An Island Like You
The purpose of my unit covering the book An Island Like you is to allow students of all backgrounds understand that their heritage and ethnicity matter not only to them, but those that they are surrounded by on a daily basis.
By reading An Island Like you students will learn to understand how living with different cultural backgrounds define the person that you are, and that where you come from does not necessarily guide where you will go. Understanding that everyone is different will enable students to learn about those differences in a safe and comfortable environment.
When talking about the different stories from the book, students will be able to address similar situation in their own lives and come to sympathize with a culture that is not necessarily their own, but one that contains the same problems as their own culture does.
I would certainly incorporate The House on Mango Street in this unit as a supplementary source. Mango Street has the same great qualities as Island. Any student will be able to adjust and incorporate their stories to fit either book.
Themes such as hope, trust, identity, poverty, and friendship are just a few that will be covered in this unit using these two books. Approaching this unit with a cultural studies perspective will allow for a wide variety of topics to be covered.
This unit is specifically set up for 9-12 grade students in a cultural studies based English course. Students will be expected to journal, blog, or write ‘something’ everyday. Writing will be a key aspect to this unit.
As an end assessment, students will develop a presentation to the class that will incorporate their own heritage and cultural background along with correlations from ‘Island’ and ‘Mango Street’.
This unit will last for two weeks with mini assessments and group assignments during those two weeks, culminating in the end project.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Teaching An Island Like You one day lesson
Creating Your Piece of the Island
LENGTH OF LESSON:
2 days
GRADE LEVEL:
9-12
OBJECTIVES:
Students will understand the following:
1. The importance of understanding diversity.
2. Understanding implications of the differences in heritage and ethnicity.
3. Learn the complexities of what every individual brings to the table with them according to their background.
MATERIALS:
An Island Like You
The House on Mango Street
PROCEDURE:
1. Have the students pick a story from ‘Island’ or a chapter from ‘Mango Street’ that they enjoyed or fee that they can relate to.
2. Allow students to get in groups and read or summarize their piece.
3. Students will then formulate their own story by modeling the one that they picked.
Students will have two days to work on this project. Upon completion all stories will be compiled in one final book and given to the students. As a class, students will decide and or vote on a book title.
Extra: Students can also make a visual presentation to show the rest of the class their personal section of the classroom book.
LENGTH OF LESSON:
2 days
GRADE LEVEL:
9-12
OBJECTIVES:
Students will understand the following:
1. The importance of understanding diversity.
2. Understanding implications of the differences in heritage and ethnicity.
3. Learn the complexities of what every individual brings to the table with them according to their background.
MATERIALS:
An Island Like You
The House on Mango Street
PROCEDURE:
1. Have the students pick a story from ‘Island’ or a chapter from ‘Mango Street’ that they enjoyed or fee that they can relate to.
2. Allow students to get in groups and read or summarize their piece.
3. Students will then formulate their own story by modeling the one that they picked.
Students will have two days to work on this project. Upon completion all stories will be compiled in one final book and given to the students. As a class, students will decide and or vote on a book title.
Extra: Students can also make a visual presentation to show the rest of the class their personal section of the classroom book.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
What is your heritage?
I feel that the easiest way to incorporate all heritage differences in a classroom would be to write poetry. The "I am from" poem would be the perfect way to kick of an entire unit on The House on Mango Street. My cultural heritage is from a tree with many many roots. To follow it may get quite confusing. A poem on the other hand, would be easy to follow.
Giving every student the opportunity to tell their story from their own perspective will open up the classroom to be a safe and comfortable environment for the students to continue learning in, while at the same time allowing all students to learn from each other.
I am from gray skys and cold mornings,
without breakfast and very little lunch.
I am from gravel roads with shady trees,
a mile walk to a favorite place.
I am from playing in the woods and getting lost,
alone and with everyone all at the same time.
I am from one older brother who I always fought with,
yet was my best friend because I had no others.
I am from...
This can easily be done with any age level in a classroom. Once every student has their poem the teacher can then make one classroom poem by taking lines from each poem.
Giving every student the opportunity to tell their story from their own perspective will open up the classroom to be a safe and comfortable environment for the students to continue learning in, while at the same time allowing all students to learn from each other.
I am from gray skys and cold mornings,
without breakfast and very little lunch.
I am from gravel roads with shady trees,
a mile walk to a favorite place.
I am from playing in the woods and getting lost,
alone and with everyone all at the same time.
I am from one older brother who I always fought with,
yet was my best friend because I had no others.
I am from...
This can easily be done with any age level in a classroom. Once every student has their poem the teacher can then make one classroom poem by taking lines from each poem.
Tuesday's Panel
I enjoyed the panel on Tuesday very much. Every since I read about El Sol Elementary I have found the school very fascinating. It was great to get an inside glimpse of what it is like to teach there and even more, what it is like to learn there.
Mike was very knowledgeable about El Sol and seemed to really enjoy the experience he had there. Because he was very quick to answer the question we gave him, he was a very reliable source, in my opinion, on what it is like to teach in a bilingual environment.
I hope that Mike succeeds in his plans to work at El Sol. I think the school will have a great asset on their hands with Mike.
It was also fun to see the books in both Spanish and English. Teaching from cultural perspectives can only enhance the students education in all areas.
Great Job
Mike was very knowledgeable about El Sol and seemed to really enjoy the experience he had there. Because he was very quick to answer the question we gave him, he was a very reliable source, in my opinion, on what it is like to teach in a bilingual environment.
I hope that Mike succeeds in his plans to work at El Sol. I think the school will have a great asset on their hands with Mike.
It was also fun to see the books in both Spanish and English. Teaching from cultural perspectives can only enhance the students education in all areas.
Great Job
The House on Mango Street Reflection
I feel like I want to say I hate this book!
I do not really, it is just that it is, to me, so addicting. It is very hard for me to put it down no matter how many times I read it. I carry it everywhere with me so that whenever I have extra time I can read and reread certain chapters and talk about it to random people who see me reading it.
I was sitting in the waiting room at the doctors office one day last week reading Mango Street while waiting for my son to be seen. Three people commented on the fact that they have heard of the book but have never picked it up to read it. Of course I took this opportunity to talk about the book and how it WILL be taught in my classroom. It was very interesting to me to explain Esperanza and her life and friends and family.
I particularly talked about the very short piece on her name. We do not even get her name until the fourth chapter of the book, if you want to call them chapters. I find it very interesting that her name means so much yet so little to her; she wants to be Zeze the X. I think the people in the waiting room thought I was crazy because I talked about the characters in the book as if I knew them. I think that this is one of the reasons it is so 'teachable'.
I feel that we all know characters like the ones on Mango Street; maybe we have even at one point been a character on Mango Street. Nonetheless, everyone at any level can relate to what the characters of Mango Street go through on a daily basis. Mango Street is a perfect book to begin the school year with. By starting the year with Mango Street we open up our classroom to the differences and unique characteristics that everyone brings with them. What a great way to show students that everyone matters, no matter where they are from or what their status in life may be.
In my world Esperanza would have no problems making friends. While she would pitch in to by a bike, she would not have to pay for friends.
Four Skinny Trees:
What is she saying? Despite the location and daily problems of Mango Street, these four trees still made it. I think she looks up to these trees, she wants to be like these trees. No matter what happens to her, she can always have hope that she will make it out of Mango Street and into something better. The trees fight, why can't she.
I feel like I can go on forever about this book, but I will save some for class. That, and it doesn't seem like anyone is reading this anyway so I am writing for myself, which is fine with me, but I would much rather get back to reading more vignettes from Mango Street.
I do not really, it is just that it is, to me, so addicting. It is very hard for me to put it down no matter how many times I read it. I carry it everywhere with me so that whenever I have extra time I can read and reread certain chapters and talk about it to random people who see me reading it.
I was sitting in the waiting room at the doctors office one day last week reading Mango Street while waiting for my son to be seen. Three people commented on the fact that they have heard of the book but have never picked it up to read it. Of course I took this opportunity to talk about the book and how it WILL be taught in my classroom. It was very interesting to me to explain Esperanza and her life and friends and family.
I particularly talked about the very short piece on her name. We do not even get her name until the fourth chapter of the book, if you want to call them chapters. I find it very interesting that her name means so much yet so little to her; she wants to be Zeze the X. I think the people in the waiting room thought I was crazy because I talked about the characters in the book as if I knew them. I think that this is one of the reasons it is so 'teachable'.
I feel that we all know characters like the ones on Mango Street; maybe we have even at one point been a character on Mango Street. Nonetheless, everyone at any level can relate to what the characters of Mango Street go through on a daily basis. Mango Street is a perfect book to begin the school year with. By starting the year with Mango Street we open up our classroom to the differences and unique characteristics that everyone brings with them. What a great way to show students that everyone matters, no matter where they are from or what their status in life may be.
In my world Esperanza would have no problems making friends. While she would pitch in to by a bike, she would not have to pay for friends.
Four Skinny Trees:
What is she saying? Despite the location and daily problems of Mango Street, these four trees still made it. I think she looks up to these trees, she wants to be like these trees. No matter what happens to her, she can always have hope that she will make it out of Mango Street and into something better. The trees fight, why can't she.
I feel like I can go on forever about this book, but I will save some for class. That, and it doesn't seem like anyone is reading this anyway so I am writing for myself, which is fine with me, but I would much rather get back to reading more vignettes from Mango Street.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Book choice for final project
For my final project I am choosing to read "An Island Like You" by Judith Ortiz Cofer.
This book is made up of twelve stories that focus on the lives of Puerto Rican teenagers living in New Jersey. Living between two different cultures, these teens must find their place in the world.
I feel that this book will have a great influence on all students of every cultural background. No matter who you are or where you are from there has been a time in everyone's life when you felt like you did not fit and and needed to try harder or change something to be accepted.
This book will explore exactly those issues that face almost every teenager today.
"The title for An Island Like You came from a poem the author wrote that gave her "the crucial image" for the book: that of herself as a child, alone but surrounded by other people. She realized that that is what adolescence is -- "you're separating yourself from others and realizing that you are indeed an island. And that doesn't mean you're isolated; it simply means that your choices ... are yours."
Preparing Culturally Responsive Teachers
"That our differences make us unique and valuable must be a theme running through teacher education programs and into our schools" (p. 239).
How amazing would it be to embrace all of the diversity in our classrooms and be able to accept everyone for who they are. It seems like this would be a common sense statement, but yet it seems that from this article more teachers are turning a blind eye to the differences, acting as if they do not exist. This causes a real problem, not only for the students essentially being ignored, but for the rest of the students in the classroom who never get to learn about the different cultures they are around on a daily basis.
I really think that every teacher should have a copy of the six characteristics of cultreatlurally responsive teachers. Just by reading the characteristics, teachers can see where they stand in the culturally responsive scale.
Simply by educating the teachers on how to be culturally diverse makes a difference in how the teachers view the daily activities in his/her classroom. Even though some topics may be controversial, teachers will have the knowledge and ability to deal with these issues when or even before they arise.
While I greatly agree with this article, I feel that most teachers do care about students and their education. Through learning other cultures and become diverse, teachers will better be equipped to work with all students and teach them using cultural studies perspectives.
The biggest problem I see with a program such as this is the follow through. Once the teachers begin to teach with a new perspective how long will it last? In my opinion there would need to be some type of follow up with the teachers on a periodic basis to assure that they are still understanding the purpose of teaching with a cultural studies perspective.
I feel that it is important to understand all cultures in order to understand how to be an affective teacher to all students. At the same time, it is very interesting to learn about multiple cultures and be able to teach from the perspective of other cultural beliefs and understandings.
How amazing would it be to embrace all of the diversity in our classrooms and be able to accept everyone for who they are. It seems like this would be a common sense statement, but yet it seems that from this article more teachers are turning a blind eye to the differences, acting as if they do not exist. This causes a real problem, not only for the students essentially being ignored, but for the rest of the students in the classroom who never get to learn about the different cultures they are around on a daily basis.
I really think that every teacher should have a copy of the six characteristics of cultreatlurally responsive teachers. Just by reading the characteristics, teachers can see where they stand in the culturally responsive scale.
Simply by educating the teachers on how to be culturally diverse makes a difference in how the teachers view the daily activities in his/her classroom. Even though some topics may be controversial, teachers will have the knowledge and ability to deal with these issues when or even before they arise.
While I greatly agree with this article, I feel that most teachers do care about students and their education. Through learning other cultures and become diverse, teachers will better be equipped to work with all students and teach them using cultural studies perspectives.
The biggest problem I see with a program such as this is the follow through. Once the teachers begin to teach with a new perspective how long will it last? In my opinion there would need to be some type of follow up with the teachers on a periodic basis to assure that they are still understanding the purpose of teaching with a cultural studies perspective.
I feel that it is important to understand all cultures in order to understand how to be an affective teacher to all students. At the same time, it is very interesting to learn about multiple cultures and be able to teach from the perspective of other cultural beliefs and understandings.
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