The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

One book that I definitely want to use in my classroom is The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. When I was in elementary school, I remember this book as being one of my all time favorites, and when I am working with children today I still love reading this book to them.

Knowing what I know now, I would say that I liked this book so much because of the point-of-view that it is told from. This book exemplifies the story element of point-of-view. It is not often that you have the opportunity to hear a classic story, such as The Three Little Pigs from a different point-of-view and that is what made the book so fun.

One theme of the book is that you cannot always believe what you hear because not everyone sees a situation the same way. An activity that can help further this theme is to have the students share an experience where they did not see a particular situation the same way that someone else did. Another activity is to have the students write one of their favorite books from a different point-of-view.

Writing worth reading

When I first began to think about the question, "What makes writing worth reading?" I had no idea where to begin. Is it something as simple as it is grammatically correct and error free? Is it something a little deeper such as the topic of the writing or the way the writer uses literary devices to intrigue their readers that makes it worthwhile? I believe the only way to approach this question is to answer it for myself.

I believe that there are many components that work together to make writing worth reading. A few that come to mind are: accuracy, imagination, thoughtfulness, and, of course, the topic. The topic of a piece of writing or the plot of a book is what draws me in first. If the topic of the writing is something that I am interested in then I will usually find that reading worthwhile. If the plot of a book is intriguing and there is creativeness in the way the author writes I am drawn in. I included accuracy and thoughtfulness in my list of components because I believe that it is extremely important for there to be accurate facts in articles and historical readings. I do not think it is worthwhile to read something that is historically inaccurate unless it is made clear that the writing is meant to be fictional. When I mentioned thoughtfulness, I was thinking along the lines of something does not have to be 100% error free to be worth reading as long as you can tell that the author wrote thoughtfully and carefully.

It goes without saying that what makes reading worthwhile is different for each individual reader. There are many aspects of writing that make it worthwhile to read. I never realized that this question could be so challenging to answer. However, I believe that an interest in a topic or issue would probably be one of the top reasons why people would find writing worthwhile.

Sticks and Stones

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." I believe that this statement is false. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard people say, "I don't care what people say about me" but the truth is that words do carry power. I know, for me personally, I try not to let what some people say bother me, and this may work but only some of the time.

Words carry the ability to encourage and lift up a person or tear someone down. I can't count the number of times that someone has taken the time to say something nice to me that ends up brightening my whole day. I think that it is important for people to understand the power that their words carry, and I think it is especially important for teachers to help point this out to their students.