The fable that I chose was “The Cat and the Cook and Other Fables of Krylov”. This fable would help my class understand culture because it shows how different animals can share a common goal. Specifically, the three animals, all creatures of habit, share a common goal of pulling a cart. But, each animal is pulling in a different and contradicting direction. The crab pulls backwards, the swan flies upwards, and the pike swims forward. This shows how when they do not work together, their goal will not be reached. I can relate this to teaching my class to understand culture by expressing the importance of understanding others perspectives and how to cope with peers to be successful and achieve goals. 

The second portion of the writing task asked to identify three examples from the book “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” that defines the characteristics of a fable. One example is how the wolf has the ability to reason. Fables tend to use animals as the main characters. The wolf was a key character in “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”. In addition, another purpose of a fable is to teach a lesson or moral. In the book, the moral that was important was that liars are not believed even when they speak the truth. Another characteristic of a fable is there is usually a setting and situation and a problem or dilemma. In the book, the shepherd-boy who watched a flock of sheep near a village brought the villagers out numerous times crying out, “Wolf! Wolf!” This created conflict because the villagers thought the boy was lying since they were fooled twice before. 

I learned the importance of making connections between fables that can relate to “many cultures” and how “reading various fables of many cultures” can deepen the reading experience. A lesson that can be taught from fables is how despite cultural differences between humans, many individuals share common values and similar virtues. 

From the reading, I liked the statement, “writing workshop can help foster student independence and a love of writing”. The independence gained by the students will ultimately have a positive impact on their ability to learn how to write and to become even better writers.

Jessica and I had our third meeting talking about Handbook for Boys! We discussed Froggy’s attempt to explain to Kevin that he can’t keep acting like nothing is wrong. Kevin eventually needs to deal with it. Kevin ended up being sentenced to 18 months in juvenile detention because he messed up. The men in the barbershop and Duke tried to steer him in the right direction in his life. Due to the stubbornness, the efforts from the men in the barbershop were not useful. Jimmy was able to reflect upon himself and see that he was doing the right thing. I noticed a theme that was prevalent throughout the book regarding making choices in life will be correlated to consequences. If you make good choices in life, therefore you will not have problematic consequences. The author hints at the importance of making good decisions to better your life. Jimmy’s character development was benefited, overall, through Kevin’s actions and emphasized the theme of the book. In order to live a good quality life, people need to stay away from bad decisions that can lead to consequences and that can lead down a negative path in life. @JessicaLeClerc

In the videos, the student struggled with consonant digraphs with some words. Through the process, the student was able to sound out the words and self-correct. The student did this by recognizing that she got words wrong and going back to correct herself. Some specific examples that gave the student a hard time were phone, share, and grammy. However, the student was able to understand her struggle with the words and fix the mistake. Also, the student repeats words or sentences when she feels that she made a mistake. Another video showed a struggling student dealing with decoding multisyllabic words. The student worked through the words by sounding them out. The student read “rattlesnake” as separated “rattle” “snake”. The student used visual cues to pronounce the words correctly. When discussing an ELL student’s running records, they noticed that he used strategy cues. Specifically, the student used a meaning cue when he said “goat” instead of “Billy” because it makes sense within the sentence. When viewing the videos, it was insightful to observe the different cues that students utilized when approaching words within context.

I will support vocabulary instruction in the classroom by implementing a book reading technique. Teachers can read books to children and reinforce vocabulary. To provide a concrete example, the reading stated that vocabulary being reinforced can be presented in books by “presenting concrete objects that represented the words and by providing children with multiple opportunities to use the book-related words”. This can help deepen children’s knowledge in the literary experience by gaining a contextual understanding through identifying key vocabulary that is relevant in the books. To support vocabulary instruction in the classroom, I would also ask the class open-ended questions in order to promote children to engage in conversations to talk about the activities and books. By allowing students to share ideas openly, the teacher can listen to what vocabulary is being said throughout the class. If vocabulary is being utilized from the books, that may show a strong sign of understanding of the books being shared in class. Vocabulary and books can promote the development of literacy and language skills in young children.

In the retelling process of literature, teachers can determine if students “use vocabulary from text”. This expresses understanding of the text and the vocabulary verbally stated can show context knowledge.

The second reading talked about using picture books to understand the characters in the story better. The write task asked to think of a children’s book that I have read and reflect on how the illustrations helped support the plot, theme, and emotions. I read the book “Wonky Donkey” by Craig Smith. The illustrations used helped express the donkey’s emotions. Some pages the donkey was feeling frustrated, so the illustrations depicted his eyes bulging out and his hair on his back sticking up. Just by the use of the pictures, I was able to determine the emotions of the donkey. The illustrations showed the donkey’s experiences and allowed us to follow the donkey’s journey. The pictures showed how the donkey felt in certain situations and different adjectives that described him. With the combination of text and art, I was able to feel the emotions of the donkey and the plot through out his experiences. 

Pictures are all around us, not just in picture books, according to the first reading. Picture books can be utilized to teach children more than just the curriculum in school by representing something larger in society. According to the reading, “recognizing the union of text and art that results in something beyond what each form separately contributes” (Marantz 1977; Lewis 2001). This acknowledges that combining aspects of picture books and the text results in something larger that truly deepens the learner’s understanding. This can go beyond the learning derived from the curriculum and expand to the greater world and society. The reading stated how the reader who is experiencing and reading picture books, is part of synergy created when art and text form a union. Readers can generate their responses from picture books and integrate it into a complete experience. The reading also supports that the experience that children have when reading picture books allow for them to expect pictures to have a social and personal meaning. This shows how it goes beyond the curriculum in school. A concept stated in the text was a term nonlinearity.This means that the reader can move backwards and forward through text and numerous stories can be told. Authors of picture books often use the pages to link to other ideas and narratives. This can relate to how picture books can be utilized to teach children more than just the curriculum in school.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P5iI39hSRB_d8UFI8dc304Zn-v6j9nW4RfPeb4QkopY/edit?usp=sharing