Aim: Who can achieve the "American Dream"?

Objectives: Students will critically read "Daughter of Invention" and discuss how identity is influenced by community;  reinforce and summarize previous learning about traditions, assimilation, communications between generations, and the concept "American Dream."

Materials: Poem questions worksheet;  "Daughter of Invention" (from How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents by Julia Alvarez); final questions worksheet (note - this is a Word document)

Do Now:  In groups, students share hw poems and answer questions.

Procedure:
1. Ask students: What does this mean: "Necessity is the mother of invention"? Discuss answers.

2. Hand out "Daughter of Invention" (from How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents by Julia Alvarez). What do you think it will be about? (Teacher should again follow the critical thinking style to read through the story)

3. As a class: Read through pg. 134/2nd paragraph. Ask students: What are the differences between the mother and the father? Underline sentences that prove it.

4. As a class: Read through page 135 (finish paragraph on 136). Ask students: What are some themes? Underline sentences that prove it.

5. Ask  students: What do you know about the country they came from? (Note: a brief background on Alvarez may be read here: http://classzone.com/lol_demo/authors/09/9alvarez.htm )

6. As a class: Read to the bottom of page 138. Ask students: Why does the author choose to have the mother sound the way she does?

Summary:  Have students answer the following questions about the story "Daughter of Invention":
Will the mother ever achieve the American Dream? Why or why not?
What does it mean that Yoyo finally sounded like herself in English (143)?
Why did the father hate the speech?
Why did Laura give up her days of inventing?

Unit Conclusion/Evaluation:

Hand out final questions worksheet. Students should fill out the top part in groups and the bottom on their own. Share and hand in to teacher. See student sample

Online poll:  At the beginning of the unit, students were told they would be renaming the unit after gaining a new perspective on the theme "American Dream."  After reviewing student answers to this question on their final worksheet, set up an online poll with the five most popular titles and have students log on to vote.  Here is a sample poll I created based on my students' responses:

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