It is difficult to articulate how growing up feels as accurately and beautifully as Sandra Cisneros does in her short story "Eleven." After seventh graders read the story and note the author's use of figurative language, they respond to an informational writing prompt to analyze Cisneros' portrayal of aging.

Concepts

sandra cisneros, reading comprehension, point of view, central ideas, figurative language, making inferences

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Use the resource as a reading comprehension assessment at the end of a language arts unit
• Project the graphic organizer onto the board and have groups complete various sections, sharing their responses with dry erase marker at the end of the activity 
• Assign a writing prompt in which learners reflect on their own process of growing up

Classroom Considerations

• Resource only contains an excerpt of the story; you will need a class set for instruction
• Activity consists of an assessment module, and teachers are encouraged to use examples as exemplars in collaboration

Pros

• Provides a rubric to use with the informational writing prompt, as well as a rubric for other types of writing
• Aligned to Common Core standards for reading, writing, and speaking and listening

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.7.1 RL.7.2 RL.7.4 W.7.2.a W.7.9.a SL.7.1.a SL.7.4