, who lives in New York City tweets at his Twitter account @tejucole.  His subject matter of late is (very) short stories based on small news items, those unattributed little articles found in metro sections which describe freak accidents and odd happenings.  Mr. Cole calls these stories “Small Fates.”  His first Small Fates project used items culled from researching a novel about Lagos.  Currently, his Tweets are based on items in New York newspapers of exactly 100 years ago. 

Mr. Cole’s tweets are often tragic or poignant and are obviously meant for an adult audience.  But at this time of year, having young students Tweet about how the world is springing back to life around them could provide a perfect structure for writing a poem.

The goal is for students to write a series of “Tweets” based on observations of springtime changes.  They will then put the Tweets together to form a 6-line poem.  These observations could take place either independently or following a short daily class walk or garden visit.  Show the students how to count the 140 characters allowable for each “Tweet.”  Stress that they will be using a different sense each day of the week to make their observations.  Make sure they know not to try to make these poems rhyme. 

Assign a sense to be explored for each of the five days of the school week. Students should then write a tweet a day for five days. Each should evoke a vivid picture, scent, sound, etc. through the use of such poetic devices as metaphor, simile, and personification. Daily Tweets can be written on index cards and displayed on a magnetic board for review and discussion. “Tweet” number six should summarize the student’s feelings about springtime. 

The students could illustrate their poems for a Spring Tweet display.    

Here is my own Spring Tweet poem:

Agreeable tulips nod heads together

ACHOO! A sneeze flies from an open window.

The scent of lilacs floats over me like a purple chiffon scarf

The breeze that tickles my bare arms also lifts a kite

If spring had a taste it might be asparagus

Somehow the world feels new.

http://www.laurakraussmelmed.com/