Miss Daly/Eng. Lit.

/12-5-23

TOPIC:

Discuss the first half of “Holler If You Hear Me” and answer questions to further student
understanding of the struggles of being a teacher.

OBJECTIVES/STANDARDS:

After discussing the book, TSWBAT have a general understanding of the book and be able to
discuss it with others. They should understand how to apply this information to their future lives as an
educator.

TEACHING PROCEDURES:

1) Introduction (Anticipatory Set)- “Have you ever been in a situation where you were losing
control? How did you handle it?”
2) Development- “In our book, we learn about some of the struggles of teaching from the firsthand
perspective of an educator. He brings us through what it is like trying to gain control of a
classroom in order to guide students to success. We are going to discuss these issues so we can
be more equipped to handle this in our future classrooms.”
3) Chapter 1 Questions
a. Mitchie starts his first story by telling us about students that were clearly not interested
in focusing on class. They were walking around class, not prepared, and just talking
amongst themselves. He tells us specifically about one student, Tavares, who always
wanted to distract the class. Why do you think these behaviors were occurring?
b. Mitchie describes his first year of teaching as “one long fight for control.” Is classroom
control important? Why or why not?
c. Mitchie grew up in a very integrated area where he was around just as many black
people as white people. When he came to Chicago, he was surprised to see how much
racial distrust and segregation there was. Do you think his lifestyle growing up was still
able to assist him with understanding these kids? Explain.
d. In his first year, Mitchie was so frustrated and angry with trying to teaching these
students who just did not seem to care. He watched another teacher’s will be broken so
badly that she just gave up. How do you think you would feel, and how would you
handle this?
e. When the kids came up with the idea to do a trial, Mitchie expressed how hard it was to
let go of some control. Do you think it is important to give students some control?
4) Tavares Questions
a. After hearing his story, does this line up with his behaviors back in school?
b. How do you think knowing the backstory of a student would help you as their teacher?
5) Chapter 2 Questions
a. The administrators did not seem to care about Mitchie’s certification, but instead started
off with, “How do you handle discipline?” Why do you think this is?
b. Think about the two situations with Diana and Hector. What was the issue with each of
them?
c. How did his approach to these situations differ?
6) Hector Questions
a. Why was the story always so different from Hector and his mother?
b. Did Hector really care about his mom? Why or why not?
c. Hector confesses that he just wished the teachers would have spent more time with
him. Why did he feel he was not getting enough attention?
d. His mother said whether or not she worked, people will always say she is a bad mother.
What do you think she should do?
7) Chapter 3 Questions
a. Many of the teachers at Quincy called their students names. What is the importance of
positive reinforcement?
b. Mitchie had some strict rules in place to handle the rowdier students, but this seemed
to negatively affect the ones that followed every word he said. How would you handle
these different types of students at the same time?
8) Armando Questions
a. Armando tells Mitchie he would feel embarrassed when he said the wrong thing. Being
labeled as the bad “I don’t care” kid, do you think the teachers ever considered that he
might feel embarrassed?
b. Armando says that no matter how hard he tries, his teachers only tell him he is not doing
well and help the other students instead. Why do you think that’s the case?
c. “If they want kids to do better, they should be keeping them in school instead of kicking
them out.” What do you think about this statement?
9) Chapter 4 Questions
a. Mitchie’s classmates UIC had a range of attitudes. Some were cheerful and positive, but
some were just burned out. They had given up on enjoying their careers, and were just
trying to get through it. When you become an educator, do you think you will be the
same way after a while? How could you keep yourself in check to make sure you are
continually teaching with a purpose?
b. Why do you think Nancy still wanted to come to school after her house burned down?
10) Nancy
a. Nancy tells Michie how for most Mexican girls, their biggest expectation is just to
graduate high school or get married, because that is all they have been taught. How do
you think their attitudes would change if their parents supported the idea of them going
to school?
b. Why was it so important to her not to forget where she came from?
11) Chapter 5 Questions
a. Why didn’t the American students want anything to do with students who were “too
Mexican?”
b. Why was it important for Mitchie to educate himself on the background of his students?
 c. Why were the students so confused on what being a Mexican American went? Why
didn’t they know anything about their own ethnicity?
d. How did team teaching change their classroom?
12) Lourdes Questions
a. Why did they tell Lourdes her music was not “real music?”
b. How do you think Lourdes felt being faced with the stereotypes of the new place?
c. Lourdes realized that coming here can make you lose part of your culture. Why is that?

MATERIALS:

- The book “Holler If You Can Hear Me”

- My lesson plan
- A highlighter

ADAPTIONS/PLAN MODIFICATIONS

If students are not answering any questions, they may have trouble understanding the question.
Rephrasing the question and slowing down to only two questions per chapter may be necessary. If
discussion is going much quicker, encourage students to ask their own questions or tell us about
something they found interesting.

EVALUATION:

Formative Assessment: Students’ participation in discussion will assess how much of the book
they read/understood.

REFLECTION:

1) Was my group engaged in the discussion? Did they have insightful thoughts and opinions on the
material? Did they have a full understanding of the first half of the book?
2) Did I facilitate the discussion well enough that everyone got a chance to speak? Did I explain my
questions and thoughts clearly? Did I keep the discussion track so we could cover each chapter?