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OREGON
WEATHER AS REFLECTED IN LITERATURE
By Jeannie Lockwood, Blue Mountain Community
College
Lesson
Background:
Initially, this
lesson on Oregon weather as reflected in literature
by Oregon authors was not one that would be
composed of poetry and prose by adult learners in
Hermiston, Oregon. Rather, I would locate and
devise a lesson plan that highlighted these Oregon
authors as they wrote about Oregon weather in
poems, short stories and novels. My search for
Oregon weather as reflected in literature became a
lesson in frustration and futility for me and, as a
result, I chose not to have my students continue
this search.
My search did
familiarize me with Oregon writers such as: William
Stafford, Oregon Poet Laureate, Phillip Margollin,
H.L. Davis, Ken Kesey, and M. K. Wren. However, I
changed this activity to give my class a
poetry/prose assignment on Oregon weather.
Skillbuilding:
- Communication
- Using
Technology
- Learning to
Learn
- Collecting and
Interpreting Data
Objectives:
Given an Internet connection and other
resources, the learner will:
- discuss the
types of weather in Eastern Oregon and
throughout the state;
- access the
Hermiston Chamber of Commerce via the Internet
to learn about area weather
patterns;
- collect data
about Oregon weather;
- learn
word-processing skills;
- discuss the
effect of mood in poetry such as happy/sunny,
sad/rain, stress/stormy;
- improve basic
writing skills using descriptive words,
especially adjectives, metaphors, and
similes.
- read poetry by
Maya Angelou, Robert Browning, and
others;
- distinguish the
differences between poetry and
prose;
- write, revise,
write, share, edit, write, and submit
poetry;
- share writing
with class members and then publish writing on
the Internet.
Description of
Activity:
The following
assignment has been given to adult learners in a
GED writing class where we brainstormed about the
weather and seasons. Adult learners have done
graphs and Internet weather assignments to help put
them into a weather "mood."
Dear
Writing Class Members,
Have
you ever written poetry or short stories? Do you
know that poems do not have to rhyme to be
poetry? Sometimes when we are really concerned
about an issue, we find it easier to express our
thoughts on paper than out loud. Today we will
try brainstorming as a group about Oregon
weather and then I would like each of you to
write a poem or short story about the weather.
It does not have to be lengthy but it must be
about the weather, whether it is summer, winter,
spring, or fall. It is up to you.
Stuck?
Not sure what to write? Please feel free to get
on the Internet and look up Oregon poetry or
literature using one of the search engines
(Yahoo, Lycos, Infoseek, etc.) Ask a friend or
teacher for help.
Resources:
- Internet
Connection
- Poetry
Pages
(learners might consider submitting poems to
this site): http://www.pioneeris.net/poetry/
- Activity
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
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