Overview

In this lesson, students practice the strategies used to determine coming of age and symbolism and practice synthesizing between two literary texts around both theme and meaning.

Guiding Questions

• What strategies do you use for identifying and interpreting symbols?
• On what basis do you determine that an object, event, image, etc. stands for more than the literal?
• How can we use our coming of age criteria to evaluate a literary text?

Texts/Materials

• “Linoleum Roses”
• “The Rose That Grew From Concrete”
• Synthesis Support Sheet

Activities

1. Instruct students to read “Linoleum Roses” silently. Then ask them to read it again and annotate, paying particular attention to the chracter: challenges and conflicts, what motivates the character, unusual things they notice about the character, etc. Once they have annotated, instruct students to discuss their annotations with a partner. 

2. Lead a whole class discussion. First, let students share and discuss what they noticed about the vignette in their annotations. Then, ask students to identify possible symbols and what they may indicate about the character and her world.  Discuss the following questions:

• What strategies did you use in identifying these symbols?
• How do we know the narrator isn’t just talking about flowers?
• Do these symbols seem to be positive or negative?
• How do these symbols help us to think about the character and her larger world?

3. Put students in small groups to discuss whether they think the narrator has come of age:

• Has this character come of age?
• What coming of age criteria did you use to determine your response?
• What evidence from the text helped you to think about the character’s coming of age?

Share out as a whole class. 

4. Pass out the synthesis support sheet and ask students to work through the questions on their own. Once they finish all but the last question, have them work in groups of three to construct arguments together on a large wall chart or post-it note. When they finish, have them present their arguments to the class. 

Assessment

The following are means of assessing students during activities so instruction can be adjusted and differentiated according to students’ needs.

• Text annotations
• Class discussions
• Synthesis support sheet
• Written argument