Teacher:

School/District:

Subject Area(s) Addressed:

English

Grade Level(s)/Course:

9-12

Date Submitted:

3/13/01

Lesson/Unit Duration:

5, 1 hour class periods

Lesson/Unit Title

Exploring Themes in To Kill A Mockingbird

Lesson/Unit Outcome

Students will use descriptive and point-of-view writing skills to explore the themes of courage and prejudice in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Students will collaborate with each other to increase their vocabulary and understanding of literary elements by gathering data. Students will use presentation skills by presenting their observations to the class.

Academic Standards Addressed

(List source & #)

Florida Language Arts Standards (9-12)
Reading
Standard 1:
The student uses the reading process effectively.
(LA.A.1.4)
1. selects and uses prereading strategies that are appropriate to the text, such as discussion, making predictions, brainstorming, generating questions, and previewing, to anticipate content, purpose, and organization of a reading selection.
3. refines vocabulary for interpersonal, academic, and workplace situations, including figurative, idiomatic,
and technical meanings.
4. applies a variety of response strategies, including rereading, note taking, summarizing, outlining, writing a formal report, and relating what is read to his or her own experiences and feelings.
Standard 2:
The student constructs meaning from a wide range of texts. (LA.A.2.4)
1. determines the main idea and identifies relevant details, methods of development, and their effectiveness in a variety of types of written material.
2. determines the author's purpose and point of view and their effects on the text.
Writing
Standard 1:
The student uses writing processes effectively.
(LA.B.1.4)
1. selects and uses appropriate prewriting strategies, such as brainstorming, graphic organizers, and outlines.
2. drafts and revises writing that: is focused, purposeful, and reflects insight into the writing situation; has an organizational pattern that provides for a logical progression of ideas; has effective use of transitional devices that contribute to a sense of completeness; has support that is substantial, specific, relevant, and concrete; demonstrates a
commitment to and involvement with the subject; uses creative writing strategies as appropriate to the purposes of the paper; demonstrates a mature command of language with freshness of expression; has varied sentence structure; has few, if any, convention errors in mechanics, usage, punctuation,
and spelling.
3. produces final documents that have been edited for: correct spelling; correct punctuation, including commas, colons, and common use of semicolons; correct capitalization; correct sentence formation; correct instances of possessives, subject/verb agreement, instances of noun/pronoun agreement, and the intentional use of fragments for effect; and correct formatting that appeals to readers, including appropriate use of a variety of graphics, tables, charts, and illustrations in both standard and innovative forms.
Standard 2:
The student writes to communicate ideas and information
effectively. (LA.B.2.4)
1. writes text, notes, outlines, comments, and observations that demonstrate comprehension and synthesis of content, processes, and experiences from a variety of media.
2. organizes information using appropriate systems.
3. writes fluently for a variety of occasions, audiences, and purposes, making appropriate choices regarding style, tone, level of detail, and organization.
4. selects and uses a variety of electronic media, such as the Internet, information services, and desktop publishing software programs, to create, revise, retrieve, and verify information.
Standard 3: The student uses speaking strategies effectively. (LA.C.3.4)
1. uses volume, stress, pacing, enunciation, eye con-tact, and gestures that meet the needs of the audience and topic.
2. selects and uses a variety of speaking strategies to clarify meaning and to reflect understanding, interpretation, application, and evaluation of con-tent, processes, or experiences, including asking relevant questions when necessary, making appropriate and meaningful comments, and making insightful observations.
3. uses details, illustrations, analogies, and visual aids to make oral presentations that inform, persuade, or entertain.
Standard 2: The student responds critically to fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. (LA.E.2.4)
1. analyzes the effectiveness of complex elements of plot, such as setting, major events, problems, conflicts, and resolutions.
2. understands the relationships between and among elements of literature, including characters, plot, setting, tone, point of view, and theme.
4. understands the use of images and sounds to elicit the reader's emotions in both fiction and nonfiction.
5. analyzes the relationships among author's style, literary form, and intended impact on the reader.
6. recognizes and explains those elements in texts that prompt a personal response, such as connections between one's own life and the characters, events, motives, and causes of conflict in texts.
7. examines a literary selection from several critical perspectives.
8. knows that people respond differently to texts based on their background knowledge, purpose, and point of view.

Technology Standards
Addressed

(List source & #)

ISTE: Technology Foundation Standards for Students

• Basic operations and concepts
  • Students are proficient in the use of technology.
• Technology productivity tools
  • Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.
  • Students use productivity tools to collaborate in constructing technology-enhanced models, prepare publications, and produce other creative works.
• Technology communications tools
  • Students use telecommunications to collaborate, publish, and interact with peers, experts, and other audiences.
• Technology research tools
  • Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.
  • Students use technology tools to process data and report results

Teacher-Led Activities

(Introductory Lesson)

• The teacher will introduce the To Kill a Mockingbird unit by showing the class pictures of different people for students to write a one or two sentence judgment of the person based on looks. The purpose of this exercise will be to introduce students to the concepts of prejudice and misunderstanding.
• The teacher will review the writing process with students.
• The teacher will review concepts of character analysis, descriptive writing, and point-of-view writing with her students.

Student-Centered Activities

1. Students will read To Kill a Mockingbird focusing on the characterization of the main characters, the theme, and underlining vocabulary words, allusions, and idioms.
2. Students will use all stages of the writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and publishing) to write descriptions of all the main characters in the novel. They will include physical descriptions, age of the characters during the story, mindsets of the characters, and knowledge gained during the story, as well as any other observations that are relevant. Students will use a word processing program for this activity.
3. In groups students will create a database of vocabulary words and definitions, allusions, and idioms found during their reading. The teacher will introduce/review the concepts of allusion and idioms and have students underline instances of these. The students will enter these literary concepts into an electronic database. Students will use Internet links as appropriate in their database.
4. Divide students in groups to create a database and to present a character to the class. (if possible — have a group for Atticus, Scout, Jem, Dill, Boo, Calpurnia, Tom Robinson) Each group will map out a main character or two and present to the class using PowerPoint or other presentation software.
5. As a class students will take Atticus' advice and get to know others by "walking around in their skin" for a while The class will be divided into pairs. Each pair will exchange information about themselves that is not obvious. Each student will introduce the information about his/her partner to the class.
6. Each student will use the writing process to write a point-of-view essay to describe how he or she would honestly feel if they were in Scout's "skin."

Resources Needed

Content resources (books, Articles, speakers, handouts, materials, etc.)

Software/Web Resources (CD- ROM’s, URLs, etc.)

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint, the Internet

Hardware (computers, TV, VHS, etc)

Other media, video, satellite, etc.

Multimedia Computer
Datashow or other projection device

Student Assessment
Strategy