Sarah Farish
CI 403 Final Project
When I Was Peurto Rican – week 3 (prologue, chapters 1-3), lesson plan 2
TITLE
Our Own Guavas: Comparing Our Personal Stories to Negi’s in When I Was Puerto
Rican
TIME
This lesson is set for a 50-minute class period.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
In Lemov’s book Teach Like A Champion he writes about the importance of
proximity. “Getting near students to stress accountability and eliminate behavior
problems” (85). Since this class has students with special needs and ESL students
proximity is really important. As a teacher I need to be watchful and keep myself
really ingratiated in the classroom and make sure that the students are following
with the material. A lot of this lesson includes a presentation, which will be
especially difficult for the ESL students. In Aria Razfar’s article “Narrating Beliefs” on
second language instruction Razfar talks about the importance of narratives in
second language instruction. “Narrative analysis, especially the analysis of emergent
narratives, has the potential to give insight into the process and practice of beliefs
and to the more ‘unresolved’ issues and tensions teachers of ELs and immigrants
struggle with on a daily basis” (p. 62). This lesson uses narratives and the analysis of
them in language instruction, to this will help the ESL students.
BACKGROUND/FOREGROUND
In the previous lesson taught the day before the students studied the prologue and
how Negi used the story of the guava to make a greater point about her identity. The
students are bringing in objects today that represent themselves and giving a brief
presentation to the class.
This is linked to the theme of “coming of age” that the students are exploring as they
read both Catcher in the Rye and When I Was Puerto Rican. As the students continue
reading When I Was Puerto Rican they will link to this activity as Negi explores her
identity and learns more about herself. Similarly by selecting an object to represent
themselves the students will learn more about themselves.
OBJECTIVES
1. Students will practice public speaking by giving a short presentation to their
classes on their objects.
2. They will answer questions to a worksheet on chapter 1, which they will read
in class.
3. Students will also demonstrate classroom citizenship by listening attentively
and taking notes on presentations.
4. They can earn participation points for doing this.
MATERIALS
 Writer’s notebooks
 Presentation objects (students provide)
 Worksheet on chapter 1
 When I Was Puerto Rican books
 Notebook paper for student notes
PREPARATION
Student notebooks need to be distributed and set out. The classroom desks will be
set up in a circle so that the presentation can be clearer. Photocopies of the
worksheets need to be made. The books also need to be collected and ready to
distribute to students.
PROCEDURE
Intro (7 minutes)
Students will enter the classroom and write a response to the quickwrite in their
writer’s notebooks. The prompt question asks for students to write a paragraph (5-7
sentences) on their object explaining what it is and why they brought it. This will
prepare them for their presentations.
Presentations (33 minutes)
I will quickly explain the presentations of the students’ objects and ask them to
present. I will tell the students that they must take notes on at least 5 of their peers’
presentations. They must write down the objects and what they took away from the
others’ presentations. These notes will be collected for participation points. Each
student will then have a turn to show their object and explain how it represents
them. They will also have to explain how it relates to them the way that the guava
relates to Negi in When I Was Puerto Rican.
Closure (10 minutes)
The students will end by beginning to read the first chapter of When I Was Puerto
Rican. They will be given a worksheet with several discussion questions. What they
do not finish in class they must read and complete for class tomorrow as homework.
DISCUSSION IDEAS
These are the questions for the chapter 1 worksheet.
1. Why did Negi’s Mami put VapoRub on her fingers?
a. She burned them touched a hot can of lard
2. How does Negi describe her Mami throughout this chapter?
a. Student discrection. Strict disciplinarian, impatient, beautiful, uses a lot
of figurative language and describes her very vividly physically on page
8. Compassionate and warm after Negi gets bitten by the termites.
3. What are Negi’s living conditions like?
a. Dirt floor, not very nice, they live in poverty
4. What happens to Negi when she doesn’t listen to her mom?
a. She gets covered in termites
5. What is the effect of using Spanish words in the book? How does that impact
you as a reader?
a. Student’s answer
6. Why do you think she chose to use Spanish so much in this book?
a. Student response
7. How did Negi get her name?
a. Her dark skin when she was a child
8. Who was Delsa?
a. Her sister
9. What is Negi’s relationship with her parents like?
a. Loving, but strained. Student response
10. What happens at the end of the chapter? What is your prediction for the rest
of the book?
LANGUAGES/ACCOMODATIONS
It might be harder for the ESL students to do their presentations on their objects to
the class, but the public speaking component will be helpful for them in the long run.
It will increase their confidence and public speaking skills. I will grade the students
who are second language speakers with the knowledge that English isn’t their first
language and I will also allow them to use phrases from their first language in their
presentations. Since the worksheet is homework that they can take home
afterwards they should be okay since they have extra time.
SPECIAL EDUCATION ACCOMODATIONS
The students with special education accommodations will be graded a little
differently on their presentations. They will still be expected to complete all the
assignments, however there will be consideration given for their situations. I will
make sure that they understand the assignments and are working towards
completing them, and if they have trouble I will work with them before school or
after school the night before. The student with the hearing impairment will be
excused from writing notes on the presentations, and instead I will ask him after
class or after school to briefly give me an oral summary of a couple of presentations.
ASSESSMENT
The assessments in this lesson are the notes on the oral presentations and the
quickwrite. The questions from the worksheet will be considered assessments for
the next day because they will be turned in on that day.
The quickwrite grading scale is checks – check plus for a good job, check for
complete but not adequate, and check minus if in adequate work.
The Exit slip is graded on the same scale.
Worksheets will be completed based on completion.
EXTENSION IDEAS
Students could expand on their presentations by creating longer pieces that go more
in depth to explain their objects. They could even create a chapter-like written piece
that mimics the beginning of When I Was Puerto Rican. They can also decide to do a
bigger piece with multiple objects that explain their identity and who they are.
SOURCE OF ACTIVITY
The idea for this activity is mostly mine, but a class taught by the late Mrs. Barb
Gwin and Libertyville High School inspired it. Students were told to write about an
object that meant a lot to them.
REFERENCES AND RESOURCES
Lemov, Doug. Teach like a Champion: 49 Techniques That Put Students on the Path
to College. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010. Print.
Razfar, A. 2005 Language Ideologies in Practice: Repair and Classroom Discourse.
Linguistics and Education. 16(4):404-424.
ILLINOIS PROFESSIONAL TEACHING STANDARDS
11 Professional Conduct
The teacher understands the central concepts, methods of inquiry, and
structures of the discipline(s) and creates learning experiences that make the
content meaningful to all students.
The teacher understands how individuals grow, develop, and learn and
provides learning opportunities that support the intellectual, social, and personal
development of all students.