Department of Teacher Education
BACHELOR OF SECONDARY EDUCATION
MAJOR IN ENGLISH
FINALS PERFORMANCE TASK
BSEE 32: Children and Adolescent Literature
Reflective Essay
Submitted By:
Dumduman, Joana Marien M.
Submitted to:
Mr. John Kenneth S. Romano, LPT
Academic Year 2024-2025
I. Summary of the story
The story I chose for my midterm and final activity is The North Wind and the
Sun, the one among the many moral fables of the Aesop fable. This fable is brief but
big with the meaning and it has been loved by many societies. The fable tells how the
North Wind and the Sun got into a quarrel about who of them was the more powerful.
In order to decide who was the most powerful, they agreed on a challenge: the one
who could remove the cloak of a passing traveler will be the winner. The North Wind
starts first, to make the traveler remove his cloak, it blows as if it were the only thing
that matters. However, the harder the Wind blows, the tighter the traveler wraps his
cloak around himself, resisting the force. The Sun gives it a try and shines with full
power but gently. The traveler, sensing the heat, finally takes off the cloak by his own
free will.
The fable ends with a deep moral lesson: the influence may be the most efficient
force that comes from good will and not aggression. This simple but strong point is
particularly precious for kids who have just started to grasp social behavior,
emotions, and ethical decision-making. The North Wind and the Sun is still one of the
most wanted for children in the first stages of learning and struggling with various
characters. Also, this story is perfect for the studies of phonetics and linguistics
because it has a lot of different sentence forms and phonemes.
II. Justification and Evaluation
Its utilization in phonetic and linguistic studies stems from the usage of it
spanning many diverse sentence structures and phonemes. In order to actively
engage younger learners in the lesson, I utilized different types of learning materials
that were appropriate for their respective age group, multi-faceted, and blended with
the lesson’s objectives. These materials were tailored in a way that helped achieve
the primary aim of this lesson, which was to ensure that the story is not simply
recounted, but is experienced viscerally and emotionally.
As a starting point, I created a custom large television book in which I included
colorful illustrations with vivid images that represented the various parts of the story.
This was in line with child development research stating that children learn best
through visual aids. The large, bold images provided will make the students want to
pick a book, and visuals improve their retention. Such an approach enhances
comprehension while ensuring that students remain attentive during the entire
storytelling session. Its utilization in phonetic and linguistic studies stems from the
usage of it spanning many diverse sentence structures and phonemes.
In addition, as a motivating pre-reading class activity, I created a classification
activity for the students using two boxes, Wind and Sun. They were shown multiple
action pictures and told the story or the action as described by words like “blowing
trees” or “drying lake” and had to decide if it was from the Wind or the Sun. This
activity not only ignited conversation and curiosity, but also made the students
remember what they already knew, and worked to make guesses about the story.
As a final closing activity, I used a story map. After telling the story and having
discussions about it, students filled in the story map by answering the main
characters, setting, conflict, resolution, and moral of the story. With this post-reading
activity, the students were able to reflect on the story and enrich their grasp on the
narrative and the essence within the story.
The combination of the visuals, audios, movements, and thinking incorporated
made it purposefully multi-sensory, which is why I chose the materials. Every piece of
material chosen had specific educational reasoning behind it to support storytelling
from beginning to end. In reflecting on the instructional materials, I recall that they
were appropriate for the age my students were in. The learners showed a deep level
of interest during the narrational sessions and took part actively in all the lessons.
The large television book was a remarkable teaching aid. The large visual windows
aided in capturing the attention of the students lighting their understanding of the plot.
Even the most challenged readers will be able to follow the story due to the vivid
illustrations.
If this session happened in actual setting, all students will benefit from the
headbands. Students will be pleased to put the headbands on and act out the parts
of the story as they answer the road map. This type of acting will enable advanced
character analysis, and students explained why the gentle Sun’s approach was better
used. It will be clear that they learned the lesson without being told, only hearing the
words. The motivational activity at the start of the lesson was good for engaging
thinking and participation. Pupils will enthusiastically chat as they thought about what
sorts of things each of the characters did. This will have them intrigued in the story
and will also have them thinking critically. The story map will prove to be especially
beneficial as a debriefing tool. It will provide students with a way to organize their
thoughts and make certain that they chose which “have to” story elements they could
find. For students who would have otherwise found it difficult to articulate their
understanding, the story map will be a scaffolded way to report what they learned.
III. Challenges, Improvements and Suggestions
Although I felt that the actual lesson ran well, when using this material I faced
some difficulties. The hardest thing was time. The class will enjoy each activity so
much that it felt like we flew by the clock. Besides that, the work of arranging and
handling the physical materials for example headbands, classification cards, and
story maps entailed likewise preparation and a classroom space that is not usual.
Effort and pre-planning were needed not only to ensure that everything remains
accessible but also to maintain a smooth flow between activities.
After I have considered these difficulties, I think I will make some changes for my
next lessons. I would firstly set up a more organised timeline of the lesson, explicitly
assigning a certain amount of time for every section and employing timers or visual
countdown to keep updated. This would help make sure that each activity not only
gets sufficient time but also does not go over the prescribed time.
Also, I would go for the digital version of the pieces of materials quite a bit. To
illustrate, changing the big TV book to a digital slide presentation will definitely make
it easy to show it off in classrooms where there are smartboards or projectors
available. It definitely also improves the capability of the storytelling experience with
the further addition of voice or animation.
To make the lesson more interesting and diverse in learning experiences, I would
suggest that I will also add the following teaching materials:
A. Puppet Figures (Sun, Wind, and Traveler): A hand puppet or a stick puppet for
the three main characters would be another entertaining and engaging means
through which students can retell the story. Puppets serve as a means for
children to creatively express themselves, while at the same time, they remain
somewhat anonymous which is thus particularly beneficial for shy students.
Moreover, if puppets are used in small groups, they can become the means
through which fine motor skills and cooperative play are developed.
B. Interactive Digital Storybook App: There are many storybook apps that make
fables alive through sound effects, voice narration, and interactive parts. The
electronic incarnation of The North Wind and the Sun may be the other means to
access the tale, particularly for tech-savvy learners. For example, this format
could facilitate independent learning, provide a possibility of rewinding story
elements, and even be used as homework or center-based activity.
Teaching The North Wind and the Sun through the use of these instructional
materials was generally a significant and fulfilling venture. The use of visual aids,
props, hands-on activities as well as the reflective tools formed a cozy, meaningful
learning environment. Although there were some challenges, on the positive side,
they gave some insights on how to better organize the time in the classroom, solicit
participation from the students, and how to use materials more effectively.
The most important thing was that the students will not only have a good time
with the story but they will also grasped and remembered its moral which was that
mild persuasion is generally more effective than the use of force. I must say that this
reflection has made me realize the importance of careful material selection, good
lesson planning, and being able to adapt in the classroom. I am happy to say that I
will be applying these strategies and also making them better in the future storytelling
sessions.