Identity 6: What's in a Name/Nombre?

Title: What's in a Name/Nombre?

Author: M. Hill

Week: 2

Unit/Lesson Plan #: Identity 6

Unit theme: Identity

Textbook references:

"Names/Nombres" by Julia Alvarez (PHL 115-119) -homework reading

"My Name" from House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi (EXTENSION read aloud)

Learning objectives

- To analyze the importance of names through discussion of "Names/Nombres" by Julia Alvarez

- To practice using the Oral Participation Rubric to assess discussion

- To continue to explore how names inform our identities

- To interpret text of a specific genre (Essay) (Literary Competencies)

- Identify the author's point of view (Literay Response and Expression)

- Recognize how the author's use of language creates images or feelings (Literary Response and Expression)

- Use established and personal criteria to analyze and evaluate the quality of ideas & information in the text (Critical Analysis and Evaluation)

- Identify different perspectives on an issue presented in a text (Critical Analysis and Evaluation)

- Recognize how one's own point of view contributes to forming an opinion (Critical Analysis and Evaluation)

- Consider background of the writer (Critical Analysis and Evaluation)

- Share reading experiences to build a relationship with peers (Social Interaction)

- Recognize languuage appropriate to social communication (Social Interaction)

- Communicate ideas in an organized and coherent manner (Literacy Competancy)

Key Questions, Concepts, or Themes:

Why is understanding identity important to understanding ourselves as readers/writers/thinkers? How do names help inform our identities? How can we relate our own experiences to those expressed in the texts we read?

Stage 1:

JOURNAL: How are names important in the way people view themselves and others?

After spending 5 minutes writing about this topic, students will have 5 minutes to discuss as a table group. Each table group will choose a spokesperson to summarize the group's discussion for the class. (15 mins)

b. Review Oral Participation Rubric. Discussion based on "Names/Nombres" by Julia Alvarez. In concentric circles, students will answer the following questions (after each question, invite students to share thoughts with the class) : (20 mins)

1. How does Julia respond when her classmates ask her from where she comes? Why does she respond as she does? Would you make the same descision in the same situation? Why or why not?
2. How do Alvarez's feelings about the topic change over time?
3. What do names represent for Alvarez and others?
4. Why do some people mispronounce Julia's name? How do you feel when someone mispronounces your name? Why?
5. How does Julia respond when her classmates ask her from where she comes? Why does she respond as she does? Would you make the same decision in the same situation? Why or why not?
6. In the essay, Julia notes that her mother thought that the pronounciation of her name didn't matter, and quotes her as saying: "You know what your friend Shakespeare said, 'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.'" Do you agree with Alvarez's mother? Why or why not?
7. On page 116, re-read the paragraph that begins, "By the time I was in high school..." How does the name Judy Alcatraz express Alvarez's attitude towards her dulal identity (both as an American and as a Dominican)?
8. How is Julia Alvarez's "Names/Nombres" similar to or different from "My Name" from House on Mango Street? Explain!
9. How is your own story of your name similar to or different from that of Julia Alvarez?

1. 1. NOTE: Concentric circles are created by having one half of the class sit in an inner circle, facing outwards. The other half of the class sits in a circle around the inner circle, facing in. Students are therefore seated in a circle with one partner each. Students will be asked each question and will have about 3 minutes to respond. Following each question, the outside circle rotates one seat over, so that each person has a different partner to talk with for each question. This allows the teacher the opportunity to "conference" on different students' discussions by moving about the room and joining conversations between different pairs of students. In addition, it allows students to work with a variety of different classmates.

Stage 3: Debrief circle activity and revisit journal question.

Homework:

Read p. 97-106 of Write Source 2000.  

Assessments: (attach/link copies)

__ Group assessment

_X_ Observation of process/student work (follow Oral Participation Rubric in order to assess student discussion)

__ Self-assessment by student

_x_ Teacher generated assignment

__ Written project

__ Test/Quiz

__ Other: ____________________________________