Lesson 13: The Last Cuentista, Chapter 16

Turn and Talk

Have students take out the Chapter 16 annotations they completed for homework. Organize the class into partners. Direct students to use the Turn and Talk routine to discuss their annotations and their responses to the question below.

Say these Directions: Review your annotations from Chapter 16. What are the causes and effects of Petra's decision to share a cuento with Zeta-4?

• Petra is awakened when Zeta-4 has a nightmare. She feels bad for the girl, who has remembered her mother. Petra wakes her up, and when she sees “tears in her eyes” (p. 119-120) and “think[s] of what Lita would have done to comfort her,” she decides to sing her a song and tell her a story. As a result of the story, Petra forms a bond with Feathers and Rubio. She also decides that she must not let this be the way her “story ends,” that she has something to fight for despite the loss of her family (p. 125). It feels scary when Rubio says, “‘I will not say anything either.” Petra questions, “What have I done?” (p. 125) When Crick walks in, it becomes apparent that he could have caught Petra, and everything would have been lost.

Invite students to share two or three quick responses with the class.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: In our Spark lessons and in earlier chapters, we've learned about the importance of memories and storytelling. Today, we'll take a closer look at the significance of Petra's cuento in Chapter 16.

Word Associations

Target Words: assimilation, aberration, compliance, dogma, unanimity

Say these Directions: We're reviewing the words assimilation, aberration, compliance, dogma, and unanimity today. These words help us understand important events in The Last Cuentista. Let’s explore the connections between these words more deeply.

Introduce the Activity: Present the words assimilation, aberration, compliance, dogma, and unanimity to students. Have students work with a partner to discuss the relationship between the words.

• Ask: How are assimilation and unanimity related to each other?

  • Unanimity refers to a total consensus or undivided opinion. It means being in harmony and agreement. Assimilation, on the other hand, refers to being absorbed into a group’s culture. Assimilation is a long-term experience that involves the loss of one’s original culture or identity as a person becomes absorbed into another group. Once assimilation is complete, unanimity can be achieved.

Share Student Connections: Share in a whole group some connections made by student pairs.

Connecting Words: After students share, prompt students' connections across words.

• Ask: If someone were fighting against assimilation, what would they be fighting for?

  • They would be fighting for individuality or having a unique identity.

• Ask: Consider what you have read about assimilation and unanimity in The Last Cuentista. How do these two words work together?

  • Through assimilation and other methods, the Collective creates unanimity among its members and among the Zetas.

Student-Directed Connections: Have the partners select two new words from the list. Then have students respond to the following prompts:

• Ask: Choose two other target words. How are the words you selected related to each other?

  • We chose compliance and dogma. For a group to uphold or enforce its dogma, they need compliance from its members.

• Ask: Consider what you have read in The Last Cuentista. How do these two words work together?

  • In The Last Cuentista, the Collective enforces compliance with its dogma of consensus by providing its members with tonics that control how they feel.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: As we discuss Chapter 16, consider the ways these words apply to or affect Petra and the other Zetas as they live among the Collective.

Part A: Graffiti/Table Talk (RL.8.2, RL.8.3, SL.8.1.a) (20 minutes)

Discuss with the students the themes about storytelling that students have encountered so far in The Last Cuentista.

• Say: So far in The Last Cuentista, Petra listens to Lita’s cuentos, remembers her grandmother and the stories during difficult moments aboard the ship, and now, in Chapter 16, she tells a cuento of her own to Zeta-4. But Rubio is listening, too. Today, we're going to dig into what happens when Petra chooses to tell a story. What does she gain? What does she risk? And what do we learn about the power of stories inside a system like the Collective's?

Graffiti/Table Talk

Organize the class into groups of three or four students and give each group two pieces of chart paper or have them work on a collaborative digital board. Tell students they will use the Graffiti/Table Talk routine to respond to questions about Chapter 16. Briefly describe the process.

Say these Directions: I will pose a question, and each of you will silently record your ideas and answers on the paper or board. We will continue that process for a set of two or three questions. Then, you will work with your groups to make connections among your individual responses. Finally, you will work together to summarize the connections among your ideas.

Present the questions below one at a time. Tell students they will have only a couple of minutes to record their answers on the first piece of chart paper or the first board. Remind them to respond individually and use brief notes in their responses.

Say these Directions: Individually respond to the following questions.

• Ask: What new opportunities does Petra create by sharing a cuento with Feathers (Zeta-4)?

  • She builds a personal connection with Feathers.

  • She shares a traditional story or cultural knowledge from Earth with other Zetas.

  • She critiques the Collective with the description of the villain: "skin as white as milk" and "no hair on his head" (p. 122).

  • She opens a door for Feathers to recover her erased memories.

  • The sharing of the story motivates Petra to keep fighting as she says, “[t]his can’t be the way my story ends” (p. 125).

• Ask: What new dangers does Petra create by sharing the cuento? Who is in danger, and why?

  • Petra: She indirectly reveals that she hasn’t been reprogrammed when she tells the story.

  • Petra: Rubio "had been listening the entire time" (p. 125) and could report her to the Collective.

  • Feathers: Participates in storytelling by listening, which can cause her danger with the Collective.

  • Feathers: Remembers Earth in her dreams, and Petra consoles her.

  • Rubio: Joins in on the secret of the storytelling by admitting the story was “wonderful,” which can cause trouble for him (p. 125).

• Say: Now, work with your group to draw connections between your ideas.

Provide time for the student groups to collaborate and make connections between their ideas.

• Ask: What themes does Higuera convey through Petra’s choice and the telling of the story?

  • Opportunities come with serious risks, but the risks are worth it because Petra “can’t live a life without [her] memories” (p. 126). Another theme is the idea that storytelling and memory are more important than a life of conformity and compliance to the Collective, that memories and stories are what bring us joy and comfort, and a life without them isn’t worth living.

Continue with the next question set, repeating the process with the student groups on the second piece of chart paper or second board. Make sure students are prepared to respond individually first.

Say these Directions: Individually respond to the following questions.

• Ask: What role do the use of Spanish and English play in the text? Why is it important to have both?

  • Because Petra’s family is Mexican American, the use of Spanish and English represents her cultural identity.

  • The use of Spanish and English demonstrates the strong connection between Lita and Petra and how Petra remembers her grandmother.

  • Petra’s bilingualism and her grandmother’s cuentos are tools of resistance and identity against the Collective’s forced assimilation.

  • The use of Spanish and English also shows the “Spanglish” her grandmother uses to tell stories that have been “passed” down through the generations, which reflect the rich oral storytelling tradition of Petra’s heritage (p. 122).

• Ask: How is Petra's storytelling a form of resistance? How is it a form of identity?

  • The storytelling works against the erasure of memory.

  • The storytelling conveys the history of Earth and different cultures.

  • It builds camaraderie amongst the Zetas, as they enjoy the “wonderful” story (p. 125).

  • It builds Petra’s confidence in herself to push back against the Collective since she knows telling the story is “worth the risk” (p. 120).

  • It shows how Petra can be a “storyteller” like Lita (p. 122).

• Ask: What ideas, knowledge, or values does her story communicate to her listeners?

  • The villain uses the same tactics as the Collective, as Petra explains, they have a “fear of the outside world” (p. 122).

  • The story teaches Feathers to question authority, as Blancaflor in Petra’s version goes on to “outwit her own ogre of a father” (p. 124).

  • The story communicates cultural knowledge from planet Earth.

  • The hero demonstrates good leadership, as she rules with “intelligence and kindness” (p. 124).

Say these Directions: Now, work with your group to draw connections between your ideas.

Provide time for the student groups to collaborate and make connections between their ideas.

Once students have made connections between their ideas, instruct the student groups to write a theme that is developed in Chapter 16.

Say these Directions: Now that you have finished collaborating about Chapter 16, review your notes, make connections between your ideas, and write a theme that is developed in Chapter 16.

• The theme that is developed in Chapter 16 is that storytelling can be an act of resistance. Because Petra knows that the Collective does not want the ship’s inhabitants to remember the past, she is actively resisting their conformity by telling a cuento that has been passed down from her grandmother to her.

Part B: Gallery Walk (RL.8.2, RL.8.3) (10 minutes)

Display the charts that each group created in response to the question sets around the room. Distribute sticky notes to students (two of each color). Assign one color to "similar ideas" and another to "different ideas." Then, transition students to the Gallery Walk routine.

Gallery Walk

Say these Directions: Walk around the room to read the responses generated by other groups. Use the sticky notes to identify ideas that were similar to and different from your group’s. Include an explanation, idea, or question on each sticky note that you place.

Provide students with a confidence continuum (i.e., 1–5). As needed, model how to demonstrate a level of confidence using the continuum.

Quick Write

Have students reflect on their learning by explaining how Petra pushes back against one of the Collective’s ideals.

Say these Directions: Look at the vocabulary words from the Literacy Lab: assimilation, aberration, compliance, dogma, and unanimity. Pick the one that you think Petra pushes back against the most in Chapter 16. Then, write one to two sentences explaining her actions and how those actions go against that idea.

• Petra challenges compliance in Chapter 16 by choosing to tell a cuento rather than remain silent as expected under the Collective's rules. While the other Zetas comply with the system, accepting the tonic and the dogma without protest, Petra risks her own safety by sharing a story that carries forbidden knowledge about Earth because she knows it's “worth the risk” (p. 120). Her act of storytelling is a deliberate refusal to comply with the Collective's demand that the past be forgotten.

Provide students with a copy of the story “Blancaflor.” Instruct students to read “Blancaflor” and respond to the following prompt in their Journal:

Read the story of “Blancaflor” and respond to the following prompt in your Journal:

• How is the traditional story similar to or different from Petra’s version in Chapter 16?