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

In My Disgusting Pink Jersey

Me. In my disgusting pink jersey. It’s 3:30, after half-time. I’m at center d, as usual. I run through the other team’s offense.

Shelby, here!

I don’t pass. I take the ball up and past the midfield. A defender challenges me. I kick the ball around her and sprint past her. She gives up. I get the ball past the rest of the defense. Nothing, but an open field between me and the goal. 

Go, Shelby!

I dribble up to the goal and shoot. The ball sails into the upper right corner of the goal. My teammates cheer around me. I smile and run back to my team’s side for kickoff.

~ Shelby M.

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 9, 2015 at 10:54 AM

    You paint a picture so well! good job

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 9, 2015 at 12:49 PM

    Nice Title. You used very vivid and insightful detail in your vignette.

    ReplyDelete

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