As previously said by others, though comfortable teaching in front of students,  I knew I’d be nervous in front of my peers and with nervousness comes unwanted perspiration; so I put much thought into what fabric and color shirt to wear.

With regard to my presentation, I felt it went well overall.  I did trip over my tongue a few times and my word choices may not have been the best due to my nervousness.  For instance, the reason I didn’t share what I had written was because by doing so would break the theme that Leana wrote about, which I said, but not clearly. I felt her story would segue better into the next activity of memorable comments from our adolescence, which Tan’s narrator does.

I also neglected to say that because student populations can be quite diverse in this area, I would expect students to use their cultural knowledge (whether social, political, or cultural) to better relate to the story. This personal knowledge could be an invitation for discussion.  Also, it m ay not have been obvious that circumstances mentioned in the story such as the mother’s actions of abandoning her babies could lead to debate if some students viewed the act as cruelty versus necessity.

In Norton, Tan’s story is used to illustrate setting, which I didn’t mentioned either in my presentation or lesson plan. To me, though it did provide an example of setting, I chose to focus on the human and cultural connections. In a classroom, I could briefly examine the setting. Also, I know from experience that setting is discussed in depth during third and fourth grades.

Thank you to those who participated. I look forward to your comments/suggestions.

Susan