Reading

Lesson 14: The Last Cuentista and “Blancaflor”

50 min

California CCSS: Focus Standards

Student Lesson

Content

Students will compare the content and structure of a folktale, “Blancaflor,” and its adaptation within The Last Cuentista.

Language

Students will compare structure, pacing, and point of view using compare-and-contrast language and text evidence.

Foundations

Students will practice fluency by reading a short excerpt of Blancaflor with accuracy, phrasing, and attention to punctuation and expression.

How does memory help us understand who we are, and what is lost when memory disappears?

Knowledge-Building:

Students analyze how Higuera uses a traditional story within her modern novel to enhance meaning and character development.

Enduring Understanding:

Stories carry wisdom across time, and when people adapt them, they preserve identity while responding to new situations.

Future Lessons:

In Lessons 15 and 16, students continue to practice and apply narrative writing.

Unit Performance Task:

Students prepare for their own narrative writing by studying how writers reshape a traditional story by adapting content and structure.

Lesson Flow	Purpose of Learning Experience
Launch5 Minutes	Students revisit their homework to share annotations about the similarities and differences between the two versions of “Blancaflor.”
Literacy Lab10 Minutes	Students practice fluency with a short excerpt from “Blancaflor” to develop expression and pacing.
Learning in Action30 Minutes	Part A: Comparing Content and Structure (RL.8.5, RL.8.9) Students will compare the traditional tale and Petra’s retelling by determining similarities and differences in the content, characters, structure, and pacing. Part B: Analyzing Adaptations (RL.8.5, RL.8.9) Students will share ideas with various partners about how Higuera makes the cuento her own through structure, pacing, point of view, and dialogue.

Material List

Routines

Short-Form Text

Blancaflor

970L (English Version)

(1 total)