Kristen+Althouse

= The House on Mango Street: Creating Vignettes that Reflect our Lives = Prepared By: Kristen Althouse

__Unit Introduct____ion__

 * Grade Level: 9 – 10**
 * Estimated Time: Two weeks, or ten 50-minute class periods**

**Unit Overview:**
The book, “The House on Mango Street,” by Sandra Cisneros deals with many pressing issues that are relevant to students from many diverse backgrounds. In this unit, students will explore the issues found in the novel, and apply them to their own lives. Students will free-write about their daily lives and experiences, and will be prompted to focus their choices of topics to small events, issues or routines that they believe are representative of who they are. Students will then explore the genre of writing in short vignettes utilized by Cisneros and create their own vignettes that frame four of these small focus events. These vignettes will then be peer reviewed, revised, collected and bound into a book representing our classroom community that outlines the daily lives and struggles of the students. Also, during this unit, students will research their own cultural heritages and communities outside of the classroom. Through their writing and researching, students will learn not only more about themselves, but also about the communities in which they live and the lives of their peers.

Theory into Practice:
Wartski, M. C. (2005). __[|The Importance of Multicultural Themes in Writing and Teaching]__. //The English Journal, 94(3), 49-51.//

In her article, Maureen Crane Wartski outlines the importance of representing identity through race, background and ancestry in order to allow students to see the similarities and solidarity that connects them to their peers. By expressing their own experiences dealing with where they come from and who they are, students can go beyond stereotypes and see each other as individuals worthy of trust and friendship. Some important quotes from her article include:

• Stereotypes, preconceptions, and distrust fade in the face of shared experience, and with these villains gone, friendships have a chance. Friendship bridges differences, and trust is a covenant. (50). • Multicultural literature can give a nudge in the direction of clear sight. What we look like, our ancestry, our country of origin – these things are, of course, important and precious to all of us. They make us unique. They paint us whole. They enable us to offer our experiences, our abilities, and our special insights to the world. (51).

Student Objectives:
//Students will:// 1.) Read the novel “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros and relate the novel to their own lives. 2.) Cultural identities and communities by utilizing online and print resources, as well as other sources such as interviews, films, news articles, etc… 3.) Write four vignettes serving as windows into their daily lives. 4.) Engage in free-writing, drafting and peer editing activities. 5.) Create a classroom novel comprised of each student’s vignettes. 6.) Understand and discuss the diverse lives of their peers and relate them to their own experiences.

Michigan Content Standards:
//Students will be able to…// 1.) Standard 1.1: Understand and practice writing as a recursive process 2.) Standard 1.2.3: Write artistic representations to express personal experience and perspective. 3.) Standard 1.3: Communicate in writing using content, form, voice and style appropriate to the audience and purpose 4.) Standard 2.2.2: Examine the ways in which prior knowledge and personal experience affect the understanding of written text. 5.) Standard 2.3: Develop as a reader for social and political purposes, through independent and collaborative reading. 6.) Standard 3.3.4: Demonstrate a knowledge of American minority literature and the contributions of minority writers.

Resources:
//Resources for individual lesson plans are listed at the beginning of each plan.// 1.) __Handouts needed__:
 * [|Figurative Language Chart]
 * [|"The School on Maple Street" Unit Final Project Handout]
 * [|"The School on Maple Street" Grading Rubric]
 * [|Student Self Reflection Sheet]
 * [|Peer Review Feedback Sheet]- Make enough copies so that each student gets at least four halves.
 * //[|My Name]//[|Vignette Handout] (If copies of book unavailable)

2.) Copies of __The House on Mango Street__ by Sandra Cisneros (preferably one per student) 3.) Access to individual computers / laptops with internet access. 4.) Individual student readers/writers logs, journals or portfolios (for students to keep all of their pre-writing and drafts). 5.) Copies of the Assessment Rubric for each student's final vignettes.

Teacher Preparation:

 * 1) This unit is to be conducted **after** students read __The House on Mango Street__ by Sandra Cisneros.
 * 2) Create appropriate copies of handouts for each student (listed above).
 * 3) Arrange time for computer lab or laptops for sessions 3, 6, and 10.
 * 4) Become familiar with online resources for each lesson and create bookmarks.
 * 5) Become familiar with individual passages and vignettes used in each individual lesson.
 * 6) Plan on allowing for student/teacher conferencing during session 9.

Teaching Timeline and Activities:

 * =====__Session One__:=====
 * [| Snapshots Lesson Plan 1]- Introduction to the genre of vignettes
 * =====__Session Two:__=====
 * [|What's in a Name? Lesson Plan 2] - **Pre-writing activity** to writing vignettes about our names. Contains **discussion prompts.**
 * [|"My Name" Vignette Handout] (If copies of the book are unavailable)
 * =====__Session Three:__=====
 * [|What's in a Name? Lesson Plan 2] - Continue with session two of lesson plan
 * =====__Session Four:__=====
 * [|Figurative Language Lesson Plan 3]- A **grammar lesson** on using figurative language.
 * [|Figurative Language Chart Handout]
 * =====__Session Five:__=====
 * [|Where I'm From Lesson Plan 4] - A **pre-writing activity** to writing vignettes about our homes and/or neighborhoods.
 * =====__Session Six:__=====
 * [|Where I'm From Lesson Plan 4] - Continue with session two of lesson plan
 * __Session Seven:__
 * Day for free-writing and working on additional vignettes
 * Hand out [|"The School on Maple Street" Unit Final Project Handout]
 * Hand out [| "The School on Maple Street" Grading Rubric]
 * Discuss the expectations for the final project.
 * Be sure to point out that these vignettes will be bound and published into a classroom novel entitled __The School on Maple Street__ (or whatever street your school is on...). Also point out that students should feel comfortable sharing their pieces, so they should not write anything that they do not want published in our novel.
 * Allow for in-class time for using prompts on handout for creating vignettes and generating ideas in their writing journals.
 * __Session Eight:__
 * Day for rough drafting and working on vignettes
 * Inform students that the next session will be peer-review time, so vignettes should be mostly complete.
 * Use this time to help students individually with vignette ideas or prompts.
 * __Session Nine:__
 * Day for peer review and teacher conferences.
 * Hand out the Peer Review / Self-Reflection Sheet
 * Have students spend the first twenty minutes of the class session in peer review groups of three to four students. Instruct students to fill out their Peer Review / Self-Reflection Sheets as they receive feedback on their pieces. Have each student read their pieces aloud to their group members and have members write their feedback and give it to their peers. Then, have students fill out their self reflection papers, taking into account the feedback from their peers.
 * Then, call upon individual students to meet with the teacher for a quick meeting about their vignettes and to share what they wrote on their self reflection sheet.
 * __Session Ten:__
 * Day for word processing and finishing
 * Have students type their revised drafts into a word processor and print their final drafts
 * If students want to include pictures, illustrations or other visual elements, have them submit them with their typed vignettes with instructions if necessary.
 * All final drafts are due today. Use the weekend to laminate, bind and finish the classroom novel, and present to the class the following week. It may be a good idea to make more than one copy if possible.