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Read and complete the Student Packet Worksheets for “Meme Ortiz” – “A Rice Sandwich.”

Ask students to identify a tradition or celebration that they participate in. Have students turn and talk with a partner about these events and why they are important to the student and his or her family. When students have had a chance to share, invite a few volunteers to discuss their rituals, celebrations, or events with the class. As a group, reflect on the origins of these behaviors. Are they religion-based? Are they family traditions?

will explain that perspective is the way someone sees, feels, and thinks about what is happening around them or what they are experiencing. One very important influence on your perspective is your culture. Culture includes your religious (or non-religious) beliefs, family values, and the attitudes, behaviors, and practices you share with your community (neighborhood, religion, nationality, ethnicity, etc.) The traditions we shared with the class were mostly from each student’s culture. These traditions influence our perspective. For example, someone who grew up Hindu (a religion of people mostly from India) might think eating steak is disgusting, because Hindu people believe the cow is a sacred animal. Their perspective on eating meat is influenced by their cultural upbringing.

In novels and short stories, characters have perspectives on the events in the story. When we understand a character’s perspective, we understand why they act and feel the way they do in the plot. Just like in our own lives, a character’s perspective is influenced by his or her cultural background. I will examine “My Name” to determine how a character’s perspective about an event or phenomenon in the story is influenced by his or her cultural background. I will examine a character’s thoughts about Esperanza’s name.

First, I will identify a character in the text whose perspective I will examine. In this case, I will examine how Esperanza feels about her own name.I will draw on a frame on the board or chart paper similar to the Picturing Perspective Example Chart 1. I will write “Esperanza” on the head in my frame.

To understand Esperanza’s perspective about her name, I will identify text evidence that show the thoughts and feelings of this character. By rereading the text, I know that Esperanza does not like her name. I see evidence that she would prefer to “baptize herself under a new name”—Zeze the X. She says that her name means sadness and it has too many letters. I will write those details in the thought bubble on the frame I have drawn on chart paper.

Now I will look for clues in the text that tell me something about Esperanza’s cultural background. I know that Esperanza’s family is from Mexico, as she mentions that her father listens to sobbing Mexican records. I will write “Mexican culture” in the background of Esperanza’s frame to show her cultural background. I will then write details I find in the text, for example, Esperanza says that “Mexicans don’t like their women strong” and she relays a sad story about her strong-willed great-grandmother (also named Esperanza) being bagged for marriage and left sad at the windowsill.

Finally, I will look at all of the information I have written about Esperanza and think about how her background might influence her thoughts and ideas about her name. I will write that Esperanza does not like her name because it reminds her of her great-grandmother’s tale of “sitting sadness on an elbow” at a window. Her wild-horse nature was tamed because of cultural expectations for women. Esperanza wants to be all that she can be—a strong and independent woman.

Ask: "How can I interpret how a character’s perspective is influenced by their cultural background?" Students should answer that they can use text evidence to identify what one character felt and thought about an important event in the story. Students can then identify elements of the character’s cultural background found in the text to explain how culture influences the character’s perspective.

will examine how a character’s culture impacts his or her perspective in “The Family of Little Feet.” In this story, an important event is that the girls receive high-heeled shoes. We will choose Rachel to examine. We will draw a picture frame on chart paper and write Rachel in the head in our frame. Note: See the Picturing Perspective Example Chart 2 for an example.

Next, we will look for details that tell us how Rachel might feel about receiving the shoes. If the textual information doesn’t tell us exactly how a character feels, we can draw conclusions based on other details in the story, such as character actions. We will take turns coming up to our frame and writing Rachel’s thoughts, feelings, and actions in her speech bubble. For example, Rachel feels proud of how well she walks in her high heels. We know this because she “struts” and teaches the other girls how to walk in heels properly.

Now, we will identify elements of Rachel’s culture. What cultural groups does Rachel belong to? Help your students understand that “culture” goes beyond nationality and ethnicity, but extends into various groups that share the same beliefs, ideals, and habits. In this story, Rachel belongs to the culture of “teenage girls” and “urban teenager.” Note:You might discuss how teenagers are a culture. Ask: "What are the distinct practices, beliefs and shared experiences of being a teenager?" We will write down details about this culture, either finding them in the text or accessing prior knowledge we might know about being a teenage girl, or growing up in a city instead of a rural location. We will write these details in the background of Rachel’s frame.

Finally, we will ask ourselves how Rachel’s teenage culture might impact her perspective about wearing high-heeled shoes. We might conclude that teenagers often try to act older or more grown up than they are. Rachel loved the high heels because they made her feel older and braver, more attractive, and more powerful. We can conclude that Rachel felt important and attractive wearing the heels because that’s how teenage girls might feel about wearing heels for the first time, and we can tell Rachel feels this way because of the way she walks and acts.

Ask your students to imagine how the characters might have a different perspective of this event if they had been part of a different culture. If Rachel was a grandmother, for example, what might her perspective be about walking around in high heels?

will reread “Those Who Don’t” and complete the Picturing Perspective Worksheet in your Student Packet. (See pages 10-11 in the Student Packet.)You will look for clues that identify Esperanza’s perspective of people of other cultures driving into her neighborhood. You will write her thoughts, feelings, and actions in the thought bubble. Next, you will identify and record details about Esperanza’s culture that might influence her perspective of this “drive through” in the background of your frame. Finally, you will draw a conclusion about how her cultural background influences her perspective about others being scared when they come to her neighborhood. You will prepare to share your frame with the class.

will share our findings and discuss Esperanza’s perspective on other people being fearful driving through her neighborhood. She doesn’t say who this is, but we can draw a conclusion. We discuss the following question: How does Esperanza's perspective change at the end of the short story?