- For students to think about and examine different cultures and perspectives.
- For students to explore and talk about their own culture and experiences.
- To better understand Hispanic culture, and the issues that Hispanic adolescents face.
Lesson Plan Title: Examining the Adolescent Cultural Experience through the Hispanic Viewpoint
Book Being Used: Jesse By Gary Soto
Supplementary Texts Used: The House on Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros
Level of the Classroom: 7th-9th grades
Activities:
The main activities for this project will center around the books, Jesse and The House on Mango Street. Each text is very different; in the way that they are actually written, as well as in the stories and characters that they tell about. However, certain aspects of each text (the aspect of Hispanic culture, the adolescent experience, problems of poverty and abuse, the use of Spanish language) are very similar. Students will closely read and examine each text, exploring each individually, as well as comparing and contrasting the two.
Detailed Plan of How You Will Teach this Material:
Reading Questions:
While going through the chapters, students will be asked questions to provoke further thought about the reading. The material must be read in order to answer the questions, however their purpose is not to "catch" students who are not reading, but rather to get students to think more deeply about the literature and to fuel a more rich classroom discussion.
Here are some sample questions:
1. What problems do Jesse and Abel avoid by living on their own, rather than with their mother and stepfather? What problems do they introduce?
2. Why does Jesse think that it is a bad idea to get involved with Glenda?
3. What are some of the occupational hardships faced by farmworkers like Jesse and Abel?
4. Abel advises Jesse that "love comes with a price." What does Jesse experience that makes him believe this is true?
5. Having left high school a year early to attend community college, Jesse feels he is sort of in limbo. What happens that makes him believe that he belongs in college? What happens that makes him fell as though he was not yet ready to leave high school?
Character Poems
This is an exercise that I would ask students to do for each book. For both Jesse and The House on Mango Street students would make a poem about Jesse and Esperanza. Students may also choose to write a character poem about a different person from the novels.
Instuctions:
Step 1: Write quickly, without stopping, for several minutes about a character from the novel.
Step 2: From your prewriting, select responses to compose the following lines. Always feel free to add other ideas.
Line 1: Write the character's name, Line 2: Write 3 or 4 descriptive words about this character, Line 3: Make a comparison between the person and a non-human object. Use the words "like" or "as," Line 4: Identify something for which this persons stands out or is remembered for, Line 5: Tell why the person did what he/she did, Line 6: Refer to the person without using his/her real name.
Step 3: Read what you have written and make any nessecary changes for clarity. Poetry creates an image, not a complete picture. Share your poem with others.
A sample poem:
Jesse
Young, Determined, Thoughtful
Like the calm after the storm
Working toward a better life
Because he deserves more
A dreamer.
How the book is being presented:
Jesse is written in narrative form, told through the point of view of its title character. He is a seventeen year old boy, living in Fresno, California in the 1960's. Jesse and his 19 year old brother, Abel, recently moved away from home to get away from their drunk and abusive stepfather. They are both enrolled in Junior College, and do hard farm work on the weekends to make ends meet. The question surrounding this book: can Jesse overcome the odds and things working against him in his life to make it on his own?
The House on Mango Street is written much differently, is short vignettes, told by Esperanza, who is working to come the oppression present in her daily life on Mango Street in Chicago. Like Jesse, Esperanza wants more for herself and out of life. She does not want to settle like so many around her seem to be.
Themes I would pull from the two books are obviously the Hispanic cultural aspects present. Both books, Jesse in particular, use Spanish words and language in places that draw and speak directly to the culture. I do not want to portray the Hispanic culture of one that is poor and should be escaped, but rather as something that is to be celebrated. Although these two particular Hispanic adolescents are having a rough time, they are working to make themselves, and their culture, proud. Jesse fights for his people through rallies supporting the rights of farmworkers who are often taken advantage of as cheap labor. Esperanza writes about her experiences beautifully and creativly in a way that should be inspiring to all.
Assessment: