Potomac's eighth grade English students read and discuss The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. The book is a series of short vignettes that together capture the characters, setting, and stories of a particular neighborhood in Chicago. The vignettes are written from the perspective of a fictional narrator and are based loosely on Cisneros's own experiences as well as those of her students. Some of the vignettes are humorous or action-packed; some are heart-wrenching or shocking. All are deliberate in their use of figurative language, poetic elements, grammar conventions, and pacing.Each eighth grader composed at least one vignette for inclusion in this digital collection. They wrote in the style of Sandra Cisneros, as they interpreted it based on their notes and our class discussions, yet they set it in a time and place of their own choosing. While some of these vignettes are based on the author's personal experience, many of them are purely fiction, an imagining of characters and circumstances that seemed ripe for this assignment. Students also used this assignment to experiment with new vocabulary words and techniques involving punctuation and sentence structure.We encourage you to leave comments below vignettes that strike you in some way. Please keep your comments positive and specific; this is not the place for critiques or suggestions. Enjoy the creativity and vibrancy of these students' literary efforts.
A Big Change
The first year my family moved to Virginia we had no idea what to expect from the weather. Back home in California it was around 70゜and sunny almost all year long. However, in Virginia we experienced some things we’d never experienced before. We moved to Virginia in the winter of 2010 when it received record breaking snow around 2 feet. Never before had we lived in such freezing temperatures as those first months, or missed 2 weeks of school because of the snow. Next, came the spring. Although spring was about the same temperature as California, the rain and humidity made it feel like a tropical island. One week, we got so much rain that the stream in our backyard overflowed and carried away anything in it’s path, including our neighbors fence. The biggest change in the summer though, was the extreme heat and bugs. Although California is hot, it doesn’t reach the temperatures that Virginia does and isn't nearly as humid. This intense humidity mixed in with annoying gnats and mosquitoes made it a summer to remember. Now that I have lived in Virginia for a few years now, I have grown accustomed to the weather. It may not beat the perfect sunny days of California, but sometimes a little change is good.
~ Jack R.
My Peer editing should get u a Pulitzer award
ReplyDeleteYour writing shows me that it was hard for you to move and it was very different to what you were used to. it was good writing and it gave good information.
ReplyDeleteGood descriptions of your struggle to change
ReplyDeleteI think your comparison between Virginia and California is very interesting. I did not know that Virginia gets hotter and more humid than California.
ReplyDeleteYour writing really shows how much of a struggle it was.
ReplyDeleteVirginia is better than Cali, not matter what
ReplyDeleteRack, that must have been a tough transition.
ReplyDelete