Unit or lesson plan content:

In advance:

1. Xerox copies of the first eight paragraphs of the novel for each student.

2. Secure a class set of highlighters.

3. Make a list of partners, pairing a strong and a weaker reader.

Literary Terms:

• simile - comparison using like or as
  
• metaphor - comparison where one thing becomes another
  
• personification - metaphor where something not human is given human characteristics
  
• character - person in story or poem
  
• characterization - the creation of the character using dialogue, interior monologue action, and description
  
• first person narrator – the person who tells the story uses the pronoun “I”
  
• coming-of-age novel - one in which the main character matures, loses innocence and gains knowledge
  
• protagonist - central character

Pass out Parrot in the Oven Chapter Titles

Assignment: Students read the chapter titles and write a half page prediction of the contents of the novel.

Pass out the novel.

• Ask students to make predictions about the novel based on the cover.
  
• Students silently read the blurb on the back of the novel.
  
• Students ask and answer questions about the blurb.
  
• Pass out or project California Map http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/state/california.html
  
• Students locate Fresno, the setting of the story.

Students view Power Point presentation, The Latino American Experience

On board or screen:

• Description
  
• Emotional response
  
• Imagined thought or dialogue
  
• Reminds you of...

Show the Power Point presentation.

• Students write a brief response to each photo.
  
• Students go over their responses, highlighting the best ones.
  
• Students write a free form poem using their responses to the Power Point presentation.

Pass out and go over: How Writing Strategies Create the Character Manny Hernandez in Parrot in the Oven.

Pass out and go over chart: How Writing Strategies Create a Character: Parrot in the Oven.

• Explain the students will write an essay at the completion of the reading, which answers the essential question: "How does an author create a character?"
  
• Explain that students will keep track of the examples of dialogue, action and interior monologue that contribute to the characterization of Manny on this chart.
  
• Pass out copies of the first eight paragraphs of the novel for each student. and, if available, highlighters. (See "In advance" above.)
  
• Students read the first eight paragraphs silently, highlighting the similes and metaphors and other descriptive words
  
• Students identify which descriptive words fall into which categories
  
• Students read aloud the paragraphs omitting the descriptive words to illustrate their impact.