This week the grads took the boys from Ridgeway to the Dustin's families corn maze.

This was a well planned out trip to to farm for fun and for a learning experience.

The boys are doing VTS, readings, drawings and writings about Samurais. 

In our last meeting they had made very creative Samurai hats and done writings describing their hats and all of the symbols and special meaning each had.

For the trip to the maze, the boys wore their hats and were prepared to take a journey into the newly named, "writers maze". The boys were put into small groups of mixed ages to enter the maze and discover their mission. Inside the maze, at specific crossroads, the boys found special envelopes, hanging on a post, with notes inside describing a special task they needed to do and write about in their writers journals before they could continue on their path. This was fun and the boys were excited to open the envelopes to find their task. The first task was that of the Samurai Code of Bushido. This was the code that all Samurai and all people followed. The task was to write about one rule that they thought should be part of their writing club. The boys sat on the path to write and when done I asked them if they were all together, if they were prepared to travel on and if they were ready to practice their new mission while going onto the next. The boys got together and all replied they were ready with enthusiasm. The next mission they found was to "Stop", close their eyes and smell, they were to use their sense of smell, like to detect the smells of the trees, the damp soil from a near by creek, or the smoke from a possible enemy's campfire. This continued for three more missions. The boys seem to enjoy it yet they were also wanting to take off running through the maze just to see how windy and how long it was. The third mission for the boys was to "Stop" and close their eyes so that they could now Feel. They were to write about what they felt, such as the sun on their cheeks, the wind, the heaviness of their Samurai helmets. The last task was to use all their senses to imagine a great place of enchantment where Samurai's go for power. After the last writing, the boys continued on and when they turned the last corner, they came to a wooden bridge that they were to climb up. This was their place of power and at the top a Queen greeted each one with a mighty colorful sword, or pen in the shape of a sword, and she bestowed great power unto each  young Samurai as they passed. The boys were surprised by this and it added to the fun. Next the boys exited the maze and went inside the barn where they sat and got to witness the largest gum ball machine in the MidWest. They watched in excitement as a gum ball was carried up and set into motion through a moving, revolving, mechanical, musical machine. Their last task was to think of some kind of machine they would like to create then draw it and then explain what it was and what it did. Most of the boys were engaged and interested and had no problem with the prompts yet several seemed like they were too distracted and even though I tried to get them thinking of different ideas, they had no interest and refused to more then a scribble and a few words. Each boy got a gum-ball and so did the big kids and all were happy and had a great time at the corn maze.

Week 3, Oct. 3rd.

Today we started out with a VTS of two Sam. fighting on a rooftop.
it was interesting to have different interpretations of what the boys saw in this painting, such as women fighting, on a bed or a blanket.
Next I reminded the boys that artists use images (pictures) to communicate ideas and tell stories and writers use words to communicate ideas and tell stories and that the Boys Writer Club is about being both artists and writers.Then I finished reading where we left off about the Three Samurai Cats by, Eric Kimmel, and at one point I stoped and had the boys visualize, what the path that the Domyio took, and for them to visualize what it looked like, what was on the side of the path, who might he meet or was there any signs about Samurai for hire, or was there any places on the side for him to stop at, and what was inside? 
Some of the boys had no problem while others needed a few prompts to help them generate some ideas of how to draw a path, which I used other terms such as road, or street. I was asked can I put my house? or can there be stores on the road? I spoke to them about a general idea of what a road from long ago in a forest might look like and asked two of them if they had ever taken a walk in a big park or in the woods. They said "no" I asked if they ever walked to school or other friends houses in the neighborhood. They seem to be having problems visualizing a path and what might be on it or beside it. "Can there be a McDonalds?"

I did not want to tell them what to think or draw so I just told them about the story again and how the Damyio was hoping to find a new Samurai and would be riding on his horse back to talk to the Dosho. I told them to try to imagine they were the Damyio on his horse and told them to use their imaginations and create what-ever they thought they would see or who they might encounter. I noticed that a few did very maze like paths and others did straight street like roads with big buildings on both sides. This makes me think about how the development of vocabulary is easier to recall if it goes hand in hand with an image of the word. But then how to put an image with a concept or adjetive? I am thinking that some of the boys may have not had much exposure to picture books and possibly no one to read to them when younger. It is easy to watch movies and have memories of how things look but it can be difficult to visualize or imagine some place or space when there is no reference point. I wonder if giving the boys access to other books or images to flip through for ideas could help them when they are stuck. I have seen how one will copy off the other in some circumstances and that is to be expected yet it may just be out of frustration for not being able to come up with an idea on their own. I know it is easy for me to forget that just because I think the boys should know the meanings of simple words does not mean they do. If they are afraid to ask or admit that they dont know what a "path" or any other word is, they will have trouble from the get-go. 

I have decided to steal Derricks great idea and when speaking about the boys in these posts I will refer to them as follows:

B - Bryce

B2 - Bobby

B3 - Brayden

C - Cullen

C2 - Christian

J - Jaden

J2 - Jaidyn

O - Oliver

W - Will

copy right (Derrick the Man)

Going back into my notes I will start with the first day:

Being able to participate in this interesting research and learning opportunity with the boys writers club at Ridgeway has been such an enriching experience and I am looking forward to this new year with new lessons.

This year the boys group is meeting in the art room which of course, is a perfect place to be. The boys were given a great introduction by their commander and chief, Mr. Tilley. He gave the boys a quick power point to refresh their memories, help them to reconnect to the VTS process and get them excited to explore new images and stories. Mr. Tilley also presented a new secret, boys club pass-word which he projected as two images with a plus sign between them. The first being toes on a foot + a jar of jam. Mr. Tilley said someone had leaked out the old password and some girls told him what it was, so now they had to keep this new one secret. So 'Toe-Jam' it is and the beginning of boys writing club came to order once again with Mr. Tilley putting his hand to his forehead and saying aloud, "Toe-Jam" 

We started out with a VTS of a painting of a Japanese Samurai. The boys remembered what to do and instantly threw their hans up to speak about what they saw in the painting. We then gave the boys a paint can with white paper on it  and told them they could decorated it with symbolic stamps, japanese characters and letters to spell out their names. The boys got creative right away and enjoyed using the stamps and colored pencils to personalize their art containers.

After that our time was up but the boys had a good idea of what was to come and all seemed interested in the subject of Samurais.

The Way of the Samuri

While looking into stories of the Samurai I found the story of
The ultimate samurai warrior Miyamoto Musashi who started the two sword method and developed the deep psychological insight to defeat his opponent, what we term as, "psyching out"



The interesting thing is that :
Miyamoto Musashi was an artist

During his lifetime Musashi was as famous for his artwork as for his fighting skill. He created remarkable paintings, as well as work in clay, wood and metal, calligraphy, poems and songs. Some of his works have been declared National Treasures.
(http://www.kampaibudokai.org/MusashiArt.htm)

http://youtu.be/1NT1tPpkVMM