Lesson 44 Teacher Guide & Scoring Rubric
Teacher Key
Pedagogical Value of Fables (Serl/Aesop): Fables provide concise, powerful narrative structures that teach ethics through metaphorical animal behavior. The idiom "dog in the manger" has entered common English parlance, denoting one who spitefully prevents others from enjoying what is useless to oneself.
Standards Addressed: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.2 (Fables & Moral Lessons), RL.2.3 (Character Response to Challenge), L.2.2 (Quotation marks & commas in dialogue), W.2.3 (Narrative retelling).
Section 1: Comprehension & Literary Discovery
1. Setting: manger (a wooden feeding box or trough for farm animals).
2. Conflict: The dog barked and snapped at the ox and would not let him touch the hay.
3. Genre: fable (accept: parable or moral story).
4. Vocabulary: selfish.
Section 2: Moral Meaning & Dialogue Mechanics
A. Definition of Selfish: [✓] Keeps what they cannot use from others.
B. Dialogue Mechanics: The ox said, “You are a selfish dog...”
• Comma after said.
• Opening quotation mark before You; closing quotation mark after terminal period.
Section 3: Retelling the Fable in Your Own Words (Sample Response)
A dog lay in a hay manger and growled at a hungry ox. Even though the dog could not eat hay, he refused to let the ox eat.
Moral: Do not begrudge others what you cannot enjoy yourself. (We should share and not be selfish.)
Section 4: Sharing & Kindness at School (Sample Answers)
• We should pass the crayons to our classmates when we are done coloring.
• If I am not using the swing, I will happily let another child swing.
• Clarifying "Manger": Urban children may not know what a manger is. Explain that it is an open trough that holds hay or oats for livestock in a barn.
• The Essence of Selfishness: Ensure students grasp that the dog does not even like hay! The dog's malice is keeping food away from someone who is truly hungry.
• Quotation Mark Placement: Check that the comma follows said before the quotation mark opens, and that the ending period stays inside the closing quote.
| Evaluation Metric |
Exemplary (5 Pts) |
Proficient (3-4 Pts) |
Developing (1-2 Pts) |
| Fable Comprehension |
Accurately defines a fable; clearly explains the conflict between dog and ox. |
Answers comprehension questions correctly; recognizes story teaches a moral. |
Misinterprets the setting or motives; leaves key questions incomplete. |
| Vocabulary & Moral |
Explains 'selfish' deeply; articulates the core moral of sharing and fairness. |
Identifies 'selfish' definition correctly; understands moral lesson. |
Struggles to define 'selfish'; moral reflection is vague or missing. |
| Dialogue Mechanics |
Inserts introductory comma and quotation marks with flawless precision. |
Quotation marks included; minor error with comma or period placement. |
Omits quotation marks or places them inside words incorrectly. |
| Retelling & Application |
Writes an expressive, coherent summary in own words; actionable school rule. |
Retells the fable clearly; writes a thoughtful classroom rule. |
Retelling is fragmented or copies text verbatim; rule is incomplete. |