Mango House 5 - Born Bad - 62 to 81 Vertext or Group Work

"Everything is waiting to explode like Christmas. I want to be all new and shiny. I want to sit out bad at night..."

Born Bad - pages 62 to 81 - Vertext or Group Work : You may notice there are a lot of Group Works for this Unit. As I said before, that has a lot to do with students taking AP tests during the time we usually read The House on Mango Street - and I needed a way that students could make up the missed class (until we were no longer allowed to even ask students to make it up). But after I started making audio recordings of my class - I discovered that by posting the Vertext (the Power Point presentation with quotes) and the class recording - students could just as easily (and without having to do 5 group works in a row) make up a class discussion as well. I am giving you both the Vertext and the Group Work - I think they are both pretty good - allowing you to choose which one you'll do with your own class. This lesson covers "Elanita, Cards, Palm, Water", "Geraldo No Last Name", "Edna's Ruthie", "The Earl of Tennessee", "Sire", "Four Skinny Trees", "No Speak English", and "Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays".

Lesson Overview

The quiz

Because this reading is a little longer than the others - I counted this for 150, rather than the usual 100 points. If you decide to do the Group Work - and they didn't read - they can't get into a group. See my page on Group Work for more.

The Vertext (Power Point)

See my page on Class Discussions for how to conduct a student-centered Vertext Discussion. The discussion covers 62 to 77 (reserving 78-81 for the next lesson). It starts with "Elenita, Cards, Palm, Water" - and the prediction about a "home in the heart" - which is in many ways the heart of the book. Esperanza doesn't yet realize how true this prediction is - and how it will come to pass, and that is quite simply, the beauty of this novel. Like Esperanza, Sandra Cisneros lets the reader slowly and subtly put the pieces of the puzzle together.

The Vertext ends with "No Speak English". This chapter, perhaps more than any other, deals with Esperanza's identity and the identity of her community - and it is reason enough for why Esperanza must find that "home in the heart".

The Group Work

Please see the actual Group Work below for precisely what's in it and my page on Group Work for more of the "why" do it. Here are some of the points that the Group Work goes over. After they are done with the quiz, they begin the Group Work. Those who did not read should not get into a group. (I always scanned or graded the quizzes immediately while they get started on the GW).

Some main points of the Group Work (see the handout for much more)

Esperanza's first job and her "growing up"
The poem "Autowreck" by Karl Shapiro is first read and analyzed then compared to what they are reading.
Esperanza's guilt that she carries
What is it exactly that Esperanza wants?
More of the guilt and the game that Esperanza played - mimicking those she loved.
Again - an examination of what each chapter's "House" is.

Vertext - pages 62 to 78

Vertext - Pgs 62 -78 "Elenita, Cards, Palm, Water" to "No Speak English" PPTX PDF

Remember - you need to time this so that you get all 27 of the slides, and that every student in the class (unless you have more than 27 students) gets a chance to read one of the quotes. See above for more of the specifics and my page on Class Discussion Techniques for more on Vertexts.

Group Work - Born Bad

Most Recent Handouts

Group Work "Born Bad" pages 52 to 81: Docx PDF

For some specifics on the Group Work, see above in my Lesson Overview - but of course the best place to get details is the Group Work itself - and there is always my page on Group Work for the why and how of it.

Quiz

Most Recent Quiz

Reading Quiz 62-81 ("Elenita..." thru "Rafaela..." : Docx PDF

The quiz is worth 150 points (rather than the usual 100) for two reasons. 1) It's a little bigger than the previous Mango House readings. 2) At the end of the year - seniors can check out if you let them. I never let them. The reading quiz - like most my quizzes - is designed simply to see if the students did the reading - not, if they understood it. As always, I ask the students to first answer if they did the reading or not - if they didn't - they are expected to not guess.

A Sample Reading Page with my notes

Pages 68-69 with my notes - PDF

These are some page with my 30 years of notes. My Vertext & the group work are respectively both generated from the text and my notes - and I'm always looking for connections to what has come before (and what will follow). So much gets added over the years - and of course, as I've stated many times on this site - I believe the teacher should reread every work that they assign to their students and they should stop teaching a text when they see nothing new in it.

Vertext62to81_2015.mp3

Class Recording

(Please download and follow along - and take notes if you are making this up, the Vertext that goes along with this discussion). We begin with Esperanza's fortune telling session - and her not getting the answer that she is looking for. Next, we talk about Geraldo (and a student makes a wonderful connection to another work). We then talk about Ruthie and we all see a surprising connection to someone from this very novel. We end by talking about Earl and his many "wives".

Remote Enhancements

Group Works can be done wonderfully using remote "rooms".

What's Next - UNIT HOMEPAGE

Mango House 6 - You're Not My Daughter - Group Work or Discussion:

When I say discussion - this lesson is that rare Ringmaster Teacher kind of discussion. And since there is only one more lesson for this novel - it is up to you to do today's class as a discussion or as a Group Work - I give both below. This a a very case of the discussion being older than the Group Work and that reflects the reality that teachers were less and less allowed to require attendance and focus at the end of the school year. Today's class covers 82 to 93: "Rafaela Who Drinks Cocounut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays", "Sally", "Minerva Writes Poems", "Beautiful & Cruel", "Bums in the Attic", "A Smart Cookie" and "What Sally Said" - the next chapter on the monkey garden is saved for the next class - as it fits in so well with a retrospective look at the entire book.

WHAT CAME BEFORE:

Mango House 4 - 53 to 61 A Vertext Discussion

Thoughts on the Lesson

I hate that so many students miss the end of the year (especially when they are seniors). I refused, as a teacher, to have throw-away lessons so that it didn't matter if a student missed them. Towards the end of my career - they kept announcing new activities, programs, pep-rallies that meant we would miss a day - or a large percentage of students would miss the class. The only way that I found to deal with it was to make sure the class got recorded, and students were required to listen to that recording. Sigh...