When the poetry section of our 100 Day Writing Challenge begins in April, my friend Mary always reminds us that kids love to plagiarize haiku. As simple as it seems to write seventeen syllables, she is always right, and this morning was no exception.
No sooner had I opened the electronic challenge and was going over it with my first group of students than a writer in another class posted three haiku. "Wow!" remarked one of his peers, "that was fast!"
It was the second poem that gave him away:
An ocean voyage
as the waves breaks over the bow
the sea welcomes me
and the third that sealed the deal:
The flowers wither
beneath the weight of the sun,
yet the weeds stand proud
I read without comment, knowing I would speak to the plagiarist later, and continued my lesson. "Make sure that your poem is original," I stressed. "I've been reading your writing for seven and a half months, and I know your voice. I'll probably be able to tell if you copied from somewhere else."
Plus? Kids are terrible at picking believable poems to steal, I noted silently.
That second one is for sure a dead giveaway. I mean, wither? C'mon!
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