I adored Keena Ford. I loved that she was a spunky little girl, with thoughts of her own. She reminded me of so many students I have had in the past. Keena is a relatable character! I love the relationship she has with her brother and her mom. It is playful, but also with a little fear of disappointing. They whole story begins because her older brother taught her how to write the date wrong, so she gave her teacher the wrong birthday on the first day of school. The teacher begins to celebrate Keena’s birthday the next day of class. I love chocolate cake just as much as Keena, so I understand why she felt she had to lie. Keena ends up telling the truth after her mother catches her dead in the lie, while being sung to by the entire class. I would use Keena Ford in my own future classroom by having an Honesty Wall, or mandatory apology notes. Keena Ford would be a great way to teach students how to get themselves out of a web of lies, by just telling the truth. Keena Ford will be on my classroom bookshelf.

Donalyn Miller and Susan Kelley sum up how to get students to read in one sentence, “I knew that given class reading time, the opportunity to choose their own books, and teachers who read and promote books to them, the children would read.”

I completely agree with this statement. Dr. Jaxon has implemented this into her own classroom, and guess what! I am actually reading, because I would fall in love with the books that we start reading in class. Through Dr. Jaxon’s recommendations, I have actually taken ownership over reading for the first time. For me, reading has always been something to check off of a list. But now, this gives me hope that I can change my student’s perspective on reading.

I am a U course mentor and after hearing all the groans before the reading of a scholarly article I asked my students, “What is it about reading that you guys hate?” (My students and I are more friends than anything) so they reply to me, “I know I am not going to even end up reading this!” All heads started shaking in agreement. So I said “Shit okay, well if none of you are going to read this then lets each take a paragraph and summarize it for each other real quick, you have 5 minutes! So I shared with them that since it is scholarly they MUST read the intro, headings and summary to grasp it fully. These students are fake reading because they never were given the skills to read properly. They never learned how to read a scholarly article, so they just hate it. They never learned good strong reading habits, so they avoid it. My favorite ways to implement in my own future classroom were, reading groups and reading communities in the class with different books, while they get to choose those their own books.

Taking students out of class because they are not the best readers, takes them away from a community. It takes away their reading identity.

 

This project started out as an honesty wall in my future classroom. I imagined it would be a useful thing for my classroom on how to combat the urges to lie, cheat or steal. I had ideas about sentence starters of “How to Take Back Lies”, like Kenna Ford could have used. However, after many different options of what could be useful for my students on that wall, I came up with the idea of “Classroom Thank You’s & Apology Letters” Now my “Make” is sentence starter forms to give their friends or friend-enemies, in the form of letters. I want to have a space in my classroom with an adorable mailbox where students can place their letters into envelopes and leave it in there for me to pass out at the end of each day. I imagine this being for a kindergarten through second grade classroom. This could be easily modified for older grades, where instead of a fill in template, they could write full letters of their own. The point of this would be to open the lines of communication between students, negative or positive, in a healthy way. The power of writing helps students see their own faults, and to connect to something emotionally

Thank You Letter Starters

To: ___________________ From: ___________________’ “Thank you for helping me with _____________________________________. You are very _______________________________________!”

 

To: ___________________ From: ___________________                   “Thank you for __________________________________________________. It made me feel ___________________________________________, because ______________________________________!

 

To: ___________________ From: ___________________ “It makes me happy when you _____________________________. Thanks for being a great friend!”

Apology Letter Starters

To: ___________________ From: ___________________ “I did not mean to say _______________________________________. What I should have said was _______________________________________. I am sorry!

 

To: ___________________ From: ___________________ “I know I made a mistake when I _____________________________. I am sorry!

 

To: ___________________ From: ___________________ “I am sorry! I lied to you about ________________________. The truth is that _____________________________.”

 

To: ___________________ From: ___________________ “I feel bad for when I _________________________. I am sorry!”

I chose to write an original story about a werewolf puppy named Willow. I hope to make this into a series book that I can eventually bring into my own future classroom. I love fairy tales and thought about how I would have loved this character when I was a little girl.

Willow The Wonderful Werewolf

Paul and Tina were new parents, holding their beautiful newborn, watching TV on their couch in Santa Cruz, CA. Paul was an astronomer, and Tina was a hair stylist. Lucky thing, little Willow had a mother that did hair, because as a newborn she was already blessed with a full head of hair. On the TV played the news, reporting that Fairytale creatures spoke out for their civil rights. Their stories had been exploited. There were marches that lined the streets in leather boots, heels, and hooves. There were protests that looked like color and jewel explosions throughout the country. The Fairytale creatures were fighting for the right to not be judged based off of their books, or the stories about them that had spread generation by generation.

Paul came from a family of werewolves. He was the only brother whose gene was never expressed. The new parents wanted to protest but all Paul and Tina wanted was for their daughter to be safe in their community. They held her tight and wished for equality among all types of people. The new parents understood that their child could grow up to be viewed as a fairy tale creature in their society, and all they wanted to do, was protect her.

Willow grew to be average six-year-old little girl. Paul and Tina had barely aged. Willow was hyper and happy and loved her Kindergarten classroom, friends, and teacher. She had huge violet eyes, big curly brown hair, and unique freckles that were scattered from head to toe. With rosy cheeks and long eyelashes, she was smiled everywhere she went. She was a beautiful child and a kind sister. Tina had just given birth to twin little boys and Willow was the nicest big sister she could be. To show appreciation for how well Willow had been adjusting to the boys’ arrival, Paul decided to take her out for some father-daughter time.

Paul loved exploring outer space from his telescope, and sharing that experience with Willow. After taking his little girl to see the full moon, something very strange happened. While he looked into the telescope focusing in on the full moon, his young daughter suddenly transformed into a puppy! Her clothes are ripped in half from the thick fur expansion, and they laid on top of the dirt. Willow was covered head to toe with thick brown fur, her huge violet eyes wide with shock. Paul knew this little pup, was his little girl. This six-year-old little girl’s freckles were not actually freckles at all, they were pores. Pores releasing millions of fur fibers. Poor Willow was on all fours, completely transformed, scared and confused. She jumped up into her father’s arms and they both stared up at the full moon. She began to howl at the moon. Her vocal cords were so weak, it sounded like a soft whimper. Paul knew his genetics had done this to his daughter.

Sitting under canopies of trees and greenery, the huge bright moon shined through each leaf. Paul and Willow could see each other clearly and perfectly. He explained it all to her under the full moon. Holding his pup, Paul said, “Honey, I am so sorry you are scared right now. Do you understand me? This is only for tonight. This is your first transition to being a puppy werewolf. Willow replies to her father by nudging her snout against his neck while whimpering. Paul explained to Willow that his father was a werewolf. It was a genetic mutation that dated back to thousands of generations to young men in their family, and that she, amazingly was the first girl in their family ever to transform.“My sweet Willow, this will only happen once a month on the night of the full moon. We need to tell your mom and warn her. Did you know my brothers are werewolves? That is right, Uncle Rylan and Uncle Caden transform together each month! They think it is a cool way to stay in shape. They say they can run faster and jump higher then any living thing in the world. But, this is a secret power my little pup, and for now, you must keep it a secret.” said Paul.

He walked home holding his scared, furry puppy of a daughter. After walking back into their home, his wife screams, “Where is Willow?!” Paul opened his flannel jacket to reveal that their daughter had transformed into a were-pup for the first time. Willows mother began to sob. She exclaimed, “Oh my goodness! My baby! Are you in pain?” Willow and her parents all sat on the floor, waiting for morning to come. All night, her father shared with her the stories of their family’s past. The wars they had helped win, the travels they experienced, they different stories of werewolves’ first transformations, of all ages. As the moon set and the sun rose, Willow magically transformed back into her normal, hairless, six-year-old self. Her brothers and parents did not look like she did. Her family had blonde, straight hair and blue eyes, while she had curly brown hair with sparkling violet eyes. Willow was covered in freckles and her hair became untamable. Her mother stood outside Willow’s bathroom each night waiting with a brush and detangle her massive hair. Willow was small for her age but after hearing her father’s stories, she felt mighty and tall. Her first transformation was on a Saturday, so she and her family spent all Sunday sleeping, relaxing, and trying to recoup from their exhausting, scary night. Willow loved freedom, exploring new places, and meeting new people. She was an adventurous child, curious and confident. By Monday, she was back in her Kindergarten classroom, hugging her teacher and friends. Although she was back to normal, all she could think about was what this new werewolf thing could do? Like, how fast she could run as a werewolf woman, or how high she could jump. She could not wait until the next full moon! Willow was relieved to be back to her human self but had so many curiosities about this other side to her.  Now, unfortunately every day all she hears day and night from her scared parents is “Where is Willow?!”

Willow was ready to test her limits. She was lucky she had a father like Paul. He was understanding, and watched his own brothers and father go through transitions once a month. Willow’s mother was very worried about her first and only daughter, being the only one in their family to express the Werewolf gene. She, her sons, and her husband were all only human until just a few weeks ago. She feared that people would treat her family different, because of the current political state of the country they lived in. Their elected president was threatening to make anyone with powers or family history of fairy tale creature genes, wear an armband showing they they were apart of the “fairy group”. Tina was heartbroken that someone with power could insight so much fear and hatred, into so many families. She feared her sons would eventually also express their wolf gene and in time would not be safe to freely walk the streets. Tina, did not care that her children were different, she actually thought it was amazing, but she did not want her children to have to face those kinds of challenges. Paul believed that being apart of the Werewolf community, would only better and strengthen their children. Paul believed that it was was 2018 and people did not have to live in fear anymore.

Tina said, “Willow, my honey bee, Mom does not want you to be upset, but um, I think for now we need to keep this puppy thing, a secret between the five of us. Your brothers, dad, and I will help you transition and get used to these powers.”

Paul chimed in, “We just want you to stay safe, Pup.”

Willow asked, “Why wouldn’t I be safe just because I am a werewolf now?”

“We are worried that some people might think you are dangerous. It has only been six years since the fairytale community was granted equal rights.” said Paul.

Willow began to cry. As a little girl she did not realize she had anything to be afraid of. She thought it was wonderful. She just thought one night a month, her freckles grew lots of hair and made her a hyper puppy. How cool is that!

“Pup, don’t cry. Mom and Dad are not mad. No one is scared. We are just being cautious. Until we know that we can control you during your transitions, this has to be our secret” further explained Tina.

Twas finally the night of the full moon, and Willow’s second transition. This time, the baby boys, Mom, and Dad all joined her during this unique time. They were her pack, werewolf or not. Paul got out his telescope. They also brought binoculars to be able to give Willow freedom, but still keep an eye on her. The moon rose and Willow’s fur grew. Painlessly, she transitioned to her hairy, sharp teethed, puppy dog wolf self. Willow’s mom even brought her favorite headband so she could still feel like her self! She looked up at her mom, her violet eyes peeked out through the fur. A big pink bow plopped on top of her ear. She raced around her parents’ feet in circles, looked up, whimpered for permissions, and bolted up the trees!

In this form, Willow’s world was the most beautiful she had ever seen. She saw night as day. The moon was her sun, filling her with warmth and comfort. Her little puppy body howled at the moon in appreciation. The six-year-old felt overjoyed.  With a huge smile on her face while giving her family a show, she ran faster than any animal. Willow shot up and down trees. There were no bad intentions, or animalistic hormones. Willow was still Willow, just in a different, more powerful form. She ran up to her brothers, licked them both on the cheek, and jumped into her father’s arms panting and drooling. Tina had never been more proud of her little pup. Willow and her pack sat in wonder, looking up at the moon.

Willow’s parents knew that their daughter would be the best Werewolf in the world. How some of the country viewed their daughter did not matter. Throughout their lives, the family fought for social and racial justice by protesting and standing up for what they believed in. All Paul and Tina wanted was equality for their family and children. They dreamed that in time, their little pup would grow up to be the first Fairytale President.

 

 

THANKS FOR READING :) HEHE BY: SYDNEY SWAIN