Who Are You Today, Maria? By Judith Ortiz Cofer
1. What can you infer about the community in which Maria lives? Use details from the text to support your inference.
2. What conclusion can you draw about Maria’s relationship with her grandmother?
3. Why does Maria’s principal ask the students to participate in Who You Are Day?
4. What does Abuela give Maria to wear in story?
5. Why is the item above important to Abuela?
6. Create a sketch of Maria in her Who You Are Day outfit. Make sure you sketch reflects the details in the selection.
7. What does Maria wear on Who You Are Day?
a. clothes that belong to different people in her life b. an outfit from the island where she was born
c. clothes she thinks her principal and teacher will approve d. an outfit Abuela gives to her as a gift
8. What is the difference between students who walk around as a joke and those who walk around as a poem?
9. Maria considers herself a poem in her outfit because it
a. proves she loves her Abuela b. shows her school she likes to dress up
c. celebrates important people in her life d. emphasizes her ability to be a fashion statement
10. What is the theme of Who Are You Today, Maria?
a. Parents make sacrifices to give their children a better life.
b. Growing up means accepting all the different parts of ourselves.
c. The people we love are all part of who we are.
d. Growing up means giving up our foolish ideas.
11. What message about identity does the story contain?
12. What do you think Abuela means when she says to Maria, “I know who you are and who you may be if you choose.”