Turning Frustration Into Something Excellent by Kevin Shao (G5) Turning Frustration Into Something Excellent By Kevin Shao Grade 5 Everybody gets frustrated once in a while, but that can turn into something excellent. For example, in the story “An Earful” by Dale-Marie Bryan, Jacob needs lots of sounds for his homework, but he does not know what sounds he can find on his family’s farm, leaving him annoyed about the assignment. In the end, he finds out that there are tons of sounds for his homework. Jacob’s attitude changes from annoyed and frustrated to inspired and cheerful. In the beginning, Jacob’s teacher, Mrs. Olson, told the class that their homework was to collect as many sounds as they could. The students who can find lots of sounds would get a shiny kazoo. When Jacob was on the bus, he was annoyed about the homework because he thought it was not fair since he didn’t think he could find lots of sounds. In the middle, when he was on the bus heading back home, he did not like the homework because when he opened the gate it groaned like a ghost, and he said “that was how he felt about the assignment” so this is clear that he is super frustrated. Also, when his little brother burped, he said, “That is what I feel about it, too!” While the assignment frustrated him, he did not notice that there were many sounds on the farm, like chickens cackling, cows mooing, his dog barking, the rumble of the tractor, and puppies yipping. At the end, he was happy because he noticed he was thinking too hard and shouted, “Quiet!” After that, he realized that there were many sounds to write for his homework. We know he is cheerful because he grinned and rushed down his tree house so he could write all the sounds he heard on the farm. This is how Jacob’s attitude changes from annoyed and frustrated to inspired and cheerful from the beginning to the end about his assignment. Have you been frustrated with your homework, but then realized it was actually good, and how did you resolve the problem? Did you do it like Jacob resolved it, or in a different way?
