The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. I usually start the year off with this with the younger grades. It is about a girl whose coming-of-age comes with curiosity and challenges with her identity. Students will relate to this as Esperanza’s (es-peh-RUHN-zuh) vignettes might remind them of a time when they discovered who they are or when dealing with social challenges. As part of their final lesson, I have my students create a drawing of themselves on who they are. They can be as creative as they want and if they want to do an abstract drawing, more power to them! I encourage them to fill out the entire paper with their drawings. The final part is to create their own personal vignette on a separate piece of paper (or typed out on a blank doc of their choice), and I look it over for approval. Once they get the green light, they write their vignettes on top of their drawings and later trace the words in black permanent marker (or some thing bold that will make their words stand out).
Lessons I teach: character development, figurative devices used in the vignettes, author’s purpose/message. Background context: red-lining, stereotyping/microaggressions End of unit project: self-portrait with a vignette using figurative devices.
AAPI Teacher 