I haven’t read much of Donalyn Miller’s book yet, but just in flipping through the pages, I think I’m going to really enjoy having it as a resource for my future class. I seems like there are a lot of good ideas and practices that she introduces that would be really helpful in teaching reading. I came across a page where she talks about the reading graffiti wall. I really liked the idea of the kids getting to share their ideas all in one place. It’s out in the open and they can look at it at any moment. I like how it connects the students and the texts they’re reading. It just really stood out to me. I’m really excited to see what else she has to offer as I read the rest of her book.

I haven’t even really thought about teaching reading. I know I’m going to teach it, but I just hadn’t thought about it as a subject by itself. What worries me is having the responsibility to know and be familiar with tons of children’s books in order to refer them to my students. It just seems like such a big task to take on, and it seems like it’s going to be a bit of a challenge. Donalyn Miller also talks about how she doesn’t like how teachers asses students reading – in forms of annotations, reading logs, or things along those lines. She mentions that she feels that this leads students to almost fall out of love with reading. So then I find myself thinking, then how can I assess my students’ reading? As a student, I’ve always been assessed this way, so it’s difficult for me to do something different. If a parent or principal were to ask for proof, what proof would I have?

I don’t quite know what I’m excited about in terms of teaching reading. I can say that I’m hopeful that I’ll get some good ideas from this book. As mentioned before, I really liked her idea of the graffiti wall. I like the idea of creating something like a reading community. I like how as a class we all talk about the book we’re reading and our ideas. I think this is something that can be done with almost any age, and I’d like to incorporate that in my classroom. It helps my understanding and allows me to hear ideas that I wouldn’t have thought of.

To be honest, I didn’t really have a favorite story. I struggled with this book, and there weren’t any stories that stuck out to me. More often than not I found myself feeling confused, which I don’t like. I didn’t like that the stories didn’t have clear endings. I almost felt as though without an ending, I didn’t understand the point of the stories. I didn’t read them all, but some that I read were The Tale of the Handkerchief and The Tale of the Hair. I really didn’t like The Tale of the Hair. I felt like the whole point of the story was worthless. At the end of the story, the old woman taking care of the blind girl says to her that she wouldn’t be at peace until she found the girl a man. But she was the “man” in the story the whole time. I also didn’t like the “ending” of this story. It appeared as though the old woman became blind, or at least injured her eyes. And then they just sat together, blind. I just found myself wondering what the point of the story was. Out of the stories that I read, I felt like The Tale of the Handkerchief was the most accurate for today’s times. The girls ended up not choosing the paths that were favored by their parents. This is the way things used to be, but people, especially women, are more independent today. If they don’t like something, they aren’t afraid to change it.

It was mentioned in class that kissing a witch wasn’t something that was acceptable; it’s usually a prince that’s being kissed. Traditional stories usually don’t emphasize women and their story, so the title could be a representation of that. It kind of gets you to thinking that maybe the stories aren’t going to be like you thought they would be. It could also have something to do with just the female relationships. Rather than kissing a prince, they could kiss a witch, which is usually a woman. Or they could just have a relationship with a woman, whether it be just a friendship or something more.

If I’m being completely honest, I don’t remember much about Snow White. I haven’t seen the movie in probably 10+ years. That being said, I’ll do the best I can. I don’t remember Snow White’s dad marrying the evil woman. I don’t remember anything about either of her parents. I’m pretty sure she was a queen in the movie. I also know that there was no mention of lace. Nor was there a poisoned comb. The dwarves were never the one to bring Snow White back to life. The prince does come to save her in the movie, but not like he does in the story. In the movie, he never takes her back to his house and the apple doesn’t become dislodged in her throat. I definitely don’t remember any hot iron shoes that the queen had to wear. I don’t remember how she died, but I’m sure it wasn’t that way.

In the movie, the queen only tricks Snow White once. In this story, she manages to trick her 3 times. When I was reading it, I kept thinking, “How stupid IS this girl?” It also seemed a tad bit on the weird and creepy side that the prince wanted to bring a “dead” Snow White home with him. Not to mention that he fell in love with her in a matter of seconds – “I love you more than anything else on earth.” I’d be a little frightened if I woke from the dead to a stranger professing his love to me. And the more I think about it, I don’t remember the story saying how much time had gone by between Snow White dying and the prince coming. But I DO remember that Snow White was 7 years old. I’m hoping that a LOT of time passed between her death and the prince falling in love with her.

I think that a lesson or moral that you could get from this story is that vanity and jealousy won’t do you any good, but they’ll actually be the reason for your downfall. It seems as though there is also something to be said of young girls. Snow White is extremely young in this version of the tale, and she seems to be pretty naïve and an easy target. This story may have been a warning to kids that they shouldn’t trust strangers and that they need to be careful. You could probably even go as far as saying that young GIRLS need to be careful.

No awful beards of blue you see

No presence of a bloody key

Two brothers coming on a horse

Were not a part of this story’s course

 

There was no mention of a bird

For that would just be so absurd

The man never acted poor

And never went from door to door

 

There was no lack of love or trust

Nor a path lined with ashy dust

There was no woman with a spell

Nor a bird with a story to tell

 

By Samantha Wanner