I lost a good kid to a private school last week. After she left, I was told by other kids that her mom objected to the book I was reading aloud. Mom told the kid to pray before I begin reading, so that nothing could happen. The book was and is Gossamer by Lois Lowry. On Friday, I read a chapter about a mom who admits to a social worker that she has made some bad parental choices, resulting in her kid being taken to foster care.
"What can you infer about the choices this mom is talking about?" I asked the group, in true teacher fashion.
"She was a PROSTITUTE!" announced knitting peep, loudly and matter of factly.
Hands shot up like wildfire as I mumbled, "Yeah, well, okay, let's leave inferences behind and read the next chapter." It hadn't really occurred to me that the character might have been a prostitute, so I had to think more about that before delving into the inference in greater detail.
