Making Connections with “Mirror Books”
English 7 students create personal books as tools for reflection about a novel.
Middle School English Teacher Jessica North Macie has introduced a new project—the “Mirror Book”— to help build English 7 students’ personal understanding of lead character Esperanza Cordero in “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros.
The concept of the project is based on the Arabic and English picture book, “Mirror” by Jeannie Baker, which tells the story of two boys who, despite different locations and cultures, share many similar experiences. In this deeply personal exercise, English 7 students create their own Mirror Books with text and images to directly compare and contrast their lives and experiences with Esperanza’s.
The completed projects reflect a variety of the book’s themes and are presented in several formats, including booklets, three-dimensional works, and digital books. Art Teacher Jennifer Zwelling and Instructional Media Coordinator James Lucas gave guidance to the students as they designed their reflections.
In addition to the Mirror Book project, English 7 is currently working on two other “Mango Street”-themed projects. Using new vocabulary words from the book, the girls will perform original skits in class mid-January. Then acting as film location scouts, the girls will use Google maps to identify filming locations in Chicago for scenes from the book, and digitally present these locations to draw further parallels.