Page 154 - The Language of Composition 4e Teacher Edition Sample.indd

Organic Chemistry Taught Me to
4
TRM ELL Essential Guide Handout Fully Inhabit My Mixed Identities
An ELL Essential Guide for this reading Identity Ariana Remmel
can be found in the Teacher’s Resource
Materials. Ariana Remmel (b. 1991) is a science journalist with an MA in
chemistry from the University of California, San Diego who is currently Ariana Remmel, photo by Erin Malsbury.
pursuing an MA in science communication from the University of
TRM Vocabulary Handout California, Santa Cruz. Named a 2020 Diversity Fellow by the National
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs have been used for this sample chapter.
Vocabulary in Context exercises based on Association of Science Writers, they have produced work for KQED
challenging words from this reading can be Public Radio, Catapult, Science News, and other publications around
found in the Teacher’s Resource Materials. the world. The following essay was published in Catapult magazine in 2021.
he splashes of children playing in the pool too?” There are tears welling up in my eyes,
BUILDING CONTEXT T echo through the hot summer air. I’m not which my mother cannot see because my
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
allowed in the deep end yet, not without my brother is now naked and waddling toward
The link to this essay on Catapult’s site floaties. Even then, I am afraid that a shark will the pool.
includes hand-drawn diagrams of the pro- sneak up and eat my toes because Dad told me “Ariana Maria Remmel! You are a girl, and
fessor’s equations, and you might show that this is what happens to little girls who go this is what girls wear. End of discussion!” She
them to your students as you discuss the to the deep end without a grown-up. I am five has said it in that voice that feels like a punch in
essay. Remmel also talked to NPR about years old. the gut, that steals the air out of me. I do not
the essay in June 2021; the eleven-minute My brother has just turned one. He toddles dare tell her that I do not want to be a girl. I don’t
interview is available on NPR’s website with the help of my mother’s hand. Normally, know how to say that yet.
with the title “Organic Chemistry Helped she would have dressed him in a swim diaper
Me Embrace My Identities.” You could play that swells like a balloon once he submerges in • • •
some of the beginning of it as a prelude, or the kiddie pool. Today, Mom has put him in a I hate going to church. Dad never comes, so it is
you could recommend it to students after pair of baby-blue swim trunks. just me, my siblings, and my mother at St.
they read the essay. Remmel’s website “I want to wear swim trunks,” I tell my Edward’s Cathedral. The Mass is entirely in
also has links to many other articles they mother. Spanish. I do not speak Spanish. No one speaks
have written: some are more technical “Swim trunks are for boys, honey. You get to Spanish to me.
than others, and you could ask students to wear a one-piece.” She is curt because my Mom tried to teach us when we were little,
consider the rhetorical situations and com- brother is crying. He has thrown his chupón 1 but I am twelve now and I’ve learned to hate the 10
pare Remmel’s writing styles for different onto the concrete and she is trying to find a sound of it. It is the sound of a priest who tells
publications.
clean one. me that a woman’s hair is her glory. It is the
“But I want to wear swim trunks.” 1 5 sound of our housekeeper Elizabeth who nags
“Sweetie, girls have to cover up. You can’t me about putting away my toys. It is the sound of
DIFFERENTIATION walk around bare chested. It’s just not right.” She my mother saying something on the phone to a
is trying to be reasonable, but my brother has relative I’ve never met that she doesn’t want me
Collaborative Learning begun to remove the swim trunks altogether. to hear.
You might have students examine Rem- I look at my brother’s chest, then tug at my But it is also the only language my abuelita 2
mel’s syntax in the opening section. You swimsuit to look down at my own. “But, Mama, I understands. Mama has named me after her
could ask students to consider the choices look just like him! Why can’t I wear swim trunks own mother — Maria — but Lita can no longer
Remmel makes that are appropriate for the
content (and have them notice how the 1 Spanish for pacifier. — Eds. 2 Spanish for grandma. — Eds.
simple sentences convey a five-year old’s 260
experience). You could also ask them to
compare Remmel’s syntax to some other
texts they have read: perhaps choose
another essay that begins with an anecdote
(such as Kaminsky’s or Staples’s) and to 05_sheatlc4e_40925_ch04_170_315.indd 260 12/10/22 2:36 PM
contrast their syntax. How does the syntax
in the introduction help to engage the audi-
ence? Partners could come up with several
statements of commentary, and then the
class could discuss them. You could also
suggest to students that they pay attention
to Remmel’s syntax throughout the essay:
when do they use more complex
sentences, and why?

260 chapter 4 / Identity

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