Name Calling Will Not Be Tolerated

I'm a big fan of Lester Laminack. Recently, I listened to his podcast at Choice Literacy on bullying http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1532.cfm. I was not familiar with the first book he mentioned, Dog Eared by Amanda Harvey, so of course, I ordered it. I'm glad that I did because it will be a wonderful addition to my classroom library.

The book begins with a happy and confident looking dog walking home. A bigger dog walks by and calls him a mean name, "Big Ears".  That comment causes self-doubt to creep in as the dog begins to worry that his ears really are too big. He becomes so distraught that he can't eat or play. He tries to fix his ears by doing some creative ear styling (think of a dog bouffant). He gives up and goes to sleep but is haunted by nightmares. In the middle of the night, one of his owner's children snuggles next to him and tells him how much she loves his ears. This restores his confidence, and the next day when the mean dog calls him another name, he brushes it off and continues on his way.

I can't wait to read this aloud to my class because of the rich discussions I can imagine. (Who hasn't been called a mean name before?) But as always, the implications are also rich for my reflections aa teacher.

• In the book, the dog's owner tells him how wonderful his ears are.
• What about those children who don't have someone to tell them how wonderful they are? How can I help them?

• The dog is called "Big Ears" by the mean dog. As an adult, that doesn't seem like a terribly mean comment; after all, the dog does have big ears.
• Have I ever minimized name calling because it seemed silly? It's the perception of the victim of the name calling that is important.

Dog Eared shows the negative power that name calling can have. As teachers and parents, we cannot tolerate any type of name calling. The damage done by it is too great.