Diamonte Poetry - AWDraw

Language Arts Objectives:

• review parts of speech
• create an original, meaningful poem

Computer Objectives:

• introduce centering format for poetry
• introduce Draw tools LINE, FREEHAND

Content Area Objectives:

• Review concepts, vocabulary for any topic

   

Anticipatory Set: After a study/review of the appropriate parts of speech, read students examples of diamonte poems and discuss the way they are constructed. Do a prewriting exercise to get students thinking about the topic which you wish them to write their poem about... brainstorm a vocabulary box, review the science material or whatever the topic will be for factual accuracy.

Procedure:

1. Students should open a new WP document.ENTER approximately 15 lines to move cursor a little above center of the page.

 

2. Choose Centering from the alignment icons.

 

3. Guide students through the lines of the poem allowing time for typing their words as you go along.

 

4. Go to WINDOW menu and choose Show Tools. The tool palette appears on the left hand side of the page.

 

5. Double click on the Line Tool which will keep it selected for the creation of multiple lines.( Single clicking allows for single use only.)

 

6. Move the cursor over to your WP document and you will see that the Pointer is now a Crosshair which will mark for you the endpoint of your line. When the crosshair is where you wish the line to begin, depress the mouse button and keep it down as you drag the line in the direction and length that you wish to draw. (Roughly 45 degree diagonal)

 

7. Repeat three more times, drawing a total of four diagonal lines. (The plan is to draw a diamond/kite around your poem.)

 

8. For a fancier kite, click on the freehand tool and add a curvy tail to your kite.

Q: What if I don’t like the line I drew?

A: 1. You may delete it and start over by clicking on the arrow tool in the top left corner of the Tool Palette; then clicking on the line to get handles. Hit the Backspace key on the keyboard.

• OR

2. Adjust the line’s length by stretching or shrinking it. Here’s how: Choose the arrow key in the top left hand corner of the tool box. Click on the line with the tip of the arrow pointer to make handles appear. Put the very tip of the pointer on one of the handles and depress and hold the mouse button while you move the endpoint to place you would prefer.

Q: What if I want to draw a colored line?

A: Click on the pen color tool to open the color menu. Click on the color you want. You may do this before drawing the line or after the line is drawn. After theline is drawn, click first on the arrow at the top left corner of the toolbox and then click on the line to get handles. Next choose the pen color as above.

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• NOTE: Clicking to get handles in a DRAW program is the same as highlighting text in a WP program. So any time you wish to edit the object you have drawn you select it first by getting handles.

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