House on Mango Street 1.3

Do Now: In The House on Mango Street, Aunt Lupe tells Esperanza that writing “will keep you free.” In what way can writing be an avenue of freedom? What does freedom mean to you? What activity gives you a sense of freedom?

Objectives:

• Analyze poetry for meaning

1. Do now
2. PINK/ ORANGE ONLY: Vocab week #2
3. PINK/ORANGE ONLY: ORB- silent reading (20 minutes)
4. Poem activity:

kitchenette building - by Gwendolyn Brooks

We are things of dry hours and the involuntary plan,

Grayed in, and gray. “Dream” makes a giddy sound, not strong

Like “rent,” “feeding a wife,” “satisfying a man.”

But could a dream send up through onion fumes

Its white and violet, fight with fried potatoes

And yesterday’s garbage ripening in the hall,

Flutter, or sing an aria down these rooms

Even if we were willing to let it in,

Had time to warm it, keep it very clean,

Anticipate a message, let it begin?

We wonder. But not well! not for a minute!

Since Number Five is out of the bathroom now,

We think of lukewarm water, hope to get in it.

3. Answer the following questions:

1. What is a kitchenette?  How is it different from a kitchen?  What could this difference suggest about the speaker’s life?
2. Who are the “we” in line 1?
3. What is the speaker suggesting is the difference between “Dream” and “rent,” “feeding a wife,” and “satisfying a man” in the first stanza?
4. Brooks personifies dream in the second stanza-- what visual image is produced by this personification (i.e., what actions is the dream doing)?
5. What is the tone of the last stanza?  Is it happy, sad?  Optimistic, excited, defeated?  Explain your answer.
6. What kind of life do you imagine the “we” in this poem to live.  Where do they live? What do they do?  What are their daily lives like?

4. Class discussion

5. Summarizer

HW:

1. Sit in one room of your house (except your bedroom) for at least 5 minutes.  In a google doc, record as many details of the room as possible, paying attention to all 5 senses.
2. Take a picture of the room and insert it into the google doc.
3. Write a 5-6 sentence description of your house and this room specifically, using language that tells the reader both how it looks and how you feel about it.
4. Write a 5-6 sentence anecdote describing a meaningful event that occurred in this room. This anecdote must be school appropriate.