Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 02:01:48
From: "A. Jenn Sondheim"
Subject: poetry exercises - (I'm thinking about poetry-in-the-schools projects, and subjects involving computers as subject and object of writing, and came up with the following list that might be of interest. - Alan) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Poetry Questions and Exercises:
• 1.What is a computer?
  1.Write a poem about what a computer can do?
• 2.Is a computer alive?
  2.What does it mean to be alive?
  2.What is a living thing?
• 3.What is a cyborg?
  3.Are you a cyborg? 3.Write a poem about what parts of you are machines? 3.Are glasses and clothes machines? 3.What do machines do? 3.Are computers machines? 4.If you live forever in the future will you grow old? 5.How can you change what you are writing with a computer? 5.Can you substitute new letters and words? 5.Can you translate what you write into another language? 5.Can you change another language back into english? 5.Is it the same english? 6.Can you make a picture with big type? Can you make a bigger picture? 7.Can you make a picture with small type? Can you make a smaller picture? 8.Can you write a poem that you just can't read out loud? 9.Can you say a poem you just can't write? 10.If a computer substitutes letters, what is the computer doing? 11.Can you make a computer substitute letters for part of a poem? 12.Can a computer speak english? (Use the emacs doctor program.) 13.Could a computer be your friend, even your best friend? 14.Write a poem about being a computer. 14.Write a poem about a computer who is in love with its owner. 15.You are a disguised computer; what are your experiences with humans? 16.Write a poem about flying through the screen. 16.Then write a poem about flying back out through the screen. 17.Write a poem about bits and bytes and going on and off. 18.Write a poem about moving a mouse and the mouse moving you. 19.Write a poem about the very worst thing a computer could do. 20.What does it mean to be online and can you be online too much? 21.Write a poem about the very far future when computers will look like us. 21.What if your best friend turned out to be a computer from the future? 22.Write a poem about things computers can't do. 22.Could a computer ever do those things? 23.What is the best thing about the future world and what is the worst? 24.Write a poem about something making a computer very sad. 24.Can a computer die? 25.How many computers can you see in your school? 25.Can a computer be used for every subject you are studying? 25.Write a poem about a subject a computer can't be used for. 25.Pretend that the computer wrote the poem. 25.What does a computer poem sound like? 26.Write a poem about the Internet. What is the Internet? 26.Is a computer like an open window, showing you the Internet? 26.Write a poem about all the things you can do on the Internet. 26.What things can't you do on the Internet? 27.Is a robot a computer and could a robot be your friend? 27.Write a poem about all the things you would tell a robot. 28.Would you like to have a robot child? 28.What would you do with a robot child. 29.Work on a project designing a robot house. 29.Write a poem about living in a robot house with robot children. 30.How would you control a bad robot child? 30.How would you celebrate the birthday of a robot child? 30.How could you reward a good robot? 30.What would a robot girl be like or a robot boy? 30.Is your computer a boy or a girl and do you have a name for it? 31.Can a computer be beautiful? Can it be beautiful like a flower? 31.What makes a computer beautiful? What makes a flower beautiful? 32.Will the computers be the smartest things in the universe? 32.Will they be the friendliest?

Subject: more education planning

Planning Session (education)

(See Lorenzo Thomas, ed. Sing the Sun Up, Creative Writing Ideas from African American Literature.)

Draw a picture of a computer on the board.
What can computers be used for?
Do you ever use a computer?
Are there computers in cars and subways? At McDonald's?
  At the barber's? In your television? In your CD player?
What are the parts of a computer?
Draw the parts of a computer on the board.
What _can't_ a computer be used for?
Did a computer design anything in this room?
   
What are the five senses?
What senses do you use when you are using a computer?
Do you think you could use all your senses with a computer?
Could you talk to a computer? Could a computer talk to you?
What sounds does your computer make?
   
What is an interface?
 (describe _user_ interfaces, graphics and mouse clicks and texts)
 (describe _output_ interfaces, computers controlling machinery,
  making clothing, running traffic lights)
Is your mouth an interface to your stomach?
Find a picture of a computer you like and bring it in.
 What is the computer doing? Are there people in the picture?
 What are the people doing?
   
Pretend your computer is very naughty and you have to beg it to do
things. What would you feed it?
Draw a robot on the board. What does a robot look like? Should a robot
have legs or wheels?
What would it be like to have a robot mother and a robot father?
Tell me about the world of robots.
What is a computer. A computer is a very general machine that can do
lots of things. How can you tell a computer what to do?
What can you tell a computer to do?

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