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.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Georgia

I visit my grandmas house in Georgia once or twice a year, everything there is beautiful; the trees, the grass, the buildings,for most of the year it will make you feel like you're in summer no matter what month it is. The only place that even when it’s raining it’s still enjoyable. Every part of the five mile island is new and different, tennis courts, pools, the beach. I never get sick of it, even if some parts of it feel like it’s been there since forever. Every once in awhile they’ll add a new piece; A waterslide, a movie theater, a candy store. Whatever it is I’ll relish it no matter when or where on the island it is, I always enjoy it.

 ~ Matt Gi.

2 comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)