TEACHERNET Education Webspace - RPS

By Deborah Ellis (2006)

Summary

I Am A Taxi is set in Bolivia, the poorest country in South America. Diego is a twelve-year-old boy whose parents have been wrongly accused of smuggling coca paste to be used in the production of cocaine. They are sentenced to seventeen years in prison. Diego lives with his mother and baby sister in the San Sebastian Women's Prison while his father lives in the men's prison not far away. He is able to leave to go to school and sell his mother's hand-knitted goods in the market. As well, he earns money for his family working as a taxi, someone who runs errands and delivers messages for those women who don't have anyone else to help them. The money they earn is crucial to their survival for prison life in Bolivia is unlike that in Canada. Inmates must rent their cells or live in the open on a mat in the courtyard. Only the children of inmates receive a bit of milk and bread in the morning for food. Everything else that the inmates need must be paid for. Conditions are poor but life worsens for Diego when he makes a mistake and the prison committee decides he can no longer work as a taxi. Not knowing what else to do he accepts his friend Mando's offer to connect him with men who offer to give the boys high paying jobs. Although he suspects that they might be doing something illegal, Diego doesn't see an alternative and leaves for the jungle with Mando and the men. In the next weeks he endures slavery-like conditions in the "pits" where the coca leaves are made into coca paste. Mando dies when the boys try to escape and the "gringo" Smith pursues Diego. He manages to get away and is rescued by a farm family much like his own used to be. The ending is quite abrupt which will make readers hungry for the sequel to be published in the fall of 2007.

Strategies

Before modeling a strategy with a novel, I would model and have students practice using a strategy with short texts of a variety of genres. I would model the strategy again with the novel and then ask that students use the strategy in their own reading. Because I Am a Taxi will likely be out of the realm of most of the students' own experiences, questioning will be a likely strategy for them to use.

Questioning
As I look at the cover and the back-of-the-book blurb for this novel, I can tell that I am going to have a few questions. While I'm reading, I'm going to record my questions on sticky notes and try to think about where I could get my answers:

• in the text
• from my background knowledge
• inferred from my thinking
• from further research or discussion

I also want to think about whether it is a "thin" or a "thick" question or whether it is a "Huh?" question that means I am totally confused.

Codes I will use on sticky notes are a "?" and then my question, a C for confused, W for wonder.

Read the back blurb and begin the novel sharing your questions with the students. The following chart could be used to record thinking or to hold sticky notes when they are removed from the novel.

My questions are helping me to know when I need more information and also helping to point out to me what I need to pay attention to. They help me focus on what is important to help me understand.

Continue to read in your novel and keep track of your questions that you have. We will spend some time tomorrow sharing questions and possible answers with a partner.

The next day:

Today, I would like the tallest partner to share first. Tell what part of the story your question is from and ask your partner your question. Give them a chance to respond to the question with their background knowledge, what they know from the text or a prediction or inference. Tell your own response to your question if it is different from your partner's. Switch and let your partner share their question. Remember, if it's not an "in text" question and answer, there might be more than one answer.

Strategies Used in the Activities Suggested on the Willow Awards Site

We identified the following reading strategies as being necessary for students to complete the activities that are suggested on the Willow Awards site. Depending on a student's familiarity with using the strategies, they may need some explicit teaching and modeling to be able to complete the activity independently.

Willow Awards 2007 - I Am a Taxi
http://www.willowawards.ca/nomdescribe/taxi.htm

• Create a travel brochure for Bolivia. Determining Importance, Synthesis
• Create a Venn diagram comparing Diego's prison experience with that of an inmate in a Saskatchewan prison. Visualizing, Making Connections, Determining Importance, Synthesis
• Journal a typical day in the life of Diego while he was allowed to be a "taxi". Determining Importance, Synthesis
• How did this book influence your thoughts and opinions about the use of illegal drugs? Determining Importance, Synthesis, Inference
• Check out Diane Ellis' web site to learn more about her. Determining Importance

The MP3 link below opens a booktalk to listen to.