"Bruh Lizard and Bruh Rabbit"

“Bruh Lizard and Bruh Rabbit”

Don’t know some animal tells. Hear um but forget um. Do know about Bruh Lizard and Bruh Rabbit, though. You never hear em tell how Bruh Lizard bested Bruh Rabbit? Well, that lizard was a hard worker. He had a big sword he use to cut his crop. Sword knew how to work by herself and it cut so fine, there was nothing left, once something was cut. Bruh Lizard speakin words to the sword and Sword do all the work. That’s how it went.
Now, Bruh Rabbit, he is smart. He don’t have him a sword like the lizard has, and he wants one. So he hides behind a bush and he watches Sword working for Bruh Lizard. He wants it very bad, too.
One day Bruh Lizard has to go away. And Bruh Rabbit, he sneak up and he steal Bruh Lizard’s sword. Bruh Rabbit laughs to himself because he now got Sword. He think he knows the words that Lizard say to Sword, so he calls out, “Go-ee-tell,” like that. And Sword starts workin, just a-cuttin and a-slashin this way and that and all around.
Pretty soon, old Sword finish up the crop and the rabbit want it to stop. Sword is comin very close to the other crop the rabbit is keeping to live on.
So Bruh Rabbit, he yells out to the Sword, “Go-ee-tell. Go-ee-tell!” like that. That just make the Sword work that much faster. Sword go on and cut down everything Rabbit have. It don’t leave nothing, not one leaf cabbage.
Now Bruh Lizard, he been hidin behind a bush. He sees the whole thing. He is laughin and laughin to herself at Bruh Rabbit, cause that Rabbit think he so smart when he steal Sword. And now Bruh Rabbit got nothin to eat all winter long.
Bruh Rabbit spies the lizard, and he calls over there, “Lizard, Bruh, stop Sword!”
Bruh Lizard, he call right back, “It my Sword.”
Bruh Rabbit, he says then, “That’s so. It’s your Sword, but please stop it. It ain’t got no sense. It cut down everythin I got.”
Lizard say, “Sword work faster every time he hear “Go-ee-tell.’” The lizard laughs again, and he calls out real loud, “Go-ee-pom!” Sword stop.
The lizard grinning to herself all over the place. Then he slide out there and pick up Sword and take it on home,
Rabbit watch him go.
That’s all.

Book Group Role: The Reporter

Reporters report the news, highlighting the important events and giving enough background so their audience can understand the people, background and importance of the day’s events. Reporters summarize. Their reports are short and succinct, but they include all the important information

A reporter who was covering “Bruh Lizard and Bruh Rabbit,” for example, might begin the report by saying that Bruh Rabbit stole Bruh Lizzard’s sword to cut his crops, but everything went out of control.

This general statement might be followed by some of the events of the story: that the sword cuts the crops itself, that Rabbit wanted it, that he stole it and used Lizard’s words to get it started, and that he realized, too late, that he did not know how to stop it. It cut down everything. Lizard found out what happened, laughed at Rabbit, and took the sword back.

During the next meeting of your book group, you will be the person who will provide a quick summary that sums up the main highlights, the essence of the reading thus far. If there are several events to cover, use numbered lines to list them.

Summary:___________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Main Events:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Book Group Role: Reverberator

Reverberators focus on echoes and patterns, finding similarities between what they are now reading and what they have already read, seen or done. A reverberator might read “He Lion, Bruh Bear, and Bruh Rabbit,” for example, and think about other stories, films or TV shows about animals, gangsters, hunting, or folk tales. A reverberator might also think about someone he or she knows, perhaps a hunter or someone who is tough or aggressive. The story might remind a reverberator of an incident from their own life, too, - perhaps a hunting trip, or a time when the convinced someone to be a bit more cooperative.

When you read, experiences, memories and pictures from the real world reverberate – they echo one another and help you make connections between the words on the page and life as real people live it.

As today’s story is read, you will be a reverberator, one who will make connections and share them. List the stories, experiences, films, etc., that come to mind in the left column and explain the connection briefly in the right column

Virginia Hamilton: A Brief Biography

Virginia Hamilton was the most honored American writer of books for children. Born and raised in Ohio, she grew up hearing the stories of her grandfather, a man who escaped slavery when he was just a boy. She also heard tales about his friends, Underground Railroad conductors and organizers. Of mixed ancestry herself (Cherokee, Patawatami and African American), Virginia Hamilton weaves history, culture and the voices of the elders into each and every one of her books.

Virginia Hamilton’s family was one of storytellers, and her books about childhood, adolescence, race, culture, history, folktales, biographies, traditions, and fantasy have earned countless awards.

Her greatest award, however, was knowing that her stories contributed to the lives of “…children who didn’t have family storytellers to tell them of their rich ethnic culture.” Virginia Hamilton wrote, published, researched, and celebrated the rich fabric of American life and supported the writers and teachers who wish to share this with others.

Executive Summary

Click here for my example of the executive summary

Writing the Introduction:

The ______(Issue being explored/problem)____ are/is _____(why it’s a problem- for whom, in what ways, etc.)_____________, and unless __________(proposed solution/action)_________, _____(predict the effect)________may/will happen.

Example:
The students at I.S 93 are not allowed to take their laptops home which makes it impossible for many students to complete their schoolwork. Unless the school takes notice of this problem, and grant students the right to take the laptops home, students will never learn responsibility nor achieve the academic success in which they are capable of.

Writing the Issue Section:

• You are not looking for ways to fix this problem nor are you looking to analyze the data. You are simply stating the facts and trying to prove that there is, in fact, a problem

Of the 100 people surveyed, 95% believe that students should be allowed to take their laptops home. Furthermore, the data shows that 98% of those surveyed say they would use the laptops to complete school work while at home. 78% say there was not enough time to finish class work and 56% say they have problems transferring files between their home/library and school. This result is important because even while 55% of students have a computer at home, if a student cannot access their school files, those computers are essentially worthless. With that said, Mr. Wright, an expert on computer development in I.S. 93 stated that “things went very well” when another class was given permission to take the laptops home as a test. Along those same lines, many students, according to Mr. Wright say that they “don't have Internet or Microsoft Office suite [at home].” If students were allowed to bring their laptops home, this would not be an issue.

Writing the Discussion Section:

In this section, you must discuss possible solutions.

A solution is only a solution if it:

• Makes the situation better
• it is acceptable to those who are involved
• it is possible
• it requires a manageable amount of energy and/or resources
  
  What are some possible solutions?
  What makes this solution better than another one?

Example:

If the students were allowed to take the laptops home, many respondents have stated that this will make them more responsible as a student. In this manner, students will be able to have the responsibility of taking care of the laptops and will, as a consequence, allow teachers to trust students more. Many respondents offered possible solutions to this problem. One respondent said that “Students could be allowed to take the laptops home for a trial period. At the end of the trial period, an assessment should be given. If the laptops are in good condition and it seems that students are being responsible, a decision could be made to allow students to take home the laptops on a more permanent basis.” This might prove as an efficient way to see if students are serious about this commitment.

According to Mr. Wright, a computer expert at I.S93, “We've already had a group go out of the building. Ms. Ochoa's class took some Apple computers home over the Christmas vacation as a sort of test, and it went really well.” This shows that it is, in fact, possible.

Writing the Closing

· State the problem
· Make sure you explain (again) what will happen if no action is taken (should be something bad)
· Explain the recommended course of action
· What will that action accomplish?


Example:
Since the students at I.S 93 are not allowed to take their laptops home, many are finding it difficult to complete school work and to stay up to date in their classes. Unless the school takes notice of this problem, the students’ grades will suffer, and, consequently, they might be held back for that year. The administration should give students a chance to prove themselves responsible enough to take the laptops home. This will improve the quality of their education dramatically.

The Executive Summary

Executive summaries, also called briefings, flood our lives: They're in our mailboxes at school, on our desks, on our classroom walls. They're in our homes, too; the mail brings some everyday, and they're printed on our bottles, our pillows, and our appliances.

Everyone, it seems, wants to brief us about something: The principal wants to brief us on the dress code and gum violations, and the fire marshal wants to brief us about getting us out of a classroom in case of an emergency. Salesmen have solutions for us; politicians want our vote; and shampoo makers, pillow producers, and hair-dryer manufacturers want to brief us on using their products wisely.

These people know that we're busy and that reading all the dress-code rationale and policies concerning gum will simply take too long. Some of us won't do it. Some of us will put off reading it and possibly find ourselves unprepared for an emergency.

If it's short, we may read it.

Executive summaries are the short, focused pieces that say "This is what you need to know about _________, and this is what you should do." They often synthesize big issues and big ideas for readers who are in a hurry, under pressure, and/or not yet interested in the subject at hand.

In the world of business, briefings are often called executive summaries because the quickly summarize the information necessary to make an executive decision.

Your task will be to complete the following four sections:

Introduction: A statement of purpose. The purpose of the report quickly orients the reader about information that’s been gathered and its significance.

Issue: A brief synthesis of the situation. Depending on the situation, this information may have been gathered through observation, survey, interviews, and/or review of printed documents. The most important points are presented in clear, crisp language. In other words, this is the section in which you explain your introduction in more detail. The seriousness will be shown through comments, statistics, and graphs.

Discussion: An outline of the criteria for choosing a course of action, along with the most promising options. In other words, this is the section in which you describe a possible solution.

Conclusion/Recommendation: A recommendation about the actions to be taken, along with the rationale.