The Dog and His Reflection

Originally told by Aesop

Tier 1

The Story

Jacob’s Ladder Goals

and

Objectives

Habits of Mind

A Dog, to whom the butcher had thrown a bone, was hurrying home with his prize as fast as he could go. As he crossed a narrow footbridge, he happened to look down and saw himself reflected in the quiet water as if in a mirror. But the greedy Dog thought he saw a real Dog carrying a bone much bigger than his own.

The Dog and His Reflection

If he had stopped to think he would have known better. But instead of thinking, he dropped his bone and sprang at the Dog in the river, only to find himself swimming for dear life to reach the shore. At last he managed to scramble out, and as he stood sadly thinking about the good bone he had lost, he realized what a stupid Dog he had been.

Students will be able:

Ladder A

A1 Sequencing-To list in order of importance specific events or plot summaries

A2 Cause and Effect-To identify and predict relationships between character behavior and story events, and their effects upon other characters or events.

A3 Consequences and Implications-To predict character actions, story outcomes, and make real-world forecasts.

Ladder C

C1 Literary Elements-To identify and explain specific story elements such as character, setting, or poetic-device.

C2 Inference-To use textual clues to read between the lines and make judgments about specific textual events, ideas, or character analysis.

C3 Theme and Concept-To identify a major idea or theme common throughout the text.

Habits of Mind•Think about thinking

•Imaging, Innovating, Creating

Refer to Jacob’s Ladder Story Table for Ladder A and C Thinking

Questions.

Tier 2Rigor

Discussion

High Level Strategies with

Ladder A and C Questions

Discussion Strategies: Think-Pair-Share, Write-around, 3-4 Podcast slides (Pixie, Frames) Choose two of the three.

A1--1.Determine the most important events from the story place them in order in a storyboard.

A2--2. What caused the dog to lose his bone? What effect did it have on him? Draw a before and after cartoon picture of the dog and write a a caption for each cartoon.

C1--3. What qualities does the dog possess? Make a chart illustrating both the positive and negative aspects of each quality you identify.

Tier 3Rigor

Discussion High Level Strategies with

Ladder A and C Questions

Discussion Strategies: Think-Pair-Share, Write-around, 3-4 Podcast slides (Pixie, Frames) Choose two of the three.

A3--1. What price did the dog pay for his actions in the story? What did he lose? (Think of all the possibilities!) What do you think he will do the next time he sees his reflection?

C2--2. What inference do you make from the sentence: “But the greedy dog thought he saw a real dog carrying a bone much bigger than is own”?

C3--3. What important ideas does the story tell us?

Tier 4

Reflections/Relevance

Choose one of the writing ideas to complete.  Be creative! 

Be creative with either question you choose to complete.  Here are some suggested project strategies:  Write a Podcast script; create a puppet show; develop a PSA; a PowerPoint presentation; write and be an actor in a skit; write a persuasive speech and give it before the class.

1.Determine the author’s purpose and describe how it affects the interpretation of this short story.

2. Develop this storystarter….. The next day the greedy dog returned to the footbridge and when he looked down into the water this time he….