When Steven Ratiner, our poet in residence, visited our classroom last Wednesday, he started the session with a brief
Mandarin lesson. Steven is studying Mandarin with a private tutor and taught the class a simple greeting.
The lesson continued with a discussion about how it is important to choose images for your poem carefully so the reader can see the story in their mind. “Use only essential words to create an image. By compressing imagination in a reader’s mind, it expands the image,” he said. The title is important too and opens the door for the poem to come through.
Next Steven shared a beautiful 100 year old hand carved bamboo brush pot from China so intricately carved with a scene from nature, it looks like you can reach inside and touch the trees. The Chinese believe that on a day when you cannot go walking in the woods, sometimes looking at a beautiful object will bring nature to you. A marble jasper stone known as a greenery stone, appeared to have a natural landscape picture on it, but each child saw something different.
For today’s lesson, each child had brought from home a special object that held memories for them such as a handmade model, a shell, or stone. A museum of objects was created in the classroom which the children toured until they found one, perhaps their own, that could take their mind on a journey. ”Today’s journey has no limits to your imagination. Picture yourself traveling on a journey. What do you see, hear, discover, wish, or remember?” With that, the children sat down and after hearing the beautiful sound of a singing bowl carved from a single piece of crystal, wrote their poems. The results are amazing. We will soon be sharing them with you.
