The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the chapter book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially from the vignette entitled "The Four Skinny Trees."
If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.
Teacher Instructions & Lesson Resources :
Pre-step (before sharing the published model): This lesson is a great follow-up to a poetry unit where students have the opportunity to use some of the poetic elements that they have learned. The following terms should be reviewed with the class before getting started: personification, rhyme, rhythm, repetition, alliteration, internal rhyme and end rhyme. I expect my students to imitate Sandra Cisneros’ “Four Skinny Trees,” so I like to make sure that they are knowledgeable of these poetic elements and techniques. A great way to review these elements is to have them label or underline them in “Four Skinny Trees.” Some of these elements are also evident in other vignettes of Cisneros.
Step one (sharing the published model):I like to start this lesson with background on the narrator of The House on Mango Street. That way the students understand that Esperanza is telling her story through a series of vignettes on how she lives in a neighborhood that she really can’t call her own. I usually read “The House on Mango Street” and “My Name.” The students are always interested to hear more once I share these two vignettes. I like to share some of the titles too because they are able to see the great use of word choice that Cisneros uses. It also helps to give a quick explanation of vignette writing.
After reading “Four Skinny Trees,” students will identify the poetic elements and techniques being used. Once I have read this vignette, I have the students write down the definition of prose poetry. I simply tell them that prose poetry appears like paragraphs but reads like poetry because of the elements being used. If the students are given a copy of this vignette, they are able to label the poetic elements that they find and then can come back to it when they get started on their own writing. Just as Esperanza chose four familiar trees in her front yard, students will be asked to choose a familiar object from their home or neighborhood. Sometimes, students will want to write more about their home or neighborhood and they become inspired to write a series of vignettes too.
Step two (introducing student models of writing): In small groups, have your students read and respond to any or all of the student models that come with this lesson. The groups will certainly talk about the word choice, since that's the focus of this lesson, but you might also have your students talk about the voice in the writing too.
We're looking for student samples for other grade levels for this prompt! Help us get some, and we'll send you a free resource for your classroom! Contact us at publish@writingfix.com for details.
Step three (thinking and pre-writing): The interactive word game on the Student Instructions Page will help students to think of human characteristics that they can apply to their familiar object. In “Four Skinny Trees,” Cisneros uses a lot of personification, so I usually have my students really focus on that poetic element. It is a great way to get them started on their writing and using figurative language.
The graphic organizer gives the students the opportunity to get their ideas organized. They will need to know their one object that they will be writing about. On the graphic organizer they will need to create at least 3 similes comparing their object to other un-like objects. In the last box, they will need to take human characteristics and apply them to their chosen object. They can make a list or begin writing sentences that they will use in their prose poem.
Each student’s task is to take their familiar object and write a prose poem. They can tell a story about the object or even have a message about life in relation to their object. In “Four Skinny Trees,” the reader can make the connection between the “secret strength” of the trees and the way that they “teach” Esperanza to not give up and to “reach” like the trees do for something better. Although the skinny trees may be weak with “skinny necks” and “pointy elbows,” Esperanza knows that they still stand tall and can grow “despite the concrete.”
Step four (revising with specific trait language): To promote response and revision to rough draft writing, attach WritingFix's Revision and Response Post-Its to your students' drafts. Make sure the students rank their use of the trait-specific skills on the Post-Its, which means they'll only have one "1" and one "5." Have them commit to ideas for revision based on their Post-It rankings. For more ideas on WritingFix's Revision & Response Post-Its, click here.
Step five (editing for conventions): After students apply their revision ideas to their drafts and re-write neatly, require them to find an editor. If you've established a "Community of Editors" among your students, have each student exchange his/her paper with multiple peers. With yellow high-lighters in hand, each peer reads for and highlights suspected errors for just one item from the Editing Post-it. The "Community of Editors" idea is just one of dozens and dozens of inspiring ideas that is talked about in detail in the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Workbook for Teachers.
Step six (publishing for the portfolio): When they are finished revising and have second drafts, invite your students to come back to this piece once more during an upcoming writer's workshop block. Their stories might become a longer story, a more detailed piece, or the beginning of a series of pieces about the story they started here. Students will probably enjoy creating an illustration for this story as they get ready to publish it for their portfolios.
Interested in publishing student work on-line? We invite student writers to post final drafts of their original at WritingFix's Community of Student Writers. This is a safe-to-use blog for students and teachers. No writing is posted until it is approved by the moderator. Contact us at publish@writingfix.com if you have questions about getting your students published.
Learn more about author Sandra Cisneros by clicking here.
