Mexican+Whiteboy

||  __ Mexican Whiteboy __ Activities ** Objectives:  ** TLW use the novel Mexican Whiteboy to complete part of a Thematic Unit on multicultural literature. TLW learn about and analyze the theme: “In order to find out who you are you have to look inside yourself.” TLW write to express their thinking or feelings during the reading of the novel. TLW define and use a set of vocabulary and spelling words related to the text throughout their completion of activities. TLW research and draw conclusions from their research about the implications of the Mexican culture and its contributions to the United States throughout history. As a culminating activity, TLW learn the rules and statistics involved in the game of baseball and participate in a class game. **  Standards:    ** ** LA 1 ~ Students read and understand a variety of materials. ** Benchmark G ~ evaluate, analyze, and synthesize text  1.6 read critically;  1.7 read for a variety of purposes;  1.8 adjust reading strategies according to text and purpose;  **LA 7 ~ Students apply complex thinking skills when reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing. ** Benchmark E ~ express and defend an opinion based on evidence. 7.3 analyze and interpret a variety of information and ideas 7.5 evaluate information and ideas to form and support a reasoned opinion. ** Rationale:  ** The use of a multicultural text will provide students an opportunity to either learn about a different group of Americans, or compare and contrast this group with their own lives and belief systems. Students will be provided time to read the novel and learn new words from the text. They will participate in discussions that will further their depth of knowledge and understanding about multicultural literature, and in doing so will become more culturally responsive within our learning community. **  Materials:   **  · A class (or small group) set of __Mexican Whiteboy__ by Matt De la Peña  · A list of vocabulary words to be learned and used throughout the lesson  · Student journals  · Computer and Internet access  · A set of rules and explanation of statistics used in baseball  · Lyrics and poetry from [|www.edchange.org]  · Movie: // Ball Don’t Lie // **  Instructional Methods:   ** Students will learn through their individual, partner and guided reading strategies. They will have independent writing and journaling time to write responses to their reading. Students will also participate in Instructional Conversations of the analysis of poetry and song lyrics and their connections to the novel. Students will learn through literature, media, and their own experiences with pop culture (Donelson and Nilsen). Finally, students will physically participate in their learning through joining a class baseball game. **  Tasks:   ** 1. The first activity is to begin reading with a read aloud performed by the teacher. Students will begin their first reading response in their journal. Students will then continue to read the book in a combination of independent, partner, and guided reading depending on the students names. 2. Students will be given the list of vocabulary and spelling words they will be responsible for during the next two weeks and while reading __Mexican Whiteboy.__ 3. Each day students will have a different reading response to help them write to express their feeling, reactions, and connections to the text. 4. After writing their responses students will get into small groups a participate in Instructional Conversations focused on what they gather to be the implications in the story. 5. Towards the end of the week students will begin to research pop culture and its connections to Mexican-American culture and how Mexican Americans have played a role in changing popular culture in the United States. 6. Students will use the website [] to find song lyrics or poetry that relate to the novel and speak to multiculturalism. They will include these lyrics in their group poster. 7. Students will then work in a group to make a poster explaining the effects they have found relating to Mexican cultural contributions to pop culture. The poster should include 5-10 spelling and vocabulary words. 8. The next week students will continue reading the novel, and will also begin looking for song lyrics and poetry that connect to __Mexican Whiteboy__ 9. Students will use the spelling and vocabulary words in their reading response journals. 10. Students will watch a few clips from Ball Don’t Lie (another novel by De la Peña that was made into a movie). They will then participate in a class discussion about how the move compares to __Mexican Whiteboy.__ 11. As students finish reading the novel they will be asked to write one last journal entry that will become a published book review. The focus of this book review will be the theme of the book, the implications of the story, and recommendations for further reading. Along with their review, students will create a triorama for the book. 12. Students will be able to share their book reviews in a round-robin setting. When they finish the teacher will present the students with the rules and explanation of some of the statistics (such as batting average) for baseball. 13. On the last day of work with __Mexican Whiteboy__, students will have a chance to get outside and play a friendly class game of baseball. **  Assessments:   ** 1. Students will receive an overall grade on their reading response journals for completeness and thoughtfulness. 2. Students will be graded on their research, poster, and presentation of Mexican culture and its contributions to pop culture. 3. Students will be graded on the 4. Students will be graded on their triorama and written book review. 5. Finally students will receive a grade for their overall participation during this part of the unit.
 * ||  || || **HOW TO MAKE A TRIORAMA** ||


 * [[image:http://www.maasd.ecsd.net/triorama1.gif width="134" height="128"]] || 1) Fold and cut ||
 * [[image:http://www.maasd.ecsd.net/triorama2.gif width="86" height="93"]] || 2) Fold again ||
 * [[image:http://www.maasd.ecsd.net/triorama3.gif width="93" height="72"]] || 3) Cut solid line ||
 * [[image:http://www.maasd.ecsd.net/triorama4.gif width="125" height="114"]] || 4) Overlap A over B and glue or staple ||
 * [[image:http://www.maasd.ecsd.net/triorama5.gif width="134" height="94"]] || 5) Finished Triorama || ||