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Esmeralda's Dream Lesson Plan
By Susan HuettemanOverview This lesson encourages students to value and make the best of each day. It helps them understand
the value of childhood memories and the effect it has on subsequent attitudes and behaviors. Santiago's memoirs are appropriate for high school students and, with guidance, mature junior high school
students. Santiago's fiction is appropriate with guidance for high school students, but strong themes may require careful guidance for mature junior high school students. For the younger set: "Show and Tell" and
storytelling are early forms of memoir writing. All students benefit from retelling their life experiences. Teachers may select images or chapters from Santiago's works as models that are appropriate for
their classes. Objectives Students will:
- Read Esmeralda's Dream essay for an overview of Santiago's themes and works
- Identify recurring themes in Santiago's works
- Create memoirs of their own life experiences
- Appreciate and understand the importance of their young lives
Skills Attained
- Comparative reading
- Theme analysis in literary genres
- Storytelling in literature
Lesson Outline I. Anticipatory Set Discussion: Esmeralda Santiago had vivid and accepting memories of her childhood in Puerto Rico. Were they made more vivid,
because she left? Had she grown up in Brooklyn and then moved to Puerto Rico, would she have felt nostalgia for New York and been critical of the island? Questions to pose:
- How do authors retell life images in their fiction?
- How do authors use family images in their works?
- What is the difference between memoir writing and autobiography?
- Do we recall past experiences accurately, or do we revise them in the retelling? How accurate is History?
- Can or should authors write about cultures other than their own?
II. The Lesson
Esmeralda's Dream essay. 2. Read Almost a Woman or another memoir or novel by Santiago. 3. Compare attitudes that confronted Esmeralda: racial profiling and stereotypes, and old traditions maintained by her family. Ask how attitudes and traditions affected her choices.
4. Compare the benefits or disadvantages of rural vs. urban experiences. 5. Discuss the differences between Puerto Rico and Brooklyn: geography, climate, agriculture, employment, schools, and
observances of traditions. 6. Compare protagonist and antagonists in memoir writing vs. fiction. 7. Discussion groups may identify and evaluate main themes in Santiago's works: childhood,
family, traditions of food and celebrations, transition and adjustment, peer pressure at school, adolescent relationships. 8. Discussion groups may evaluate bilingual advantages and disadvantages. 9. Homework (in English or in Spanish): select an image from your life to write a short memoir, an essay, or short story. Alternate: select an image or theme from your
perspective of Santiago's life and works to develop as a biography, essay, or short story. 10. Present the homework in class the following day. Teachers may choose a variety of thematic choices and formats:
a. Volunteer readers may read their own works and invite discussion for specific themes b. Groups may be formed by theme or genre to summarize students' findings or works, followed by
presentation to the class for discussion.
11. Ask the questions:
a. Do experiences affect or effect later behaviors? b. How are experiences placed in perspective? Should only good memories be valued? How should we evaluate bad memories?
c. How do family and peers affect our choices? d. Are daydreams important and how do they affect our choices?
Assessment Completion: Homework may be presented by students or by a panel or student group. Evaluation may be by the teacher, student groups, or class.
Participation: Students or student groups may develop questions to ask the student presenters or authors. Suggested Resources
Themes in Santiago's works are identified in: Esmeralda's Dream Endnotes
Childhood, ft.1-8
Adolescence, ft. 9-11
Mothers and daughters, ft.12-18
Relocation, ft.19-21
Street-wise, ft.22-24
Options for change, ft.25-27
Self-esteem, ft.28-29
Santiago's advocacy, ft.30-31Esmeralda's Dream Resources
By Santiago-synopsis of works
About Santiago
Welcome to Puerto Rico
I Love
Nuyorca: Brooklyn and Manhattan
Adolescence: immigrants and peers
Adults, Relationships, and Mothers
That's a Wrap (film)
Latino Authors Interdisciplinary Links
Social Studies and History:
- The Puerto Rican experience--colonization and slavery, ethnic assimilation, political struggle, relation to other Latino cultures, discrimination, relocation to the US mainland or other countries.
- Current issues--the question of statehood and naval placements. History and politics of the Caribbean islands.
- The New York experience--colonization, ethnic assimilation, discrimination, crime, political forces, discrimination, and relation of New York City to its Burroughs and upstate.
- What is ethnic mix and does it evolve into new cultures?
- School, peer, and family cultures--how do they differ and can they be balanced?
- Productivity and economy of Puerto Rico and New York.
Social Studies and Women's Studies: Latino males and females--the traditional vs. contemporary attitudes. What is "machismo"?
Geography:
Puerto Rico--map study, island formation, topography, and climate.
New York--map study, mainland and island formation, topography, and climate.
Arts:
Music of Puerto Rico-traditional instruments; classical, popular, and folk styles; caroling; performing artists; festivals. Dance:
public dancing, Latino dance styles, classical Indian dance. Theater: children's theater, New York as a theater center. Art:
Puerto Rican, Caribbean, and Latino art styles, themes and techniques. Education: rural and urban differences; bilingual education; public, private, and professional schools; self-teaching;
part-time students; community college, college, and university education.
International Relations:
Latino culture, economy, and politics. Extension Activity
- Students may keep a personal journal for the remainder of the school term, compiling it as a memoir, essay, short story or poem.
- Artists may choose to tell their story with drawings or photographs, or as inter-media.
- Music and dance students may choose to make a presentation of Puerto Rican or Latino music and dance.
- Readers may present readings of the works of Latino Authors.
- The class may choose to present the Latino culture to other classes featuring short readings, music and dance in costume.
This lesson was submitted by Sue Huetteman, a retired teacher in Rhode Island. |
