Investigating names to explore personal history and cultural traditions
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=878
A lesson plan for grade 6 English Language Arts
Students explore the origins of their names by conducting Internet research and interviewing family members in this lesson that focuses on The House on Mango Street. After students have reflected on what they know about their names, they conduct Internet research about their names and share their findings with their classmates. Then students interview family members as a homework assignment and share information with the class. Once all students have had the opportunity to explain the origin of their name, the teacher shares an excerpt from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and engages students in a discussion about a character’s name. Students then work in small groups to evaluate two sample passages that were modeled on the work of Cisneros. After the teacher demonstrates how to write in the manner of an author, students practice writing using the method and form of Cisneros. When students show mastery of this writing technique, they write a short vignette about their own names and work together to edit and revise their work. This lesson provides opportunities for student reflection, suggests extension activities, and gives links to helpful web resources. Readwritethink provides project guidelines, links to sites that explore name origins, graphic organizers, and other helpful resources.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
English Language Arts (2004)
Grade 6
- Goal 1: The learner will use language to express individual perspectives drawn from personal or related experience.
- Objective 1.01: Narrate an expressive account (e.g., fictional or autobiographical) which:
- uses a coherent organizing structure appropriate to purpose, audience, and context.
- tells a story or establishes the significance of an event or events.
- uses remembered feelings and specific details.
- uses a range of appropriate strategies (e.g., dialogue, suspense, movement, gestures, expressions).
- Objective 1.01: Narrate an expressive account (e.g., fictional or autobiographical) which:
