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Heart to Heart
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From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd>
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 12:34:35 -0600
Heart to Heart is one of my favorite books of the year. It's such a bright, attractively made book that practically begs you to flip the pages. And such a nice range of art. Art is much on my mind these days anyway, with a daughter applying to art schools around the country, and my 8th graders having just finished term papers on artists represented at the National Gallery. As part of our 8th grade trip to Washington coming up, the students will get to see the originals of "their" paintings.
I'm always looking for ways to find connections to art in my English class. One quick project I do is helped greatly by Heart to Heart. After their term papers on artists are done, I teach the students to write "Visual Response" poems, an idea I got a long time ago from a book from Teachers& Writers Collaborative. Students take the painting they've been working with and write a poem about it -- not just about it, but imagine your way into it in some way. And now to have Heart to Heart to use as a book that has done exactly that is a gold mine! I read aloud "Big French Bread" that accompanies Red Grooms' "French Bread" (Red Grooms is a Nashville?sed artist, a favorite of my daughter) and "Down by the Riverside" with Thomas Hart Benton's painting as two quite accessible poems for 8th graders. And I read aloud a couple of poems by my former students. Here's one poem written by one of my current 8th graders, a humorous take on a cubist painting:
Georges Braque's Still Life: Le Jour
I walk into the room And I see a guitar. I go to pick it up and play it, But I can't. It is two-dimensional. It isn't lined up right. One part is separate from the other. It doesn't have strings. I try to eat an apple, But I can't pick one up. I try to get a drink from the pitcher, But there isn't any liquid. I sit down for a smoke on the pipe, But I can't put it in my mouth. I want to get out, But I can't grab the doorknob Because I am stuck in a cubist painting.
So, to have such a beautiful book to enjoy, and to be able to read it in school to teach more about art and poetry, is a wonderful thing. I'm glad it was recognized by the Printz committee!
Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, Tennessee 37205 schneiderd at ensworth.com
Received on Tue 05 Mar 2002 12:34:35 PM CST
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 12:34:35 -0600
Heart to Heart is one of my favorite books of the year. It's such a bright, attractively made book that practically begs you to flip the pages. And such a nice range of art. Art is much on my mind these days anyway, with a daughter applying to art schools around the country, and my 8th graders having just finished term papers on artists represented at the National Gallery. As part of our 8th grade trip to Washington coming up, the students will get to see the originals of "their" paintings.
I'm always looking for ways to find connections to art in my English class. One quick project I do is helped greatly by Heart to Heart. After their term papers on artists are done, I teach the students to write "Visual Response" poems, an idea I got a long time ago from a book from Teachers& Writers Collaborative. Students take the painting they've been working with and write a poem about it -- not just about it, but imagine your way into it in some way. And now to have Heart to Heart to use as a book that has done exactly that is a gold mine! I read aloud "Big French Bread" that accompanies Red Grooms' "French Bread" (Red Grooms is a Nashville?sed artist, a favorite of my daughter) and "Down by the Riverside" with Thomas Hart Benton's painting as two quite accessible poems for 8th graders. And I read aloud a couple of poems by my former students. Here's one poem written by one of my current 8th graders, a humorous take on a cubist painting:
Georges Braque's Still Life: Le Jour
I walk into the room And I see a guitar. I go to pick it up and play it, But I can't. It is two-dimensional. It isn't lined up right. One part is separate from the other. It doesn't have strings. I try to eat an apple, But I can't pick one up. I try to get a drink from the pitcher, But there isn't any liquid. I sit down for a smoke on the pipe, But I can't put it in my mouth. I want to get out, But I can't grab the doorknob Because I am stuck in a cubist painting.
So, to have such a beautiful book to enjoy, and to be able to read it in school to teach more about art and poetry, is a wonderful thing. I'm glad it was recognized by the Printz committee!
Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, Tennessee 37205 schneiderd at ensworth.com
Received on Tue 05 Mar 2002 12:34:35 PM CST
