To Kill a Mockingbird Learning Event Ideas

Recently, I met with my protegee, who was about to teach Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. To offer him a helping hand, I surfed the web and culled out a series of learning events that I felt had real possibilities. I thought I would share this list with you all. I place the url first and an annotated description afterward.

:) Carolyn

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=265

While this lesson plan uses the quotation from To Kill a Mockingbird as a springboard and ties nicely to discussions of the novel, it can be completed even if students are not currently reading the book.

http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/98/mock/intro.html
Students gain a sense of the living history that surrounds the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Through studying primary source materials from American Memory and other online resources, students of all backgrounds may better grasp how historical events and human forces have shaped relationships between black and white, and rich and poor cultures of our country.

http://www.aresearchguide.com/mock.html
This unit guides students on a journey through the Depression Era in the 1930s. Activities familiarize the students with Southern experiences through the study of the novel and African American experiences through the examination of primary sources.

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/printables/PLAKillAMockingbird89.htm
This is a database of all types of information regarding the text.

http://clem.mscd.edu/~pekarekr/greatbks/gtkmunit1.html
Included in this book are a lot of racial issues and sexuality issues. To teach lessons throughout the book, the teacher must be prepared to deal with the thoughts of a society that is different than what we are used to right now.

The objective of this first lesson is to introduce the unit and motivate careful reading of To Kill a Mockingbird. The objective of the anticipation guide is to introduce the themes of the novel via implications of the mockingbird imagery. The Elements of Fiction chart introduces the literary tools an author can employ to convey profound truth about human nature. Thus, this lesson invites discussion of book awards and "classic" literature.

http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=525
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=526
How does To Kill A Mockingbird frame issues of courage and cowardice against the backdrop of the American South in the 1930s? Includes templates from the text of character traits of courage and cowardice.
Learning Objectives: To expose the students to the history and cultural milieu of the deep South in 1935 America; To demonstrate close textual reading; To gain an awareness of how one’s society might force its citizens to take unpopular, but moral, stances in order to promote change.

http://tewt.org/tokillamockingbird.html
A 9th grade English teacher put together a website with many resources: chapter guides, quote quizzes, chapter quizzes, plot & character worksheets, vocabulary flashcards, vocabulary quizzes, internet resources, and more. Most are in Word or PDF Format. Project ideas may interest you as well as Internet resources: Novel, Historical Context, Great Depression, Harper Lee, and other topics.

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/icp/lessonplan/TKAM/tkam_home.html
This is an integrated curriculum project with each of several phases explicitly outlined. It seems an excellent route to take for a first time of teaching the novel.

http://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/intidentity.html
OverviewAfrican American history during the Jim Crow era includes encounters with poverty, racism, disrespect, and protest. Harper Lee develops all four of these themes in her famous 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. To help students understand these ideas, this lesson incorporates the blues and other literature of the time. Ultimately, students will be asked to consider both African American oppression and activism through a variety of lenses.

Learning ObjectivesBy completing this lesson, the student will:
Explore life for African Americans during the Jim Crow era
Consider terms of respect and disrespect
Analyze the effectiveness of different forms of cultural protest