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Reflection Piece

As I reflect on my personal experience in exploring the multigenre project as a student, I

remember reading over the assignment sheet in September and feeling overwhelmed and a little

confused by the work ahead of us. I knew that I was glad to have chosen The House on Mango

Street, but, as I looked at all the genres we would eventually create, my first reaction was to

think that the multigenre approach was unnecessary, even like busy work. This checking-off-the-

boxes feeling continued even after I had enjoyed the novella, decided on a core question, and felt

energized by my contextual choices in Genre 1. As I worked through the genres, I liked creating

each piece and thinking about how the genre’s form carries meaning, but the pieces felt

disconnected from my core question and from each other. However, my feelings and approach

shifted when I created the alternative perspective piece, my narrative from Sally’s perspective. I

just loved shaping that narrative—exploring Sally’s values/motivations, drawing from Cisneros’s

writing style, and deciding how to craft something meaningful and resonant. I was/am so proud

of it. Moving forward from that piece along the continual revision schedule, the rhythm of

creating and recreating provided space for me to really marinate on my core question and the

running threads through each of my pieces. Had the revision process not been such an integral

part of this project, I absolutely think that my understanding of my text, core question, and pieces

as a whole would not have been as deep or developed. By the end of putting all the genres on the

Weebly, I felt a strong sense of connection between my pieces, question, and text—a definite

finished product, one that I was truly proud of. Also, I found out that I love designing websites! I

never would have taken the time to try if I had not been asked.

In addition to my personal experiences of unexpected joy in creating and immense

growth in revising, the multigenre project’s multiple entry points allowed me to interact with my
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core question in ways that produced insights I never would have gained on my own, even though

some form of the question had been on my mind for a long time (discussed in my embroidery

piece). I think that I am usually satisfied with teasing out different angles to a problem and their

contributions to a potential solution, but leave it there without trying to tie the pieces together to

form my own stance. This project, especially the conclusion of the contextual piece which I

revised after creating the rest of the genres, asked me step outside my comfort zone to draw some

conclusions and offer some insights as a result of my study. I am thankful for that opportunity to

put a stake in the ground instead of remaining content to float in a nebulous cloud of questions

with no real insights. I love that thinking about identity, belonging, and “home” in The House on

Mango Street led me to a both/and. I learned that, when confronting the costs and benefits of

identifying and disidentifying with our “home,” we need to acknowledge the injustice embedded

in the places that have shaped us while simultaneously using the ways in which injustice has

formed our identities to drive a deepening sense of empathy, dignity, justice, and overall

humanity in our relationships with ourselves and those around us. This is something profoundly

communicated through Esperanza’s telling of her story, but getting the chance to learn how to

articulate it in my own words was empowering.

As I transition from a student into a teacher, I cannot wait to use The House on Mango

Street as fast as I can in my classroom, and I cannot wait to incorporate the multigenre project

into my curriculum. This is not even coming from a person riding the high of a nice, finished

project—I genuinely think the multigenre approach is wildly beneficial for students, both as a

basis for individual or small-group activities as well as material for summative assessment.

Because this project allows students to play to their strengths and interests while growing their

areas of weakness through the exploration of a central question/text through multiple genres, the
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multigenre is invaluable as an assessment strategy that accounts for multiple intelligences while

teaching the skills necessary for each genre and continually re-thinking the core question. I can

see the multigenre working well as summative assessment for a unit as well as for an entire

course, which could allow students to draw from genres of reading and writing from several units

(if there is an overarching essential question or theme for the course). However, I think equally

as important as the multigenre approach is this project’s emphasis on revision. Having the

opportunity (even if I did not want the opportunity at the time) to re-think, re-work, and polish

my pieces made for a depth of understanding I simply would not have had I only received

comments about one draft after submission. Revision allowed me to truly take creative risks, and

it left me feeling fulfilled and proud of my work. All this to say—this multigenre has provided

material and a structure that I feel excited to creatively adapt for my future students, knowing

confidently that it will be a worthwhile experience for them as learners and as people.