“All right, class. Today, we’re going to all present our book reports on the fables that we read last week.” A middle-aged woman with auburn hair stood before her second grade class, full of eager smiling faces. Some of the kids were squirming more than the others, though for different reasons. “Minoru, why don’t you go first.”
“Okay, Mrs. Norris!” The young boy grabbed his paper and ran up to the front of the class, making sure to sneakily stick his tongue out at his brother for getting picked to go before him.
Even at that age, Minoru was outgoing. He had no apprehension at all about speaking in front of the class. He smoothed out his wrinkled paper, and started reading from it.
“I read the book, The Tortoise and the Hare. It’s about a fast hare and a slow tortoise, and they have a race. The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race.” He summarized the story pretty well, but then added, “and it doesn’t make any sense.”
A couple other kids in the class snickered.
“The hare should have won the race. He was way faster than the tortoise. But he stopped to take a nap, which is dumb. You don’t take a nap in the middle of a race. The hare should challenge him again, and this time, only stop at the finish line. Then he can go take a nap if he wants to.” Minoru grinned behind his paper. “And the new moral of the story is that you win races by being fast and finishing what you start! The end!”
The little boy wasn’t necessarily wrong. Mrs. Norris clapped for her student, and the rest of the class soon joined in.
“That was very good reading, Minoru.” She praised, and he beamed accordingly as he crumpled the paper in his hands and scampered back to his desk. “Isamu, why don’t you go next?”
“Yes, Mrs. Norris.” Isamu nodded. He’d obviously read as many fables as the rest of the class combined, but he was only allowed to write about one of them for the assignment.
In contrast to his brother, he walked to the front of the room calmly and professionally. Like Minoru, however, he hd little to no apprehension about reading to the group. In fact, he took pleasure in being given the open forum to share his thoughts, especially about a book! He adjusted the papers in his hands and cleared his throat.
“For my book report, I chose to analyze The Crab and the Monkey, a piece of Japanese folklore with a strong moral about retributive justice…”
4 - Slow and Steady wins the Race
“Okay, Mrs. Norris!” The young boy grabbed his paper and ran up to the front of the class, making sure to sneakily stick his tongue out at his brother for getting picked to go before him.
Even at that age, Minoru was outgoing. He had no apprehension at all about speaking in front of the class. He smoothed out his wrinkled paper, and started reading from it.
“I read the book, The Tortoise and the Hare. It’s about a fast hare and a slow tortoise, and they have a race. The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race.” He summarized the story pretty well, but then added, “and it doesn’t make any sense.”
A couple other kids in the class snickered.
“The hare should have won the race. He was way faster than the tortoise. But he stopped to take a nap, which is dumb. You don’t take a nap in the middle of a race. The hare should challenge him again, and this time, only stop at the finish line. Then he can go take a nap if he wants to.” Minoru grinned behind his paper. “And the new moral of the story is that you win races by being fast and finishing what you start! The end!”
The little boy wasn’t necessarily wrong. Mrs. Norris clapped for her student, and the rest of the class soon joined in.
“That was very good reading, Minoru.” She praised, and he beamed accordingly as he crumpled the paper in his hands and scampered back to his desk. “Isamu, why don’t you go next?”
“Yes, Mrs. Norris.” Isamu nodded. He’d obviously read as many fables as the rest of the class combined, but he was only allowed to write about one of them for the assignment.
In contrast to his brother, he walked to the front of the room calmly and professionally. Like Minoru, however, he hd little to no apprehension about reading to the group. In fact, he took pleasure in being given the open forum to share his thoughts, especially about a book! He adjusted the papers in his hands and cleared his throat.
“For my book report, I chose to analyze The Crab and the Monkey, a piece of Japanese folklore with a strong moral about retributive justice…”