Maurynne "Em" Maxwell

The Grumpy Stomp

(Adapted for Laughter Groups. The magic is, once you're done, you're laughing!) I invented The Grumpy Stomp in 2005, to teach a lesson on emotions. Use your body to influence your mind, & get happy! 

Clench your hands into fists, and screw up your grumpy face--then stomp a rhythm with your feet: stomp stomp stomp stomp, stomp stomp stomp stomp. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you DO NOT visualize the music video of "I'm Too Sexy."

I'm too grumpy for my hair--

as grumpy as a bear--

too grumpy! Too grumpy!

I'm too grumpy for my nose,

too grumpy for my clothes,

too grumpy, too grumpy!

I'm too grumpy for my shirt,

it makes me feel like dirt--

too grumpy! Too grumpy! 

I'm too grumpy for my pants,

it makes me want to dance!

Too grumpy! Too grumpy!

Now I'm dancing in my shoes,

I've beat those grumpy blues--

I'm happy! I'm happy! 

(Feel free to add other body parts, clothing, and rhymes--the purpose is to be playful, after all.)

Haiku Lessons for Beginners

First, read Matthew Gollub's lyrical and touching bigraphy of Issa, Cool Melons Turn to Frogs!, to the kids or adults. Beautifully illustrated, it is a prime example of how Haiku isolates & captures a moment, just like the picture or a photograph.

Then, show a book with illustrations but no words, like Kittens on Vacation by Sinjiro Sagara, and elicit from the class short, descriptive phrases related to both the objects in & emotions evoked by the picture.

(One of my favorite poems by a kindergartner came from a still-life of flowers in a vase: Red, yellow, purple: a Party! A flower party!) 

Edit the phrases to make a group poem of short lines. 

Talk about lunes, short poems where you count words instead of syllables. It's much easier to get the idea across and truer to the language. For older kids and adults, you can talk more about theory and practice, but I like lunes the best. (I'm afraid my attitude towards the rules of haiku are the same as Jesus toward the letter of the law--it's the spirit that matters--and my students learn to love poetry instead of being intimidated by it.) 

Read more examples of translated haiku, American haiku, short poems & lunes. 

Give everyone a picture to write about. Older students can skip that step, they get the idea of capturing the moment. One of my older students was particularly taken with the opportunities for humor in the short form, and came to the next class with over 20 poems to share.

On Learning With K-5 Students (or any students! :)

1.    Teaching is a collaborative exercise. Be a co-learner. Model the behavior you want, and make sure all the adults in class will, too.
2.    Love your subject. Emulate your favorite teachers.
3.    Use examples. Different ones. Especially ones from kids. Especially ones you love.
4.    Get them moving. Create exercises that are interactive.
5.    Be creative!!!! Try new things—but ones you’re pretty sure of.
6.    Don’t fake it.
7.    If you do fake it, don’t lie about it, fake it ‘til you make it.
8.    The younger they are, the shorter their attention span—but the more open their hearts and minds, and the more they want hugs.
9.    Be excited to see what amazing things are going to happen in your time together.
10.     Use praise liberally.
11.     Use humor—read poems about hating poetry, make rules about breaking rules.
12.     They notice everything about you—your clothes, your jewelry, your mood.


Miss M’s best residency experience: had full participation with teachers who supported the lessons throughout the week and who participated in the process from creation to implementation. Sessions were once a week with plenty of time for reflection and preparation in between. 

 
My favorite writing exercises to do with kids of all ages

Imagine you’re a color. What do you taste like, feel like, look like, sound like, smell like?

Listen to music and write the story the music is telling you.

Pick some random words from the dictionary—but don’t look at the definitions! Make up your own definitions, just by how the words sound.

Pick a funny sounding name. Tell a story about this person. Where do they live? How do they spend their days? Their nights? What do they wear? What do they eat? What do they do for fun? Who are their friends?

Using photographs as prompts, write some haiku or lunes. Try some funny ones.

Georgia Heard’s heart-mapping: what’s inside your heart? Outside it? Do you have a home heart and a school heart? Draw the picture, and then write the poem.

Draw random words from a bowl and write a piece using the words you get.  Or pick one of the words as your name and write as if you were that person.

Go on a poetry walk. Observe closely, use all your senses, and make a poem when you get back. Or a prose poem.

Write an appreciation of someone and give it as a gift.

Write a description of something without ever saying what it is and have the class guess what it is.

Read The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown and write about what’s important.

K-5 kids especially hear the word “Don’t” a lot. If they were in charge, what “don’ts” would they say? What rules would they make?

Tell about life on another planet, in another galaxy.



 
Sample subjects, first lines, or story-starters:

The things I love

My imagination shows me (dragon kingdoms, heaven, the future, daydreams, dinosaur days)

My head is full of (clouds, ideas, images, spaghetti)

My favorite place

My favorite person

My heart is full of

My favorite time of year

My favorite things to do

What scares me is

Things I hate

I wonder why

If I were

I wish that

I remember

Use first lines from a famous poet