the Storylines Project



		FOR SITE ADVISORS, LITERACY ASSISTANTS, TUTORS 2010 W R I T I N G E X E R C I S E S “Museum” Start a sentence as Nye does: “I was 17…” Keep on writing, telling your own story from when you were seventeen. Write about a good friend you can/could always laugh with. Start a piece with this sentence: “I never realized what a beautiful place I live in.” For newer writers, ask them to make a simple list of things they find beautiful about the place they live in. Encourage them to write from their own, individual notion of the beautiful. From the list, move on to sentences, or try a short poem. Start a piece with this sentence: “I never felt lucky before.” Write about when someone (a stranger or someone you know) changed your perceptions—the way you see yourself or think about something. Write about a trip to a museum. Write about something embarrassing that happened to you that you were later able to laugh about. “Lion Park” Write about observing an animal: your own pet, or an animal in the wild, or an animal in NYC. Write about tricking someone in a harmless, funny way. Write about a time when you unexpectedly saw something wonderful. “There was no wind” Write about a time you lied in a small way and felt bad about it. Write about a time when you did something you didn’t understand—something that made you feel strange about yourself. Remind students that writing can be a kind of therapy, a safe place to put feelings and thoughts, a safe place to think about things. Tell them they may write about things that they don’t want anyone else to read, and that is okay, too. “Companions” Discuss how books are companions in the poem. What else can be a companion, besides a person? If students need help to get going on the conversation, list simple things like animals, music, food, nature, personal gods, etc. Write about your non-human companions. Write about a surprising companion you had when you were a child—an older person, an animal, etc. “Excuse Me But” Write about losing something of value to you. Write about finding something of value to you. Write a letter to a stranger, someone you want to ask something of: the mayor, your neighbor, a grandparent you never met, a teacher you didn’t like as a child, an old lover, the stranger who donated blood that helped you in the hospital, etc. “Cat Plate” When you are mad at someone, what do you do? Write a letter to someone you are mad at (it can even be yourself). Write about the things that make you feel better about your own life, or make you feel better when you are having a bad day. Write about a small justice—the righting of a wrong. “Ducks in Couples” What are the ducks in the poem doing? (Living, eating, surviving, working together to help each other) Discuss how the poem is an anti-war poem. Discuss the ducks as symbols. Ask students to write a poem using an animal as a symbol for a bigger idea (such as peace, community, love, family). “The White Cat” Write about a fine moment in your life. Not something grand, but something that made you feel good in a quiet, strong way. Something you can think about and be amazed or satisfied by. “Parents of Murdered Palestinian Boy Donate His Organs to Israelis” How do you think people can be better? Bigger? Let go of grudges and pain? Write about a time when you or someone you observed did something generous. Write about a moment when you or someone you know put your own feelings aside and acted unselfishly. Write about when you first learned about forgiveness—forgiving someone else or being forgiven by someone. “The Kite Runner” Discuss how, in this poem, books are companions, symbols of peace, togetherness, community (just like the ducks in “Ducks in Couples”). Ask students to write a poem where a book symbolizes an emotion (love, fear, success, growth, peace, intolerance, etc). “Last Day of School” Make a simple list of things you liked and didn’t like about school as a child. Start out with the list then try to make the list into a poem. Discuss the line “…there will never, never, be a last day of school.” What does that mean to you? Ask students to write a response to that line. “Gate A-4” Discuss the cookies as a symbol, the plant as a symbol. Nye often uses public places and meetings between strangers to explore ideas about peace and togetherness. Try to write about a time when you were in a public place (the subway, the library, a bodega, a deli, the street) and were a part of a moment of togetherness, or when you witnessed strangers coming together. Discuss and/or write about positive or negative experiences with strangers. “Kindness” This poem offers a good opportunity to talk about the “universal you” (as used in the first line of the poem). Discuss the line: “Before you know what kindness really is, first you must lose things.” Ask students to write a personal response to this line. Discuss simile/metaphor. The dissolving salt in broth compared to a dissolved future. Discuss/write about the idea that one must lose good things before they can be appreciated. Write about what kindness means to you. “My Father and the Fig Tree” Write about stories of home you were told as a child, or stories of home you tell your own children. Discuss the fig tree as a symbol of home/homeland in the poem. Discuss the idea of belonging to two places at the same time. Ask students to write about the places they belong to and what “home” means to them and where (or who) it is. Discuss: Who is the speaker? [An adult daughter] What can we learn about her father from the poem? [He speaks Arabic, therefore probably comes from somewhere in the Middle East; he is wildly enthusiastic about figs; he has a reputation as a dreamer.] What was his dream? How did it finally come true? How did he share this with his daughter? [To own a fig tree of his own; he moved to a new house where there was a fully-grown fig tree already planted; he sang a special Arabic song for her that she had never heard before.] What words come to mind when students hear the word “Palestinian.” Write student suggestions on the board or overhead. [Student suggestions might include words associated with terrorism or conflict.] Do these words seem to fit Nye’s father? Why not? Define stereotype and discuss the effects of stereotyping people and groups before one meets them. Has anyone in the class ever been the victim of stereotyping? “Letter to a Would-Be Terrorist” Explain that an “open letter” is a published letter addressed to a specific person or group, but is intended for general readership. Tell students that Naomi Shihab Nye wrote an open letter “To Any Would-Be Terrorists” after 9/11/2001. Read and discuss the letter as a group, then ask students to write a persuasive letter to Naomi Shihab Nye in response to all or part of her letter. They should feel free to agree or disagree with her. Encourage students to use their own life experiences to support their ideas as Nye does in the original letter. Alternatively, ask students to write an open letter on anything they feel passionate about and qualified to speak about. “Blood” Discuss: According to the poet’s father, what is “a true Arab”? Why does “a true Arab” do or say each of these things? What events are troubling the narrator’s father? Why does Nye say, “Neither of his two languages can reach it”? Why do you think Nye calls the poem “Blood”? Discuss Nye’s use of her family and self to make wider, philosophical points. Discuss the creation of character in her poems—for example, her father in “Blood,” and “My Father and the Fig Tree,” etc. What cultural things do you do that you or your family consider a representation of being a “true Puerto Rican,” “true Ukrainian,” “true Bangladeshi,” “true Nigerian,” “true Brooklynite,” “true Southerner,” etc. etc. Write about this. Think about how Nye uses her father catching the fly, uses of watermelon, and the way she describes “giving it back” as representations of a “true Arab.” “Lights in the Windows” If the essay is too dense or difficult for students, focus on one part of the essay. For example, discuss the ideas in this section: “To me the world of poetry is a house with thousands of glittering windows. Our words and images, land to land, era to era, shed light on one another. Our words dissolve the shadows we imagine fall between. “One night I dreamt of spring,” writes Syrian poet Muhammad al-Maghut, “and when I awoke/flowers covered my pillow.” Isn’t this where empathy begins? Other countries stop seeming quite so “foreign,” or inanimate, or strange, when we listen to the intimate voices of their citizens. I can never understand it when teachers claim they are “uncomfortable” with poetry — as if poetry demands they be anything other than responsive, curious human beings. If poetry comes out of the deepest places in the human soul and experience, shouldn’t it be as important to learn about one another’s poetry, country to country, as one another’s weather or gross national products? It seems critical to me. It’s another way to study geography!” A D D I T I O N A L R E S O U R C E S Bill Moyers interviews Naomi Shihab Nye: http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_nye.html Excellent PBS.org lesson plan for Nye’s work. Especially useful in conjunction with “My Father and the Fig Tree,” “Lights in the Windows,” “Blood,” and “To a Would-Be Terrorist” http://www.pbs.org/now/classroom/poet.html To hear Nye reading poems: “Making a Fist” http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15682 “Streets” http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15680 Suggested movies: “The Band’s Visit,” “Amreeka,” “Ajami,” “The Lemon Tree,” “The Syrian Bride,” “Promises” (POV documentary). NYPL’s exhibition at SASB to open in October on the three Abrahamic faiths. For the first time, there will be major outreach in all three boroughs as well as programming for children and adults. Culture, art, and music of the three faith traditions will be explored. Potentially a good field trip in conjunction with Nye’s work. R E G I O N Teaching tools for the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Lesson plans, maps, etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Palestine http://www.teachablemoment.org/high.html#mideast http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/world/peace_5-21.html http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/mideastwatch2.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/educators/lessons.html http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/middle_east/ http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/middle_east/conflict/map.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/middle_east/2001/israel_and_the_palestinians/default.stm Texas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Antonio For a related discussion of borders, nation, and differing perspectives, try looking at the history of Texas/U.S. and Mexico in comparison with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or Native American history. Another Current Event correlation: Arizona, immigration law. K E Y V O C A B U L A R Y W O R D S Author Poetry Prose Essay Honey Bee Honeybee Hive Busy Bee Buzz Sting Communication Cooperate Pollinate Industrious Insect Kindness Bridge Borders Immigrant Companion Refugee Religion Perspective Prejudice Home Community Peace War Stereotypes Conflict Territory Region Desolate Loss Traditional Journey Crisis Practice Passengers Sorrow Temporarily Civilized Museum Dissolve Dispute Residence Metaphor Symbol Muslim Islam Jewish Judaism Christian Christianity Belonging COPYRIGHT NCV FOUNDATION and THE STORYLINES PROJECT CLICK HERE FOR ARCHIVE: 2009