Reaching Out

Abandoning family to attain a college education..this biography gives you insight as to why such a choice is worthwhile.

Leading a life of poverty amongst his family dedicated to migrant, Jimenez can only hope for a better future. When he is given the opportunity to attend college at Santa Clara University, Frank is quickly hesitant but after a lot of consideration accepts. Fearing he will be much unlike the rest of his classmates, he endures the drive to the university in the company of his entire family. Moving into his dormitory and meeting his roomate is one of the many obstacles he is able to overcome. Though each day comes with a new struggle he is persistent with his work and is kindly rewarded in the end.

Websites

• Continuing with the biography of his life, this website informs the eager readers about who Francisco Jimenez is today and the reasons he crafted each of the novels about his life.
• A teacher may use this website if they wish to teach about migrant workers and their presence during Jimenez's young life.

Vocabulary

Much of this biography speaks about the lifestyle of being a migrant worker and what it entails. Vocabulary such as emigration, migrant worker, poverty, border patrol, and other similar terms will help students to further understand the content.

Reading Activities

Before Reading

There are two biographical novels about Francisco Jimenez that come before Reaching Out. In the classroom it may be helpful to find these books and provide the students with a summary of the events which occurred in our characters life before this point. Explicitly teaching this and providing the class with this reference material may assist in furthering comprehension as you begin reading.

During Reading

In the beginning of the biography we experience the hardship of Francisco as he leaves his family to pursue a college education. He is sure that he will miss his family and as he settles into his dormitory he finds himself slightly homesick. Question the students about times in their life where they have found themselves to be homesick. What happened and what they do to cope with the situation? Have them make a pamphlet with a description of what it might feel like to be homesick. Inside they may offer suggestions on how to relieve such feelings and have a reflection on a personal experience and how these suggestions were successful for them.

After Reading

Having the students conduct interviews may be a successful activity to pursue when reading Reaching Out. They can approach people that they are familiar with, family or close friends, and ask them about the difficulties that they faced when attending college. What were the goals that they set for themselves? What sorts of careers were they pursuing? In addition to collecting to this information, you may ask them to write an essay which compares the situation of their interviewee to that of Francisco Jimenez.