Mentor Text Lesson: Stone Bench in an Empty Park, selected by Paul B. Janeczko

A couple of weeks ago, I posted an annotated list of haiku books for using in the elementary classroom.  The truth is, haiku is one of my favorite things to teach and write.

So for the other haiku teachers out there, I give you a mentor text lesson plan for using STONE BENCH IN AN EMPTY PARK, selected by Paul B. Janeczko, photographs by Henri Silberman.

Mentor Text Lesson Plan for STONE BENCH IN AN EMPTY PARK (Haiku)

Fair warning: This book is out of print. But never fear. Some of the most wonderful books in the world are out of print. So find it in your school library, public library, or used bookstore. I first fell in love with this book at my public library, then I finally bought it through ABE Books.

If you absolutely can’t find this book, some of the techniques I use in the mentor text lesson plan can still be used with teaching haiku. The lesson focuses on helping students learn how to visualize images in poetry and write and revise haiku.

Paul B. Janeczko is also featuring Ask-A-Poet on his website where he asks a question and famous children’s poets answer.

Want to find other mentor text lesson plans? See the mentor text lesson page. 

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This post is a contribution to VerseDay.