Coming to America: Finding Your Voice After the first reading, have students reflect on and discuss the following comprehension
questions in pairs or triads, and then debrief their answers as a whole group:
1. What does here mean at the end of the first paragraph, and why do you think it is in
quotation marks?
2. Why does Hinojosa put quotation marks around the phrase "real America"? What is she
implying about that idea?
3. What details does Hinojosa include to describe the differences between her mother and
the immigration agent? How do those details support the statement, "My mom didn't
feel very powerful?
4. How did Hinojosa's mother make the big Texan feel small
5. What lesson does Hinojosa say she learned from her mother in her coming to
America" story?

You are to write a five paragraph literary essay based on one of the 4 prompts and what you have read and learned in this module. these are your options: 1. how do the events of "the white umbrella" teach the narrator a lesson about shame and acceptance? 2. what role does creativity play in "the bat-poet"? 3. how does the character of squeaky change over the course of "raymond's run"? 4. discuss the influences of older family members on the protagonists and speakers in the stories and poems of this unit. you are to write a five paragraph literary essay based on what you have read and learned in this module. your final submission should meet the following requirements. • submit completed pre-writing and outline documents. • write an essay that contains an introduction with hook and thesis statement, supporting paragraphs with evidence and at least one quotation, and a conclusion that restates the thesis and reviews main points. • use transitions appropriate to the pattern of organization. • use vocabulary to create tone and voice. • cite primary source (quotation). • submit completed revision checklist. • vary sentence structure. • create sentences with parallel structures. • use technology in the writing process.