ELA

Open-Ended Response Models

Question
You have heard about Esperanza's trials and tribulations with her trip to the U.S. from Mexico in Esperanza Rising and
read the selection, "Mexican Immigration History: Longer, more Complex than U.S. Mexican border." by the Library of
Congress.

Compare these texts by identifying ideas that overlapped. How did certain events in both stories relate? Did any of the
events in the article relate to Esperanza Rising? USE TEXT EVIDENCE from both sources to support your ideas and
explanations.

Essential Criteria
Components: ​Clear Title, Topic, Thesis, Correct Answer to ​All Parts​ of the Question, Direct Evidence from
Source, ​Thorough​ Explanation of Evidence on How it Relates to Each Part of the Question, Conclusion with
possible Counterclaim, Transition Words, Organization of Ideas

Exceeding Expectations: EE
Sample:
​ "Esperanza's Rising " is a book about a girl, Esperanza who recently lost her father as well as her house. But when her
evil step uncle proposed to her Mother, that night they went on a journey to California to get a job as growing crops or
farming. However, the article, " Mexican Immigration History: Longer, more Complex than U.S.-Mexico Border" Is about
when Mexicans overnight, the Mexicans got into the U.S. , however were not treated fairly. These texts have similarities
and differences, however I will be explaining some similarities.

The first similarity is tricky. But to simplify it for you, I will use evidence from the article. For example, in the text it says, "
More than 4 million immigrants were sent back to Mexico." This shows that some a lot of the Mexicans were attempting
to get across the border to the U.S. however 4 million were sent back. In the same way, in Esperanza's Rising, she
remembered that when she was passing the guards for her paperwork and VISAS, that there was another train for all of
the people who were being sent back to Mexico, whether they didn't have the right paperwork, or one of their family
members didn't so they all went back , just like how Mexicans were sent back to Mexico when trying to get into the U.S.
The second similarity between the text were was when people in the article/book who were treated unfairly. For
example, in the article it says, " By the end of the 19th century, Mexican-Americans had their land taken and were
treated as second class citizen." A second class citizen is a citizen who were not treated as dominant as the first-class
citizens. In Esperanza's Rising, at first Mama said no to Tio Luis's proposal, as a result, the uncles set Esperanza's house
on fire taking away their whole farm, (taking their land) and, when Papa died, Tio Luis only acknowledged Mama, and
not Esperanza, kind of like a second- class citizen.

A third similarity is that according to the article, Mexicans tried to live in the U.S. for a better life. However the
government ruined it for them. Just like how Esperanza and her mother are trying to go to California` for a better life
away from Tio Luis, also the Mexicans were trying to get jobs, while Esperanza and her mother are trying to work with
crops or on farms.

Another similarity is that when Esperanza and her family didn’t have the documentation, however they used false
documents. In the same way, some mexicans didn’t have documents- but they snuck in without paperwork. These are
alike because even though that 4 million of the mexicans got caught, a lot of them got through, as well as Esperanza
and her family.

A last similarity is that in the article, it said that the Mexican territory turned to U.S. territory- many Mexicans remained,
but in Esperanza’s Rising, Esperanza knew she had family in California.

From reasons in the article of, "Mexican Immigration History: Longer, more complex than U.S.-Mexico Border" and the
book of, "Esperanza's Rising" and my own knowledge, I know that there is similarities between the two texts. Hopefully,
you will understand that even though the texts sound different, they are alike if you take a little closer look​.

Meeting Expectations: ME
In the book "Esperanza Rising", the main character Esperanza, her family and their servant's left Mexico to go to the
United States. This relates to the article "Mexican Immigration History: Longer, more Complex than U.S.-Mexico border",
because tons of Mexicans also left Mexico to go to the United States for better lives. In the United States, Mexicans
would get treated equally, and have freedom of speech. Esperanza and her family and servants left Mexico to go to
California, because after Esperanza's papa passed away Tio Luis became in charge. Tio Luis is not a nice man. He
ignores Esperanza and he burnt down her house, resulting in him asking Esperanza's mama to marry him, and she said
yes. Esperanza was furious at her mama, but her mama told Esperanza, "Don't worry Esperanza, I have a plan." And she
did have a plan. Her plan was that all of them left to go to California, (meaning Mama, Alfonso, Miguel, and Esperanza).
They escaped by telling Tio Luis they were going to go visit Esperanza’s abuelita, and they took the wagon and
escaped. This is related to the article because some of the Mexicans left Mexico to go to the United States because they
would have been treated better and/or have more benefits than in Mexico.

Also, another overlapping event in the article and book is that in the book, Tio Luis burnt Esperanza's house down, and
there paperwork to cross the U.S.-Mexico burnt down in the fire. So they didn't have the real paperwork and they snuck
in with false paperwork. This relates to the article because a lot of Mexicans who didn't have the right paperwork snuck
in also, without the right paperwork instead of having the real right paperwork.

Another overlapping idea is that Esperanza left Mexico to go to the program in the United States-- to work on farms.
This relates to the article because there was a bracero program to offer field work to immigrants so that they could start
working while they are in the United States.

Some people might think that “Esperanza Rising” and the article about Mexican immigration are very different but
there are definitely a lot of overlapping events that connect between the book and article. Therefore, the book
“Esperanza Rising” and the article "Mexican Immigration History: Longer, more Complex than U.S.-Mexico border" have
a lot of overlapping events that connect the book and article because a lot of Mexicans left Mexico for better service
and better lives in the United States.

Approaching Expectations: AE
The comparisons of the article "Mexican Immigration History: Longer, more Complex than U.S.-Mexico border" and
the novel "Esperanza Rising" are alike and not alike.

One reason is that they both had a choice to either stay in mexico, or leave to the U.S. Also both had to leave mexico
because of the government. Esperanza left because tio luis who is the mayor wanted to marry mama and get all the
land so they left to the U.S. The mexicans left because the economy was failing and also the infrastructure because
they had lost the war and lost all the land.
Both left mexico and moved to the U.S to have a better life.

They also both sneaked into the U.S because they didn’t have a visa. Esperanza used false documents to get in the
U.S. They both had a program that encourages mexican immigrants to come into the U.S. They also left because they
left for there family since mexico owned california before the war, after the war there was millions of mexicans still A
difference is that the U.S government was getting tired of mexicans just entering the country so they started deporting
people which means sending immigrants back where they came from. That did not happen to Esperanza yet.

Therefore The article and the article are alike, and not alike.

Below Expectations: BE
 
The one idea that overlapped is that Mexicans are having trouble crossing the border and Esperanza had trouble
getting through the border. Some Mexicans snuck in without proper paperwork and Esperanza snuck in with fake
paperwork. The ones that snuck in with fake paperwork were most likely to get get caught but some didn't get caught.
In Esperanza Rising they received fake paperwork from the nuns, although they didn't get caught sneaking through the
border.