Mentor close read — Cisneros 'My Name' and Notice & Note signposts

Cold call: name one move from Angelou's 'Phenomenal Woman' that you remember. What did it do?

• Press for specific naming — not 'repetition' but 'anaphora' or 'refrain'

Today we read Cisneros — short, prose-poetry vignettes from The House on Mango Street. 'My Name' is one paragraph long but contains every move on this syllabus. We will read with NOTICE & NOTE signposts (Beers and Probst) — 4 cues that tell us where to slow down. CONTRASTS AND CONTRADICTIONS: a character does something opposite of expected. WORDS OF THE WISER: an older character offers advice. AGAIN AND AGAIN: a word, image, phrase, or event repeats. MEMORY MOMENT: the narrative pauses to recall a past event. Each signpost asks the reader to ask WHY — and the answer is often the analytical claim. We also add 5 more Tier-2 words: AMBIGUITY (layered meaning), JUXTAPOSITION (placing two things side by side for contrast), ALLUSION (reference to another text or event), FORESHADOWING (hint at later events), THEME (the controlling claim of the text).

• Why is the contrast there? Because the narrator wonders if she will inherit that taming.

  model The narrator's great-grandmother is described as 'wild' but spent her life looking out a window — a wild horse-woman tamed. The contrast is the heart of the vignette.

  prompt Find a CONTRASTS AND CONTRADICTIONS signpost in 'My Name.'
• The repetition asks: what does a name DO to a person?

  model The word 'name' repeats — Esperanza, Hope, hope. The repetition is the motif.

  prompt Find an AGAIN AND AGAIN signpost.
• Theme is a CLAIM, not a topic. Not 'names' but 'a name can inherit a fate but also be remade.'

  model The vignette argues that a name can inherit a fate but can also be remade.

  prompt Identify a theme.

• Pair-share: name a signpost and what it's doing.
• Cold Call: define theme. (Press: not topic — claim.)

M-7-S-COM-03-A Chart

MG-21 Notice & Note 4-signpost anchor displayed: Contrasts and Contradictions / Words of the Wiser / Again and Again / Memory Moment with analysis prompts. Print-ready 11x17.

MG-21 Chart

Notice & Note 4-signpost anchor (Beers & Probst, reduced for G7 analytical): 4-band card. SIGNPOST 1 — CONTRASTS AND CONTRADICTIONS: a character does something opposite of what we expect, or two ideas in the text contradict. ANALYSIS PROMPT: 'Why might the character/text be acting/saying that?' SIGNPOST 2 — WORDS OF THE WISER: an older or wiser character offers advice to the protagonist. ANALYSIS PROMPT: 'What's the life lesson, and how might it shape the protagonist?' SIGNPOST 3 — AGAIN AND AGAIN: a word, image, phrase, or event repeats. ANALYSIS PROMPT: 'Why is this repeating? What MOTIF is forming?' SIGNPOST 4 — MEMORY MOMENT: the narrative pauses to recall a past event. ANALYSIS PROMPT: 'Why might this memory be important here?' Bottom rule: 'Signposts are starter cues, not answers. They tell you WHERE to slow down; analysis happens through close reading.' Print-ready 11x17.

• 3-pass close read of 'My Name' with 5-color annotation + signpost identification.

  scaffold MG-21 signpost anchor at desk
• State the THEME of 'My Name' as a complete claim sentence (not a topic word).

  scaffold Frame: 'The vignette argues that ___.'

• State the theme of 'My Name' in one complete sentence (as a claim, not a topic).

• Restate: theme is a claim, not a topic
• Preview tomorrow's mentor close read (Tan 'Mother Tongue')

• Add 5 Tier-2 words to your notebook with definitions. Find one allusion or one piece of foreshadowing in any text you are reading.