In the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio, one of the middle school teachers offers a piece of advice every month. He calls them Mr. Browne's Precepts. These are words of wisdom, quotes, or sayings. Here are the precepts thus far:
September: "When given the choice between being right or being kind, chose kind."
October: "Your deeds are your monuments."
November: "Have no friends not equal to yourself."
December: "Fortune favors the bold."
Choose one of the quotes that speaks to you. Write a paragraph or two explaining why you think that quote is important. What is it saying? Why did R.J. Palacio choose that quote to include in the book? Why do you appreciate that quote?
After you respond - and allow others the time to respond - go back and read the comments. Choose a few to reply to. What did their writing make you realize? Do you have additional evidence from the text to help support their thinking?
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ReplyDeleteThe Precept I chose was “Your deeds are your monuments.” I think what this precept mean is if you do something kind it will always be remembered. I like this precept because it is very encouraging.
ReplyDelete- Coleman
What is an example of that? You could use an example from either the book, or your own life.
DeleteMy favorite quote from Wonder is “Your deeds are your monuments.” This quote means that you will be remembered for what you do. I love this quote because it makes you think about your actions and words. I also like the quote “Have no friends not equal to yourself." I think this means that you should put your friends before yourself and that you should never think you are better than someone. This is what I think about Mr. Browns precepts in the book Wonder.
ReplyDelete- Hailey
Hailey,
DeleteDo you have an example - from the book, or another text, or your life - that illustrates this thinking? I'm thinking about the quote "Have no friends not equal to yourself" and wondering how that applies to August, Jack, Julian, and Summer... who follows this precept? Who doesn't? What evidence do you have?
Hannah’s Thinking on Wonder!
ReplyDeleteThe quote that get my attention was “Your deeds are your monuments”.
I think this quote is saying the actions you make are the actions you own. Meaning your actions own you. So if you make a bad choice, something bad may happen to you because you made a bad choice. It is the same with doing something good.
I think R.J Palacio added this quote to the book so that her reader would think about his or her life and maybe put their shoes in Jacks shoes.In the book so far,Jack is pretty nice and fallows the basic school rules.Then this changes when he hits Julian in the mouth. This may be a sign from R.J palacio to remember to always contain your fear,anger and more emotions.It does effect Jack because he gets expelled for a week. That is why I think the author used this quote.
This quote to me means to make every moment count in my life and to try to make other people(s) life better as well.
I really like how you explained what the quote meant, an example from the book, and then what it means to you. Well done!!
DeleteThe quote that speaks to me is when given the choice between right or kind choose kind the reason this precept speaks to me is that it reminds to always be kind to other people.I also think this precept is very well thought out and very intelligent. I also think that the precept is trying to send a mesage to always try to be a good person .
ReplyDeleteWho exemplifies this in the book? Who does not show this in the book?
Delete"When given the choice between being right or being kind, chose kind."
ReplyDeleteI think this is a good quote because when you are right and the other person is wrong they might get a little mad and I don't like making people mad.When your kind you are nice and I like being nice.
My favorite Mr.Brown precept is
ReplyDelete“Your deeds are your monuments.”
This precept means people will remember you by the good things you have done. I like this one because when people read this precept, it might make people motivated to do good so that they will be remembered.
ReplyDeleteI think that Septembers precept is the most important because at my old school there was a kid who just corrected the teachers and the students and he got annoying and he did it in a snotty way. Once he corrected me and he was just doing to keep correcting me about everything. After about a month or two he just moved on to another kid and after he got corrected all the kids who got corrected just stood up to the kid and we all warned the other kid that we better be careful what we say. After a little bit the kid stopped and all the kids who got emotionally hurt didn't hurt anymore and we all learned that you need to chose kind and not right.
Presley,
DeleteYour story shows why it is important to choose kind. That was a good way to respond to the blog post.
ReplyDeleteThe precept that speaks me is the September precept, "When given the choice between being right or being kind, chose kind." It means a lot to me because I get in fights a lot with my brothers and my mom. One thing that I do sometimes is I go and check to see who is right instead of arguing. Another thing I do is I just say “Ok!” and walk away knowing I am right. I want to be right all the time, so instead of being kind I would be right.I think the quote is saying when you have a problem or something like that, you can just be kind instead of being mean and right about the problem. I think R.J. Palacio put this quote in the book Wonder because August has a deformed face and most people are being right instead of kind to him. So I think she put that quote in the book because being kind to August is better than being right about him. I appreciate the quote because, it tells me not to be mean when I am in an argument.
My favorite quote is. “When given the choice of being right or being kind ,chose kind. It’s a good word of advice for people who fight a lot. To end fights faster. I think she but in there from lifesance. Like me and friend fight a lot and even sometimes I tried to be right. Then after words I feel awful and mad at myself.
ReplyDeleteMr. Brown’s Precepts
ReplyDeleteThe quote that speaks to me most is “Audentes fortuna iuvat.”(Fortune favors the bold).This quote is special because I think that when you take a risk in life,the risk normally turns out well.But when it doesn’t work out,things can happen.Bad things.Life-changing things.Sometimes it isn’t your life that is changed.It is the life of others.Family,friends,even aqaintaintces you meet on the street.I think R.J Palacio put this quote in the book because it described August.He was bold,and in the end it worked out.He had lots of friends,and he was even popular.I appreciate this quote because it is...well,wise.It was probably written by a Italian author because Fortuna is Italian.This is a very important quote.
Will, I appreciate how you reflected on how the quote applies to August. I agree with you - for August to go to a public middle school is, in fact, a very bold step. And with that, he made some good friends like Summer.
Delete"Fortune favors the bold" is a quote from an ancient Roman poet named Virgil. He lived around the time of 70 - 19 B.C.
Good wondering!
Thanks for replying to my comment!
DeleteWill, it is very cool that you put "Fortune favors the bold" in Italian. Your comment was great. You are right, August does have to take a big step. He also has to be brave and courageous.
ReplyDeleteMy Favorite Precept
ReplyDeleteMy favorite precept from the book “Wonder” is,
“Your Deeds are your monuments” because I believe that if a single person likes you, you express yourself by doing a special deed that people like about you. For example, one day a couple weeks ago, my friend Joshua helped me overcome my fear of jumping. The way he did that was he took me to a high toy on the playground and jumped off and told me to do it also. I said no, but we kept on going back and forth, no, yes, no, yes and so on. Then, after a lot of arguing, I finally did it! Then I did it again! So my point is, if you try to push someone to take on a challenge of face their fears, that is doing a deed and making it your monument.
“Your Deeds Are Your Monuments.”
-Madison B.
Madison Ballow
ReplyDeleteMy favorite precept from “Wonder” is
“Your Deeds Are Your Monuments” because, for example, it means that if you do or always do good, that is what you will be known for and I can relate to that because I am known for an outgoing personality. Think about it!
“When given the choice to be right or kind, choose kind”
ReplyDeleteI like this phrase because it tells you to be right like EX: “Penguins can't fly only birds can fly”. in a more mean voice or choose kind EX: “It would be cool if penguins could fly”. What was kind Jack choose kind instead of saying “You are the biggest freak in the world”.