Me, Myself, and I

Guest blog post by Shani Dillon, Lakeview teacher

Our class read the timeless story, “Me, Myself and I,” (1969) written by Gladys Yessayan Cretan. One of my students gave it to me as a gift with a beautiful message written inside (saying that he just knew that I would read it to so many children in the future - whether it be my own children, grandchildren, or students).  It was such a special gift :)

It is an engaging, fun, meaningful story about the many ways a little boy views himself compared to how others might view him. He talks about all of the things he imagines he could be. At the end of the story, he knows that whatever he might become, he will always remain the special person he is. He says,

“I see all these things,

    I am whatever I want to be.

       But especially,

Particularly,

Positively….

ME”

After I read the story whole class, we discussed it, and their thoughts were amazing. We also talked/reviewed whole class about figurative language/powerful words/etc, and found some examples in the text…  By the end of the discussion, I was just about crying at their darling hearts, their aspirations and their dreams.

They began to think and write down some notes about what they see in themselves when they “look in the mirror.” They were so engaged in this and in the task of writing their poems! After their poems were complete, I told Sandy, our Digital Learning Coach, about my idea to put the poem with a picture, so that I can frame them <3 Then, Sandy came in to do her magic :)

Some of the content standards that we addressed were:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2

Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.10

By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 4-5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7

Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).