Unit 2: Introduction to Identity
Essential Questions:
1. What is IDENTITY and how is it shaped by historical events?
2. How does IDENTITY shape perspectives of historical events and conflicts?
3. In what ways does literature and art serve to help us understand PERSPECTIVES of historical events such as “the conquest” of the Americas?
4. What has been the influence of literary accounts of Early American encounters between Europeans and Native Americans on current Mexican American IDENTITIES and CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES?
Unit Goal:
After investigating and analyzing perspectives of Early American encounters through texts which include Spanish account, Aztec poetry, 20th Century art and poetry, students will complete a portfolio which evaluates the impact of European arrival to the continent on Native populations and compares perspectives of encounters between native populations and Europeans.
Unit Terms:
imagery, figurative language, symbolism, genre, flower and song, oral narrative, myth, legend, journal, Conquest, Mesoamerica, Codex, Nahuatl, indigenous, Aztlan, Castillian
1. What is IDENTITY and how is it shaped by historical events?
2. How does IDENTITY shape perspectives of historical events and conflicts?
3. In what ways does literature and art serve to help us understand PERSPECTIVES of historical events such as “the conquest” of the Americas?
4. What has been the influence of literary accounts of Early American encounters between Europeans and Native Americans on current Mexican American IDENTITIES and CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES?
Unit Goal:
After investigating and analyzing perspectives of Early American encounters through texts which include Spanish account, Aztec poetry, 20th Century art and poetry, students will complete a portfolio which evaluates the impact of European arrival to the continent on Native populations and compares perspectives of encounters between native populations and Europeans.
Unit Terms:
imagery, figurative language, symbolism, genre, flower and song, oral narrative, myth, legend, journal, Conquest, Mesoamerica, Codex, Nahuatl, indigenous, Aztlan, Castillian
Topic 1: Historical Context
Objective: After completing CORNELL NOTES on video, “Exploring the Borderlands,” students will be able to write a summary that identifies significant historical contexts and themes of Mexican American Literature.
I. Pre-Reading: Focus Notes and Instructions
II. Reading: "Exploring the Borderlands" This video explores the literature of the Chicano borderlands and its beginnings in the literature of Spanish Colonization.
III. Discussion Questions: Analytical Summary
Objective: After completing CORNELL NOTES on video, “Exploring the Borderlands,” students will be able to write a summary that identifies significant historical contexts and themes of Mexican American Literature.
I. Pre-Reading: Focus Notes and Instructions
II. Reading: "Exploring the Borderlands" This video explores the literature of the Chicano borderlands and its beginnings in the literature of Spanish Colonization.
III. Discussion Questions: Analytical Summary
Topic 2: Neither Here Nor There Perspective of Identity
Objective:
I. Pre-Reading: Identity Corners Activity, “Half Like Me” by Al Madrigal
II. Reading: “How I Became A Mexican” by Frank Mundo
III. Post-Reading: Write “How I Became…” Found Poems
Topic 3: About the Cactus on the Forehead
Objective:
I. Pre-Reading: Quote Analysis
II. Reading:
a. Short Story- Background of Michelle Serros
What does the short story “Senior Picture Day” reveal about the narrator’s identity and her relationship to an “Indian” heritage? by Michelle Serros
b. Poetry- Making Sense of Poetry for Rosario Castellanos’ poem “Silence mm. Concerning and Ancient Stone”
c. Art- David Botello Murals: “Read Between the Lines” & “Dream of Flight”
III. Post-Reading: Assimilation? Acculturation? or Resistance? Analytical Summary, Reaction, Imagery Poem
Objective:
I. Pre-Reading: Quote Analysis
II. Reading:
a. Short Story- Background of Michelle Serros
What does the short story “Senior Picture Day” reveal about the narrator’s identity and her relationship to an “Indian” heritage? by Michelle Serros
b. Poetry- Making Sense of Poetry for Rosario Castellanos’ poem “Silence mm. Concerning and Ancient Stone”
c. Art- David Botello Murals: “Read Between the Lines” & “Dream of Flight”
III. Post-Reading: Assimilation? Acculturation? or Resistance? Analytical Summary, Reaction, Imagery Poem