Discussion Questions:
- What choice does Joseph make after he finds the fifteen dollars and thirty-five cents?
He decides to keep the money and offers some to his friend Devon - Does this seem like a good choice or poor choice? Why?
This is a poor choice because the money does not belong to him - Before making the choice to keep the money, what may be some things Joseph should think through?
This money belongs to someone else; whoever lost the money may be very upset about it - What choice does Devon struggle with throughout the story?
Whether or not to tell Lin or the teacher that Joseph has the money - What are some of the things that Devon is thinking through as he struggles to make this choice?
Joseph will get into trouble if people find out he kept the money
Joseph may no longer want to be Devon’s friend - If Devon does make the choice to tell on Joseph, what are some possible positive and negative outcomes of this? (e.g.,
Devon would feel good about making a good choice; Lin would be happy
Joseph would be angry with him; Joseph would be in trouble - Does Ms. Crosby clearly communicate what she hopes for Devon to do?
No, she leaves Devon a white envelope as a hint, but communicates very indirectly about what she hopes he would do with it - How can she communicate more effectively to Devon?
She could have explained to Devon that since the classroom will be empty, if his friend wanted to leave the money in an envelop, one will know he had the money - If Joseph did not know how to solve the problem how could Devon help?
Devon could encourage him to get help from Ms. Crosby
Devon could accompany Joseph to see Ms. Crosby to return the money - What are some times you had to make a difficult choice? What were the positive and negative outcomes you had to think through and what did you choose to do?
If children have difficulty coming up with scenarios where they made difficult choices, provide them with a scenario that you can discuss through as a class or in small groups