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

Basically Famous

Stepping up to the edge of the pool. New suit, new season. Freestyle. Such an easy stroke. 25y freestyle, even easier. Swimming was so much better than, shorter distance races, easier practices, and most importantly, less swimming. 25y freestyle has always been my best race. But this time was like no other.

They called, “Take your mark.” 

I heard the beep. 

15.48 seconds later I hit the wall. A new county record. 

I didn’t even know I was close to getting it. I got out of the water and asked my time. I checked the program to see if I had gotten a pool record or a team record. Never would I have guessed that I would get the county record. I was overjoyed. Everyone kept congratulating me, and telling me how well I did. It was amazing. 

Backstroke came next. New team record. I was already used to that. But, then came fly. I was a good butterflyer, but I never thought I was great. I never breathe in 25y fly. I just never have to. I touched the wall. And yet again, another county record. Two in one day. I never thought I could do that. But I did. 

For months after that day, everywhere I went people knew who I was. I even had an article written about me. It was so crazy to know that so many people knew who I was and recognized how hard I was working. I was basically famous.

~ Megan S.

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