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Reading Assignment: Read pages 1-44 of Shooting Kabul

 

Writing Assignment: Much of Dear Mr. Henshaw focuses on the issue of parenting. Please write a paragraph or two explaining what you think a good parent should or should not do for his or her child. Then illustrate with events from the book and at least one quotation how Leigh’s mother or father does  (or does not) fulfill the role of a good parent.

 

For this piece of writing, you will be giving your own opinion on the subject of parenting before referring to the book. Try,  when you switch to the book, to make the transition  as smooth as possible.

 

For instance, imagine that you had been writing how a good parent knows it's important to keep one's promises.  When you are ready to refer to the book, you might say something like "In Dear Mr. Henshaw, Leigh's father gets a failing grade as a parent because he is forever breaking promises to his son. When, for instance, he tells Leigh he will call on a particular night, he doesn't and Leigh ends up calling him. During the phone call, Leigh realizes his dad is having pizza with another little boy, and he feels his heart break."

 

The trick to good transitions is to refer to something you just said when introducing the new idea. In this case, the underlined transition refers to the importance of promises thereby linking the new idea to what's been said before. 

Last edited by Laraine
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    I think a good parent should play with his or her child more time and do not make the child feel lonely. Because if the child feels lonely, he or she will be unhappy most of time and can't talk with other people much.

    In the book Dear Mr. Henshaw, Leigh father is not a good parent. he doesn't stay at home most of time, so he made his son, Leigh feels unhappy most of time and became pessimist. And he did not call Leigh on time so I think he is not a good parent.

 

Nice work Mark. I especially like that you identified what you think caused Leigh to be a pessimist.  Also, the transition into the discussion of the book is very smooth, which is what I was hoping for. You correctly pick up the theme of the "good parent," which opened the first paragraph. The repetition of that key term helps tie the two paragraphs together very nicely.   Laraine

Hello,Laraine

     I think,a good parent should not criticize their Child or children.When we have wrong on something,we are sorry to it,too.But if parents criticize us,Maybe we won't turn on right.That only can make us mad.If parent give us warm when we have wrong,we can  know where we wrong on,and how can we do right.A good parent also should stay with their child or children most of time.If they don't,we will feel so lone.We need both mother loves and father loves.

    In the book,Leigh's parent are not  good parents.Leigh's parents divorced,that make Leigh feel so lone and became a little pessimism.

Hi Enya, As always, what a thoughtful response.And I agree, we need both mother love and father love, although I think Leigh's mother does her best. We should talk about that in class.

 

Your sentences are becoming more complex. That's a good thing.

 

I will send you some additional comments via e-mail. But this made very interesting reading, and I see you making great progress with your writing.  Laraine

Last edited by Laraine
I think good parents should be nice to their child, they must not hits their child. They must teach their child and when the child doesn’t know something, they should teach the child in good way. But in Dear Mr. Henshaw, Leigh parents are not good, because they just divorce; they don’t know how Leigh feels. I think they should thinking about their child more, not just for their self.

Nice work here Cindy! No run ons!!! Excellent use of the semi colon. Hurray!

 

I agree with you about what good parents are.  As for Leigh's parents, I go back and forth. I think his mother does her best, but his father just won't grow up.  However, you are right that even she is thinking more about herself than about Leigh.

 

We ran out of time in class today, but I think we should discuss that idea. We should discuss if Leigh's mom has made a decision just for herself or for her and Leigh. 

 

I appreciate your getting the writing done. I know you had a lot of work last week.  Best, laraine

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