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

This is Home to Me

What is my home? What is your home? Why is home so important? This is home to me.  My house is my home. The house I have grown up in and have lived in for my whole life. This is home to me.

This is where I grew up, where I took my first step, where I had my first Christmas, and where I had many good times with my family. This is home to me. My home is on top of a hill with a large backyard and frontyard, where I have made many memories with my family. Home is my favorite place to be.  

When I talk to my friends they say that their home is somewhere other than where they grew up or spent most of their time at, but my home is truly special.  In my house is where I belong, it is also where I am most comfortable. My house is home to me. 

My home is made of bricks and can be seen from the street. It has many windows, so we can see from all angles of the house. We have a large garage that can fit three cars. There are five bedrooms and mine is on top of the garage. There are three stories to my house with a bedroom on the fourth floor. The attic is right above my room and is very hard to get into because of how high it is in my room. We have a large driveway that is steep and long, it makes a great hill for when there is snow on the ground. Around my house are many large trees that are very tall and are covered in leaves. There is a large living room where my family gets together and hangs out. In our backyard we have a large stone patio where my extended family comes to hang out by a fire pit. This is home to me. 

My whole family plays sports, so on the weekends we will go outside and play football, soccer, basketball, and lacrosse to get active and spend time with others in my family. This is home to me. Whenever someone has a game in my family we will go to the game and watch it together and cheer on the person who is playing. This is home to me. 

~ Tyler L.

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