1

Historical Haikus: Poetic Response to Japanese-American Internment

Historical Haikus: Poetic Responses to Japanese-American Internment

Michelle Glatt

ChiddixJunior High School

Summer 2005

Manzanar Relocation Center, California,

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division,

Ansel Adams, photographer, [LC-DIG-ppprs-00368 DLC].

One area of study of World War II that has been often overlooked in the past is America’s internment of over 120,000 Japanese-Americans, both immigrants and citizens. This lesson will integrate the study of Japanese-American internment with creative writing.

Students will be given background information about Japanese-American internment through teacher explanation, written materials, and multimedia. Students will view primary sources at the Library of Congress, particularly photos and other images. Students will create haiku poetry about a selected image and create a document that combines their poem and image. A virtual haiku gallery will be created, and students will respond to other students’ works.

Overview/State Standards/Resources/Procedures/Evaluation

Overview Back to Navigation Bar
Objectives / Students will be able to:
  • Integrate multiple resources to develop an understanding of Japanese-American internment
  • Analyze, interpret and respond to a picture book about Japanese-American internment, Eve Bunting’s So Far from the Sea
  • Create an original work of haiku poetry
  • Respond to other students’ haiku poetry
  • Correctly cite a primary source

Recommended time frame / 6 days
Grade level / 8th
Curriculum fit / Language Arts, Social Studies, Fine Arts
Resources / Teacher Resources/Background:
  • “Collection Connections: "Suffering under a Great Injustice": Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar” The Learning Page. 8 December 2003. 8 June 2005.
  • Video: Minorities in America: Lessons from World War II. United Learning, 1997. Discovery Education. 8 June 2005.
  • Bunting, Eve. So Far From the Sea. New York: Clarion Books, 1998.
  • "Suffering under a Great Injustice": Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar. 20 February 2002. 8 June 2005.
  • Toyomasu, Kei Grieg. Haiku for People. 10 January 2001. 8 June 2005.
  • Bradshaw, Brenda et al. “Evaluation.” Haiku: A Webquest for 7th Grade English/Language Arts. 11 June 2003. 8 June 2005.
  • Pettis, Bob. “Credit Lines for American Memory Collections.” An Adventure of the American Mind Workshop Resources. 8 June 2005.
Student Resources/Materials:
  • ResourceTable
  • Journals
  • Donnelly, Amy and Elizabeth Ridgway. “Photographic Analysis Form” The Matthew Brady Bunch: Civil War Newspapers. 26 September 2002. 8 June 2005.
  • SampleHaiku
  • Microsoft Publisher

IllinoisState Learning Standards Back to Navigation Bar
Language Arts:
GOAL 2: Read and understand literature representative of various societies, eras and ideas.
2.A. Understand how literary elements and techniques are used to convey meaning.
  • 2.A.3d Identify ways that an author uses language structure, word choice and style to convey the author’s viewpoint.
2.B. Read and interpret a variety of literary works.
  • 2.B.3a Respond to literary material from personal, creative and critical points of view.
GOAL 3: Write to communicate for a variety of purposes.
3.B. Compose well-organized and coherent writing for specific purposes and audiences.
  • 3.B.3a Produce documents that convey a clear understanding and interpretation of ideas and information and display focus, organization, elaboration and coherence
3.C. Communicate ideas in writing to accomplish a variety of purposes.
  • 3.C.3b Using available technology, produce compositions and multimedia works for specified audiences.
GOAL 5: Use the language arts to acquire, assess and communicate information.
5.B. Analyze and evaluate information acquired from various sources.
  • 5.B.3a Choose and analyze information sources for individual, academic and functional purposes.
  • 5.B.3b Identify, evaluate and cite primary sources.
Social Science:
GOAL 14: Understand political systems, with an emphasis on the United States.
14.C. Understand election processes and responsibilities of citizens.
  • 14.C.3a Compare historical issues involving rights, roles and status of individuals in relation to municipalities, states and the nation
GOAL 16: Understand events, trends, individuals and movements shaping the history of Illinois, the United States and other nations.
16.A. Apply the skills of historical analysis and interpretation.
  • 16.A.3b Make inferences about historical events and eras using historical maps and other historical sources.
Fine Arts:
GOAL 25: Know the language of the arts.
25.A. Understand the sensory elements, organizational principles and expressive qualities of the arts.
  • 25.A.3d Visual Arts: Identify and describe the elements of value, perspective and color schemes; the principles of contrast, emphasis and unity; and the expressive qualities of thematic development and sequence.
  • 25.A.3e Visual Arts: Analyze how the elements and principles can be organized to convey meaning through a variety of media and technology.

Procedures Back to Navigation Bar
Day One:
  • Teacher will show a photo of a Japanese-American internment camp to students. Students will be told only the date of the photograph and will be asked to guess what the photo represents.
  • Teacher will give a brief oral introduction to the topic of Japanese-American internment
  • Students will “Japanese Internment,” an excerpt from the video Minorities in America: Lessons from World War II from unitedstreaming.com, a subscription video service to which our school subscribes.
  • Teacher and students will discuss Japanese-American internment, focusing on historical context and social conditions.
Day Two:
  • Teacher will show students Ansel Adam’s collection of photographs in the following American Memory Collection: "Suffering under a Great Injustice": Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar.
  • Teacher will provide link to the Credit Lines for American Memory Collections citation page and give examples of how to correctly cite and label sources.
  • Each student will select one photograph that he/she would like to further study, copy it to a Word document, and provide the correct citation. Teacher will assist as needed.
  • Students will complete a Photographic Analysis Form for their selected photo.
Day Three:
  • Teacher will read Eve Bunting’s So Far From the Sea, a picture book set in the 1970s about a Japanese-American family visiting the Manzanar Internment Camp where family members once resided.
  • Students will write a short journal entry about So Far from the Sea, responding both to the picture book as an art form and as a literary work
  • Students will use entries during a class discussion of So Far From the Sea, while integrating what they have learned about Japanese-American internment. The teacher will emphasize the work as a response to the author’s research about Manzanar Internment Camp.
Day Four:
  • Teacher will conduct a mini-lesson that refreshes students on the purpose, content, and form of haiku poetry. This form will have been covered in a previous unit. Provide examples from the website Haiku forPeople.
  • Teacher will provide a sample ofa haiku written in response to and created with their selected photograph.
  • Students will begin creating their own haiku to accompany the photograph they selected the previous day.
Day Five;
  • Students will continue to compose their haiku poetry.
  • Students will use Microsoft Publisher to create an 8-1/2 X 11 document that combines their photograph and haiku. Teacher will show the following example.
  • Students will electronically submit completed Publisher documents to teacher.
  • Teacher will create a virtual gallery of student work to be accessed through the school website.
Day Six:
  • Students will visit the virtual gallery and respond to at least one other student’s haiku in their journal.

Evaluation Back to Navigation Bar
  • Students’ haikus will be evaluated using the Haiku Evaluation Rubric.
  • Journal entries written about So Far from the Sea and another student’s haiku will be checked for completion grades.

An Adventure of the American Mind

IllinoisStateUniversity