Workshop 1

Workshop 1: unpacking the Themes & Ideas
"When given the choice between being right and being kind choose kind"- Dr. Wayne Dyer
Kindness: When people are being respectful, caring, kind, helpful and including others.
Example 1:The cafeteria scene where Summer sits with August Pullman

• Shows theme of kindness because Summer leaves the friends she has been sitting with who were bystanders and went to sit with Auggie because he was alone.

Explaining why this film/Idea is important:
Auggie has lost all trust in everyone until Summer sits with him and he starts slowly rebuilding that friendship trust again, if she hadn't shown kindness by sitting with him, he wouldn't have learnt to make new friends & move on.

Example 2: Fight scene at the nature reserve.
Describe how the example shows the theme/idea:

• Amos & the other boys rescue Auggie and Jack Will from the seventh graders. At the end they high five Auggie.
• Shows kindness because up until this point the others hadn't touched him or treated him with respect. 

-Explain why the idea/theme is important to the story.
theme of kindness is important because through it Auggie makes friend and you can see his growth and how much more confidence he has at the end, compared to the start

-Importance of family & friendship.

• through these relationships our character(s) build trust, resilience, and self confidence. 

Example 1: When Jack punches Julien in the face for call Auggie a "Freak"

• Shows importance of friendship because Jack wasn't willing to let Julien bully Auggie anymore. Auggie is a real friend to Jack, whereas Jullien is the kind of friend that puts you down if you don't agree with him.
• Is important because it shows how real friends treat each other, they build trust and can forgive.

Example 2: When Auggie cuts his padawan braid off.
-Link to importance of family because it shows that when Auggie is feeling sad/alone/depressed that he 

has a support network to build his resilience. Home is Auggies safe/supportive place.

- He needs this relationship with his parents to help him build confidence to make new friends. Without a safe place he probably wouldn't get there.

Being right vs being popular - 

• Doing the right thing, even if no one is watching or no one else is doing it 

Example 1: Julien bullies Auggie 

• Julien chooses to do things to be popular rather than doing the right thing, He calls Auggie names, hides notes in his locker + tells Auggie he should kill himself. Julien is the most popular boy in the class so when he chooses to be mean that becomes the thing to do.
• Julien shows importance of being right over being popular because through his actions he is removed from the school + loses his friends Juxtaposed to this is Jack. He decides he would rather be kind to Auggie and as a result keeps all his friends and isn't  kicked out of his school.