Carolyn L. Streets
Objectives will center upon skills that scaffold learning during novel analysis using ekphrastic tools. The novel is written in short vignettes in which chapters can stand alone or be read in random order. Students will be given a choice of chapters, reading a minimum of five chapters in random or successive order. Of note, some chapter’s deal with complex issues of mature topics and may not be appropriate for younger audiences, so instructional decisions to omit some chapters are up to the teacher’s discretion. Unit objectives draw upon middle school English Language Arts Common Core standards for reading literature and writing, but can be differentiated and adapted to fit any grade level. For reading, students will develop their thematic interpretations and use those interpretations to determine how a character develops over the course of the selected text and engage in overall novel analysis. For writing, students will use narrative techniques to create their own ekphrastic poems that convey their experiences with themes apropos to the text.
Additionally, there are a plethora of resources teachers can draw upon. This unit provides several online resources that teachers can utilize. First, as a reference point, 10 Ekphrastic Poems on JSTOR 16 is a free digital online library for scholars, researchers, and students providing articles and original research. From this resource, consider viewing Hayden’s work. As referenced in the unit introduction, this work is a primary example of the power of an ekphrastic poem and can be found in print at the poetryfoundation.org. It is also seen in powerful multimedia imagery that combines the reading of the poem with clips from the 1997 film Amistad.17 Likewise, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago has an online video18 featuring Kerry James Marshall discussing his artistic process. His discussion accompanied with selected artworks can jumpstart student understandings of ekphrastic tools and thematic connections to the text. Teachers can couple readings from the article titled American People, Black Light: Faith Ringgold’s Paintings of the 1960s presented by the National Museum of Women in the Arts19 along with a video retrospective of the artist’s work20 provides content teachers can incorporate as well. Another online resource titled A Short Checklist of African American Poetry on Artwork and Artists21 uses political art from notable artists students may be familiar with like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Frida Kahlo. Of note, an interview titled The House on Mango Street-The Story22 is one of several in a series of interviews where Cisneros discusses her artistic process as a writer and how art influences her writing. An internet search of the novel’s cover art will yield at least seven renderings of the novel’s cover art which can be used to springboard teaching objectives.
Of note, this novel has implications for collaborative learning. For example, House On Mango Street touches upon issues like the redlining of neighborhoods and how those practices affected Esperanza’s schooling, History/Social Studies teachers can collaboratively work with English Language Arts teachers to dive deeper into the historical roots of redlining and how discriminatory practices continued to perpetuate cycles of poverty for marginalized groups.