Smile! Picture Day and Just Enough Time For "A House Of My Own"

Yay.  

It's picture day, which means that I lose approximately 30 minutes of teaching.  

Oh, well.  

At least I remembered to wear a tiara.

After pictures, we are left with just enough time to review the activity I had my students complete with the substitute last Friday, as well as finish reading the last few pages of the essay "A House Of My Own" by Sandra Cisneros.

I pass back the set of questions my students worked on with the first portion of the essay and briefly review their responses by randomly calling on students to share their answers.  I feel it is always important to review the activities students are expected to complete with a substitute.  This reinforces the expectations that are set for behavior with a substitute and validates the activity as one that was not simply given to keep them busy while I was away, but rather one that carries weight and value.

We then read the remainder of the essay as a whole class, noting a few key discoveries:

• Esperanza is the voice  Sandra Cisneros created for herself.
• Both Sally and Rafaela (and Ruthie) represent what Cisneros knew she did not want to become. 

I specifically highlight the two points above in order to point out to my students how they had arrived at similar conclusions on their own, before having them validated by Cisneros herself in this essay.  I like to use this as a means of reminding my students how very capable they are, through their use of inference, of reading for an author's intended meaning.