English 7,8 - Culturally Relevant Mexican American Viewpoint - Grade 12

ENGLISH 7, 8 CULTURALLY RELEVANT MEXICAN AMERICAN VIEWPOINT: GRADE 12
CURRICULUM NOT ADOPTED
Course Scope and Sequence: As an extension of the eleventh-grade survey course, this course delves into eight recurring themes or genres within the growing canon of Mexican American literature: La Familia; El Barrio; Self-discovery; Racial Identity; Navigating Between Languages; Detective Fiction; Scars of War; and El Jale. Of course, other themes appear within those major topics, such as the beauty and heartbreak of love, the concept of mestizaje, the possibilities for interracial/interethnic friendships, and the ways in which the writers reflect and or transcend the cultures from which they come. Discussions will focus on some of the following questions: Should ones identity evolve over timewhy or why not? How might Americas changing demographics affect our notions of race and ethnicity? What does it mean to act white? What do the authors of our readings suggest are the implications of forgetting ones roots? Does acknowledging injustice in America make one unpatriotic? Students will articulate their thoughts and analyses by writing expository, analytical and creative essays. Additionally, students will become conversant with the language of literary analysis and rhetoric, including figurative language, diction, style, syntax, and tone. Finally, students will keep a dialectic journal and engage in Socratic Seminars and Book Talks. I. La Familia Enduring Understanding: The theme of family appears regularly in works by Mexican American authors, but it is clear from their accounts that family means different things to different people, even within the Mexican American community. It can be the extended family, the nuclear family, the fragmented family separated by divorce or by deportation, the family disintegrating from the crush of poverty, the interracial family, the family composed of a support group, or of comrades in arms. And aspiring to live the American Dream may require sacrificing the family values traditionally nurtured in the barrio.
Examples of Lesson Objectives: Students will 1. Examine the depictions of family in assigned works (e.g., Ana Castillos poem A Marriage of Mutes; Alfredo Veas novel La Maravilla; and Alicia Gaspar de Albas poem Carmens Song) and construct a definition of family in terms of what family members feel about one another rather than simply their genetic relationships. 2. After reading a scholarly article about contemporary changes in family structure, discuss how family history is being preserved in their own families; and compose a journal entry about personal experiences they would want recorded for future generations. 3. View and discuss the film Mi Familia, and then write a review that includes discussion of the setting, plot, characters, and themes. 4. Select one family from our readings and discuss how it seems to respond to the stresses and trauma of life (e.g., the David Rice short stories, Building a Mountain and Cutting Away; or the Ricardo Snchez poem, Conoc tu realidad, hijito. 5. View the video Viva La Familia on youtube and debate the
Common Core State Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.3 Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 1112 topics, texts, and issues, building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard
TUCSON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
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idea of romanticizing family life. Are children within a family always treated equally? (e.g., the lighter skinned, the more academic, the more athletic, the better-looking, the first born.) 6. Create a PowerPoint presentation featuring a timeline of events to convey how the family in a novel changes over time. 7. Prepare a survey of family values to administer to older members of their families, and analyze & share the survey results with the class.
English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
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II. El Barrio Enduring Understanding: To a significant extent, the neighborhoods where we are raised invariably determine important parts of our lives. All of us will have our memories of childhood, of our childhood friends and childhood experiences, set against the backdrop of the neighborhood in which we grew up. Those who spend their childhoods in a barrio may remember the pain resulting from addictions, poverty and violence, but for many others the barrio means backyard barbecues, piatas full of candy, tamales at Christmas, playing tag in the streets, and abrazos de los abuelos. The two contrasting aspects of the barrioslum and sanctuarycreate a complex reality.
Examples of Lesson Objectives: Students will 1. Engage in close readings of novels, short stories, and poetry, focusing on the way the authors create images of the barrio (e.g., Gary Sotos poems Oranges and Ode to the Raspado and excerpts from his Living Up the Street: Narrative recollections; selections from Luis Rodrguezs The Concrete River; and from Carmen Tafollas Sonnets to Human Beings and Other Selected Works). 2. Evaluate how effectively an author can portray contrasting aspects of the barrio (e.g., two stories with dramatically different tones from David Rices Give the Pig a Chance: The Canal and Sapos). 3. Read and discuss La Calle: Spatial Conflicts and Urban Renewal in a Southwest City by Lydia R. Otero, keeping a KL-F chart during the assignment (What students knew, what they learned, what they felt in response to the learninga reflection, connection, or evaluation.) 4. Use the film A Better Life as one example of the way barrios are portrayed in mainstream media. 5. Read and respond analytically to the Huffington Post review written by Johnathan Prez, which both praises and criticizes aspects of the film. 6. Develop a thesis statement and make a persuasive argument about the nature of the neighborhoods where they grew up. 7. Employ research to justify their theses and prove their points, citing reliable sources. 8. Participate constructively in peer-review sessions. 9. Organize a group project to identify one aspect of their neighborhood that needs improvement, prepare an action plan, and carry out the effort.
Common Core State Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the authors choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.5 Analyze how an authors choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.2 Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
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III. Self-discovery Enduring Understanding: Stories about growing up and reaching adulthood are basic to literatures from across the world, and since the 1970s, represent an important theme in Mexican American fiction and biography. These works trace the complexand often, painfulprocess of growing beyond childhood and adolescence, a process that involves self-discovery and the development of self-identity.
Examples of Lesson Objectives: Students will 1. Read aloud and discuss the following quotation from Mark Twain: When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years. 2. Write a journal entry, keeping the Twain quote in mind, addressing the issue of self-discovery: how has your understanding of your personal strengths and weaknesses evolved over time, and what kind of person are you today? 3. After reading Jimmy Santiago Bacas Crying Poem, respond to the idea that boys dont cry by discussing their views about what it means to truly be a man. 4. Compare the coming-of-age process described by Luis Rodriguez in Always Running to the one described by Sandra Cisneros in The House on Mango Street or by Victor Martinez in Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida. 5. Explain how the use of a dead narrator affects the reader and whether Gary Soto makes effective use of such an unusual literary device in his short novel The Afterlife. 6. Debate, using examples from assigned readings and from their own life experiences, whether it is harder for girls or for boys to enter adulthood; or whether or not it is beneficial for high school students to work part-time as a way of gaining work experience and a practical sense of the adult world. 7. List some of the methods of disciplining children used by the protagonists parents in the assigned readings, and evaluate their effectiveness. 8. Write several lines of additional dialogue or an entire scene that could be added to the movie Quinceaera so as to enhance the accuracy of the movies portrayal of high-school age characters.
Common Core State Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.6 Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.5 Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.8 Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.3 Evaluate a speakers point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.6 Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
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IV. Racial Identity Enduring Understanding: Race is a major factor affecting our lives. Our careers, our economic prospects, our image of ourselves, our perception of others all these and many more aspects of our daily lives are influenced by the idea of race. Yet race has no biological underpinning, no scientific validity. It is an invention created by society and supported by powerful psychological, economic and legal forces.
Examples of Lesson Objectives: Students will 1. Use an authoritative article about the development of the concept of race (e.g., In a Race All Their Own: The Quest to Make Mexicans Ineligible for U.S. Citizenship by Natalia Molina, or The Social Construction of Race: Some Observations on Illusion, Fabrication, and Choice by Ian Haney-Lpez) as the basis for an essay about your understanding of racism in the U.S. 2. Articulate the meaning and implications of the following terms: social construct, racial passing, miscegenation, eugenics, and pure blood. 3. View and discuss the youtube video Mickey Mouse Monopoly. 4. Read excerpts from Nobodys Son by Luis Alberto Urrea and the novel Mexican Whiteboy by Matt De La Pea. 5. Discuss the reasons why some peoplewhether they be Mexican American, African American, European American, Native American or Asian Americanchoose to either ignore or embrace their racial and ethnic heritage. Refer to selections from class readings (i.e., Sergio Troncosos Crossing Borders: Personal Essays; and Michele Serross poem, Johnwannabechicano). 6. After viewing a clip from the film Selena, examine how some of the Mexican American characters in the assigned readings struggle to establish their identity (e.g., the name they choose to be called, the way they dress or speak, the language they use). 7. Watch and analyze selected clips from Hollywood movies depicting interracial marriages involving Mexican Americans (e.g., Fools Rush In and Our Family Wedding). Do such movies reinforce or counteract preconceived notions about race?
Common Core State Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the authors choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.6 Determine an authors point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating a command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
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8. Personally reflect on their ideas about acting white, acting black, or acting brown to assimilating into a perceived status group (perhaps exploring why some African refugees in Tucson public schools have begun to use both English and Spanish).
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V. Navigating Between Languages Enduring Understanding: Mexican American literature is predominantly written in English, but a substantial number of authors produce works in Spanish or use both English and Spanish. (Of course, the literature may appear in both languages through translation.) Which language is chosen and how it is used may carry a political as well as artistic meaning, and bilingual Mexican Americans presume the right to use either language, not only because of constitutional guarantees to freedom of speech, but also because it is a valued cultural heritage. While some contemporary proponents of English-only policies and antibilingual education measures may see Spanish as a threat to the supremacy of Anglo-American culture, such fears are only the latest in a long line of tensions between the Spanish-speaking and the English-speaking world, dating back centuries and sometimes referred to as the Black Legend.
Examples of Lesson Objectives: Students will 1. Discuss Gloria Anzaldas essay How to Tame a Wild Tongue. 2. Compare Anzaldas sense of herself as a bilingual person to that of narrator in Carmen Tafollas poem Right in One Language. 3. Read the New York Times article Immigrationand the Curse of the Black Legend by Tony Horwitz. 4. Read the play and view the film version of Shakespeares Othello, focusing on the two characters with Spanish namesIago and Rodrigoand discuss how Shakespeare may have intentionally drawn on the Black Legend in forming the characters, especially in making Iago the most villainous of his creations. 5. Compare the history of the English and the Spanish languages as summarized in the document A Comparative History of Americas Top Two Languages, and research the commonalities and differences that exist between the two tongues. 6. Write a position paper explaining your views about the use of Spanish in the U.S. under the First Amendment. Provide a brief historical background, and include discussion of the economic, legal, social and political implications of such usage. 7. Discuss how works of Mexican American literature sometimes employ varieties of English and Spanish for comedic, nostalgic or other emotional effect (e.g., the short story Chavalo Encanicado by George Meneses; the poem English Con Salsa by Gina Valds.
Common Core State Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.7 Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one by a U.S. dramatist.) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.8 Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.9 Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenthcentury foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (including The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Lincolns Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience,
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8. Critique an example of Chicanesque literature that contains dialog (i.e., Danny Santiagos novel Famous All Over Town) and discuss whether the author accurately captures the language used by Mexican Americans. 9. Read the Los Angeles Times article about Chicano English: East L.A. speaks from its heart.
and a range of formal and informal tasks. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
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VI. Detective Fiction Enduring Understanding: Among the general public, detective fiction is perhaps the most popular of all genres. Although elements of such stories can be traced to ancient literature, the creation of true detective fiction is commonly attributed to Edgar Allen Poe, and one of the most famous characters in all of literature is Arthur Conan Doyles Sherlock Holmes. Since the early 1990s a number of Mexican American authors have produced novels featuring the exploits of fictional sleuths.
Examples of Lesson Objectives: Students will 1. Read and discuss an excerpt from Edgar Allan Poes The Murders in the Rue Morgue. 2. List the major features of the mystery novel and some of the characteristics of the subgenre of detective fiction. 3. Compare the way one Mexican American author introduces the mystery in a contemporary detective novel to the way an author from a different ethnic group does it. What similar techniques do they use to interest the reader in the mystery? (e.g., Rudolfo Anayas Zia Summer and J.A. Jances Skeleton Canyon). 4. Discuss the ways in which two of the assigned authors use their protagonists to reflect aspects of Mexican American culture (i.e., Manuel Ramoss protagonist, Luis Montez, in The Ballad of Gato Guerrero and Michael Navas protagonist, Henry Ros, in Rag and Bone). 5. Write an opening scene for a murder mystery in such a way as to draw the reader into the story. Include dialog and either a Mexican American protagonist or victim. 6. Explain the following terms: Film noir, hardboiled, inverted detective story, cozy mysteries, private eye, whodunit, and police procedural. 7. Research newspaper articles about the serial murders that took place in Ciudad Jurez, Chihuahua, in the 1990s and debate the plausibility of the theory put forth by Alicia Gaspar de Alba about the identity of the murderers in her novel Desert Blood: The Jurez Murders.
Common Core State Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.5 Analyze how an authors choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.9 Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenthand early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.3 Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.5 Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.
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VII. Feminist Voices Enduring Understanding: Although Mexican American literature has been enriched by the voices of women from the earliest period (e.g., personal narratives from the 1870s written by such women as Eulalia Prez and Apolinaria Lorenzana), there is no question that women have been historically relegated to an inferior status in traditional Mexican and Chicano culture. Moreover, the struggle for equitable educational opportunity has been especially arduous for Mexican American women. By the end of the 1990s, however, an unprecedented number of Mexican American women had achieved success as novelists, poets, and playwrights. Whether creating new dramatic forms, such as the fusion of drama and poetic texts, or fiercely challenging patriarchal definitions of women and their sexuality, women in contemporary Mexican American literature can no longer be consigned to a secondary status.
Examples of Classroom Objectives: Students will 1. Discuss and compare the challenges faced by Mexican Americans in general, by women in general, and by Mexican American women in particularly, specifying the differences among the groups. 2. Decide, after reading and discussing an excerpt from How the Garca Girls Lost Their Accents, whether racism or sexism ranks as the more damaging form of discrimination and defend their reasoning. 3. Address the issue of negative self-image with regard to race and ethnicity, and to the nurturing or lack of nurturing by members of immediate society (i.e., people with whom we are raised) and extended society (i.e., those with whom we have lesser direct contact). 4. Respond in their journals comparing two works addressing the issue of violence against women (e.g., Amrico Paredess short story Macarias Daughter and Wyoming Crossing Thoughts by Ana Castillo). 5. Write a journal entry addressing the way women from different generations and ethnicities have recorded in poetry their personal tragedies (i.e., Anne Bradstreets Upon the Burning of Our House and Alicia Gaspar de Albas Blackjack.) 6. Compare and contrast a variety of works addressing the issue of sexism combined with racism (e.g., Never Mary a Mexican, a short story by Sandra Cisneros, the autobiographical essay Sexism and Reading by Jack Lpez, and A un Desconocido, a poem by Lorna Dee Cervantes and then write an op-ed piece on the plight this issue creates
Common Core State Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the authors choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.6 Determine an authors point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.10 By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 1112 topics, texts, and issues, building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.6 Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating a command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
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for Mexican American women in America. 7. View the movie version of the play Real Women Have Curves, and respond to the question of a double standard: How does the power relationship between men and women define actions that are appropriate for one group but not the other?
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VIII. El Jale Enduring Understanding: Much of literature concerns itself, at least on the surface, with the kind of work the characters do: Whaling in Moby Dick; prospecting in Call of the Wild; picking crops in Grapes of Wrath. In that regard, Mexican American literature is no different, and the literature included in this unit address such jobs as farm work, police work, construction, and brain surgery.
Examples of Lesson Objectives: Students will 1. Select one of the following books to examine the kinds of work that a major character does for a living and describe how the character feels about the work and how the work affects the characters life: Face of an Angel by Denise Chvez; Two Badges: The Lives of Mona Ruiz by Mona Ruiz and Geof Boucher; The Magic of Blood by Dagoberto Gilb; and Snapping Lines by Jack Lpez. 2. Analyze the structure of the poem Promised Lands by Tino Villanueva and explain how the structure adds to the poems meaning. 3. Read the autobiography Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon by Alfredo Quiones-Hinojosa and outline in their journals the journey they anticipate making toward the careers they envision for themselves. 4. Interview a person who performs the kinds of middle-class and professional jobs that experts anticipate being available in the next two decades, and ask specifically about the education levels necessary for securing such work, and what the physical and mental stresses of the job are. 5. Read the poem Annie Says by Michele Serros and respond to it in their journals, discussing how the voices of others have provided encouragement or have discouraged them about their abilities and ambitions. 6. Read and discuss Nickle and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. 7. After reading Jimmy Santiago Bacas poem The Shop, and compose an analytical essay addressing the ideas presented in the poem concerning the inherent value and dignity of manual labor in contrast with the indignity of poverty described in this or other works.
Common Core State Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.5 Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.6 Determine an authors point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.6 Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
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English 7,8 - Culturally Relevant Mexican American Viewpoint - Grade 12

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English 7,8 - Culturally Relevant Mexican American Viewpoint - Grade 12

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ENGLISH 7, 8 CULTURALLY RELEVANT MEXICAN AMERICAN VIEWPOINT: GRADE 12

CURRICULUM NOT ADOPTED

TUCSON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT