Creatively Speaking: The Nuance of Thought

I've been in the process of teaching my students creative writing. I never fully realized how challenging it can be to teach creative thought and expression. I assigned a student a two-page short story for homework and as I was reviewing it, I noticed the plot summary was shockingly close to that of the movie Independence Day. I asked him if he had seen this in a movie and he said "kinda." It seems like technology is further and further ruining the future generations; polluting their minds with nonsense and dribble making it impossible for them to establish a creative thought without the aid of movies and television.

Obviously, I was mortified and so began my change of lesson plan. I decided to start with a short and usually, rather fun writing process--the haiku. To express the sixth grade brain in 17 syllables is quite a feat for them. To inspire and give an example of writing, I wrote a few haikus myself. I don't claim to be a master of the haiku so, judge not.

Spoiler alert: I was hungry when I wrote these and was seemingly inspired by tropical fruit.

Here they go:

Mango

Juicy mango, yum
Comes from India-- how far!
Can't drive there with car


Banana

Yellow delicious
Bread, muffin, smoothie, pie, cake

In my tummy now