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Spanish Language Arts   
Work Sample & Commentary:    Ojos
The task
After reading “Hairs” from the book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, students were asked to write a narrative account incorporating some of the techniques used in this short story. This student chose to write about “Ojos” (Eyes).

Circumstances of performance
This sample of student work was produced under the following conditions:
alone in a group
in class as homework
with teacher feedback with peer feedback
timed opportunity for revision

What the work shows
b Writing: The student produces a response to literature that:
• engages the reader through establishing a context, creating a persona, and otherwise developing reader interest;
• advances a judgment that is interpretive, analytic, evaluative, or reflective;
• supports a judgment through references to the text, references to other works, authors, or non-print media, or references to personal knowledge;
• demonstrates understanding of the literary work through suggesting an interpretation;
• anticipates and answers a reader’s questions;
• recognizes possible ambiguities, nuances, and complexities;
• provides a sense of closure to the writing.

This work sample illustrates a standard-setting performance for the following parts of the standards:
b Writing: Produce a response to literature.
a Conventions: Demonstrate an understanding of the rules of the Spanish language.
b Literature: Produce work in at least one literary genre that follows the conventions of the genre.
The work engages the reader through an initial introduction to the family which also establishes the context. This description of the family also creates the persona of the narrator as that of an affectionate, observant child. The student continued to develop reader interest by describing a specific family characteristic, i.e., the eyes, using figurative language.

The student advanced a judgment of the text indirectly by incorporating the author’s techniques and style into the description of the student’s family. The student demonstrated a recognition of the nuances and complexities of the author’s text by reinventing it using personal experience. The use of strategies similar to those used by the author also demonstrates the student’s understanding of the literary work.
The student used personal experience to create rich and vibrant images of the family members. These images draw on familiar events from the student’s culture, experience, and environment, such as making coconut candy and comparing the mother’s eyes to strong, black coffee.
The careful selection of language is apparent in such images as “Café Bustelo, acabado de colar...” (Bustelo coffee, just brewed). The imagery created here is visual and olfactory. The work depicts a familial scene that symbolizes warmth and security in the student’s cultural environment. The use of the brand name here adds authenticity and credibility to the work.

The student provided a sense of closure to the writing by describing her own eyes. This completes the sequence created at the beginning: “Mi mama…mi padrastro…y yo.” (My mother…my stepfather…and me.)

a Conventions, Grammar, and Usage of the Spanish Language. The student independently and habitually demonstrates an understanding of the rules of the Spanish language in written and oral work, and selects the structures and features of language appropriate to the purpose, audience, and context of the work. The student demonstrates control of:
• grammar;
• paragraph structure;
• punctuation;
• sentence construction;
• spelling;
• usage.

The work demonstrates an overall understanding of the rules of the Spanish language. Minor spelling and grammatical errors do not detract from the work. For example, the student has made some errors in constructing the plural (“lleno” should be “llenos” and “claro” should be “claros”). This is a common error as the final “s” is often dropped in pronunciation. The error in the fourth line of the final paragraph (“bastate” instead of “bastante,”) appears to be a typographical error rather than an error of spelling.

b Literature: The student produces work in at least one literary genre that follows the conventions of the genre.

The work demonstrates an understanding of the conventions of poetic prose. The student created a series of descriptions that include a variety of sensory details, e.g., sight: color, lit matches; taste: sweetness, chocolate, hot coffee; smell: hot coffee; touch: warmth; and emotions: anger and happiness.

The student used a variety of poetic techniques, such as:
similes, such as, when the student compares the stepfather’s eyes with honey or the sun’s glow on a rainy day;
vivid imagery, such as the comparison of the student’s eyes to dry, autumn leaves;
metaphors; and
personification.

NOTE: The student’s computer application does not provide the opportunity for proper punctuation in Spanish (e.g., accent marks, inverted question marks, etc.)