What are human rights, and how do real people and fictional characters respond when those rights are threatened? In their first English Language Arts module of the year, Crowden’s fifth grade students are developing their ability to read and understand complex text as they consider this question. So far, students have been building their close reading skills by analyzing the novel Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan.
They are reading about human rights and are applying this learning as one lens through which to interpret the characters and themes in the novel–a complex coming-of-age story set in Mexico and rural California during the early 1930s. Based on actual events, this historical fiction novel tells the stories of Esperanza and the struggles she and her family faced after the Mexican Revolution. Bandits threatening wealthy landowners, like Esperanza’s family, forced them to seek economic opportunities in the United States. As field workers in California, Esperanza recounts their stories and struggles through the fruit and vegetable seasons that have passed. To better understand the historical context of the novel, students learned about the Mexican Revolution, discussed the relations between Mexico and the United States at that time, and connected the rule of Porfirio Díaz to a growing divide between wealthy landowners and those who worked the land.
Through close reading, interpretation, and analysis of fiction and nonfiction texts, the fifth grade class is deepening their understanding of human rights. Students are closely reading selected articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) related to events in Esperanza Rising where human rights were threatened. As the novel continues, students will continue grappling with inequalities like work camps separated by ethnicity, wealth disparity, workers organizing for fairer conditions, and the impact of immigration raids on individuals and communities. Much like how the novel weaves the Spanish language seamlessly into the text, students are weaving their analysis of the past with conditions of the present.
As our unit progresses, the fifth grade will explore how we can use writing to raise awareness of human rights. As students finish reading Esperanza Rising, they will focus on characters’ reactions and responses to events when their human rights are threatened. They will write a two-voice poem, as well as a multi-paragraph literary essay comparing the response of two characters to a selected event from the novel, describing how each character responds to the event. Students will continue to revisit the themes of the UDHR and Esperanza Rising as they plan, write, and ultimately perform monologues based on events from Esperanza Rising where human rights are threatened. In groups, fifth graders will write a Directors’ Note to describe their selected event from Esperanza Rising, explain which specific articles of the UDHR relate to the event, and explain how people today are impacted by this issue. Students will revise, rehearse, and ultimately perform their group’s monologues for an audience. Of course, this will take time. Carrying out our work with Esperanza Rising over a longer period of time will allow students to extend their intellectual stamina and serve as a concrete example that the honoring Latiné voices should not be contained to a single month!
– Mr. Powles, Fifth Grade Core Teacher