Resources

by Jenny Robinson Hartley

Jenny Robinson Hartley studied fiction at Sarah Lawrence College and taught creative writing in New York City and Seattle public schools. She currently lives in Atlanta where she continues to work on her own writing.

Robinson Hartley taught the following lesson to a group of elementary school students in Brooklyn, New York.

1. Introduce Reading: “Hairs,” from Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street

“Everybody in our family has different hair. My Papa’s hair is like a broom, all up in the air. And me, my hair is lazy. It never obeys barrettes or bands. Carlos’ hair is thick and straight. He doesn’t need to comb it. Nenny’s hair is slippery—slides out of your hand. And Kiki, who is the youngest, has hair like fur.

“But my mother’s hair, my mother’s hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty because she pinned it in pin-curls all day, sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for you on her side of the bed still warm with her skin, and you sleep near her, the rain outside falling and Papa snoring. The snoring, the rain, and Mama’s hair that smells like bread.”

(a) Read the piece out loud to the class once or twice, and once with the class.

(b) After reading the piece ask them some questions about it:

—What do you know about the members of the narrator’s family based on their hair? Can you tell who’s younger and who’s older?

—What does the narrator’s description of the hair in her family tell you about her feelings about them? Particularly, how does her description of her mother’s hair describe how her mother makes her feel?

—What are the metaphors in the story? How do the metaphors shape the story? Is this story really about hair?

2. Lead into Writing

(a) Compile a list on the board of different kinds of characters that you could describe from the point of view of the narrator. This could include: family members, friends, teachers, pets, etc.

(b) Compile a second list of specific physical characteristics that you could use to describe another person. This could include: hair, eyes, hands, voice, height, etc.

(c) Talk to the class about how age, mood, and your feelings toward a person can be indicated by describing them through specific physical details. For example:

—an older person’s hands may be gnarled and veiny, but a baby’s hands are smooth and soft; people who work outside with their hands may have calluses; angry people may clench their hands into fists, etc.

3. Writing:

Ask the class to write about an individual person or a group of people (like a family group, group of friends, sports team, etc.), using specific physical details to describe them. Ask them to use the physical details of each person to say something about who that person is and what that person or group of people means to them.

—Tell the class that you will be looking for metaphors and similes within their descriptions.

—Tell them that as the narrators of the story, they have the power to describe their characters exactly as they see them, but that they should think about their audience and who else may read this so that they don’t offend anyone with a harsh description.

—While the kids write, go around the room and encourage them to expand their details through metaphors and similes and ask them questions about what they are writing to encourage them to go farther with their descriptions.