5th grade Diversity Lesson Plan

Book Title: Esperanza Rising

Author: Pam Muñoz Ryan

Publication Date: May 1, 2002

Grade Level: 3rd-5th Grade

Social Justice Standard(s):

● Justice Anchor Standard #12: Students will recognize unfairness on the individual level

(e.g., biased speech) and injustice at the institutional or systemic level (e.g., discrimination).

● Diversity Anchor Standard #9: Students will respond to diversity by building empathy,

respect, understanding, and connection.

Nevada Academic Content Standard(s):

● CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1.A: Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied

required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the

topic to explore ideas under discussion.

● CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.2: Summarize a written text read aloud or information

presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Objective(s):
● The student will be able to analyze the discrimination and hardship that Esparanza and her

family faces after leaving Mexico to California through a jigsaw activity with 90% accuracy.

● The student will be able to explain the main themes and ideas of Esperanza's life in America

while showing empathy and respect by peer teaching with 90% accuracy.

Materials:

• Printed sections of the book

• Desk separated in equal sets of groups

• Drawing utensils

• Sheet(s) of Paper

• A copy of Esparanza Rising

Procedure:

1. Introduce: The story we will be covering is Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan. This is

one of my favorite books I read when I was in 5th grade. The book is about a girl named Esperanza.

Her family is originally from Mexico and is very wealthy but this all changes one day after her

father was killed. It is a coming-of-age story that touches on subjects such as discrimination,

racism, and classism. No matter what Esperanza and her family faces, they always find a way to

stay hopeful and determined. It is an extremely inspiring book that reminds the reader to never

give up.

2. Read the book. The book will be read individually, and certain chapters read in class.
3. Discuss For the discussion student will participate in think/pair/share. The students will first

partner up with their elbow buddies then they will think and share their answers based on the

following questions and write it on a shared piece of paper.

1. What happened after Esperanza's father was killed and how did it affect her family?

2. How did Esperanza and her family feel about moving to California?

3. What changed about Esperanza's life after moving to California?

4. Why was Miguel unable to get the job as a mechanic?

5. How did Esperanza feel about having to take the train?

4. Activities:

● Jigsaw: For the Jigsaw activity, students will be separated in equal groups across the

classroom. Each student in each group will receive a piece of paper with text from the book

about a different times Esperanza and her family had faced discrimination and how they

overcame it. After ten minutes of familiarizing and reviewing their paper, the students will be

able to analyze the discrimination and hardship that Esparanza and her family went through.

After they familiarize themselves with their reading the students will then move to “expert

groups (groups with the same reading)''. After arriving in their expert groups, the students will

discuss what their section was about and reinforce their knowledge about the discrimination

Esparanza and her family experienced. The expert groups are meant to fill any holes in

knowledge the students might have and make them experts on their section of reading. Lastly,

the students will return to their original jigsaw group and inform the other students in

chronological order of the events taken place in the book. This will allow the students to give and

receive full detail about each situation Esperanza and her family faced. The activity ends after
every student has shared.

● Peer teaching: For the peer teaching activity, students will each be assigned different

chapters in the book. The students will gather knowledge about their chapter to be able to present

to the class. The students will be able to gather information from their chapters in the book. The

only source needed for this assignment is the book. Once the student completes their research,

they will be allowed to write what they want to say to the class on a sheet(s) of paper. The

student will orally explain the main themes, ideas, and any other information they find relevant

to their chapter and present what Esperanza's life in America is like while showing empathy and

respect towards the book. The activity ends after every student has presented their paper to the

class.

Assessment:

● Through the jigsaw assignment the students will be assessed on how they interpreted and

came to realize the unfairness and discrimination Esparanza faced by sharing their thoughts with

one another and how well they’re able to teach their group.

● For the peer teaching assignment, the students will be assessed on how well they interpret

the story on their own terms and reflect what they took from the story. This will be based on a

personal work rather than group work to illustrate every student's interpretation of the reading.