Personal Narrative
Students will be required to write two different narratives at the culmination of this unit. The first narrative will be linked to a novel that each student will select and the other narrative will be picture book authored and illustrated by the student. This last project will bring this unit to a close and tie the unit together with a new emphasis on voice in picture books, this time using the voice of the students.
The narrative activity will begin by introducing students to novels that explore the first person point of view. These novels are fictionalized personal narratives yet sometimes we find that they are autobiographical. Through sharing excerpts from a variety of novels about adolescents, I hope to show my students ways in which to express their own voices. I will read excerpts from Monster, The House on Mango Street, Esperanza Rising, The Circuit, Baseball in April, Walk Two Moons, Any Small Goodness, Boy, Voices from the Fields, and Breaking Through. The common theme found in all of these novels is that they are coming-of-age novels, illustrating the struggles of growing up. This is a powerful theme for my students and the purpose of reading excerpts from each of these novels is to entice the students to read. Before I require the students to read one of the aforementioned books, I will read Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida by Victor Martinez. This book is about a fourteen-year-old who is surrounded by the gang lifestyle. He doesn't receive any attention or acknowledgement from his father who is a drunk and his brother is constantly avoiding responsibility. He is confronted with tough decisions. The protagonist has a great voice.
Without work, I was empty as a Coke bottle. School was starting soon, and needed money for clothes and paper stuff. I wanted a baseball mitt so bad a sweet hurt blossomed in my stomach whenever I thought about it. 21
He is also bilingual like many of my students, and he casually integrates his mother tongue into the text at various times, in a subtle yet effective manner. This is a writing style that I will encourage my students to replicate.
One of the listeners, a tall pimple-faced guy with blotchy cheeks and the skin of a fig, only paler, shouted out, "Pinches gavachos don't give a damn about harassing us! Gavachos do what they want. 22
The students will select a book for independent reading throughout the weeks, while I read Parrot in the Oven aloud. At the end of the reading period, which should take three weeks, students will be asked to write their own personal narratives. The assignment will be to step into the shoes of the protagonist and write an essay about what it would be like for you to walk into your main character's neighborhood. Each student will write in the first person about his or her experience in this new world. They will write a first draft, and then work with a peer to proofread and edit their stories. Next, they will have an individual conference with me and then submit a final draft. The goal is to project voice through a narrative that describes each student's experience in an unfamiliar setting.
The final project that will assess each student's understanding of voice will be a personal narrative in the form of a picture book. Students will be required to illustrate their picture books with photographs, drawings, memorabilia from childhood, or other artistic expressions. The narrative will be told in the first person and students will be asked to tell stories about their family, school, or heritage through images and words. Each student will share his or her book with the class and articulate his or her voice while being seen and heard in a community of peers.
Voice is a portal to identity. I want my students to realize that they are not "invisibles." I want them to experience being heard and seen. By helping my students find their own voices, I hope to empower them to use them in ways that help strengthen their own sense of identity as well as their relationships to their own communities and cultures.
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