To Kill a Mockingbird
Essential Question: How do you effect change in society?
Students apply the knowledge of literary elements explored in the short story unit to a new literary form, the novel. They discuss the similarities and differences between how those elements are developed in short stories and in novels. Setting and characterization are highlighted, with particular attention paid to the question of how Maycomb addresses social change. Informational texts illuminate the historical context of the Great Depression and the Jim Crow South.
Historical background sites:
Map of Maycomb
TKAM Video: SPOILER ALERT! This video (Sparks Notes) tells the WHOLE story!
Words of Wisdom Quotation Sites:
Students apply the knowledge of literary elements explored in the short story unit to a new literary form, the novel. They discuss the similarities and differences between how those elements are developed in short stories and in novels. Setting and characterization are highlighted, with particular attention paid to the question of how Maycomb addresses social change. Informational texts illuminate the historical context of the Great Depression and the Jim Crow South.
Historical background sites:
- General historical background: NEA site
- A whole bunch of sites gathered by Yahoo about The Great Depression, banking, Roosevelt, etc.
- Jim Crow Laws and more about Jim Crow including a sample
- Brown vs. Board of Education
- The Great Depression
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt and FDR
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Eleanor Roosevelt and Eleanor
- Freedom Riders video and website
- Refer to this Student Survival Guide for help with vocabulary, allusions, and idioms (sayings) that may be unfamiliar to you
- Print out this vocabulary list and keep it tucked in your book so you can refer to it when you come across difficult words
- Need more vocabulary help? Try this site.
- Print out these study questions. Before reading each chapter, look over the questions and then, as you read, listen for the answers.
- Keep a stack of sticky notes next to you while you read and mark anything that's particularly confusing or interesting. Then, when we talk about the reading in class, be sure to ask your questions and comment on what was interesting. You'll be showing off how closely you paid attention to your reading, while also getting help on the parts that confused you :)
- Check out the audiobook from the library, or use it in my class, and follow along as you read the book.
- Forgot your book? Here's a free ebook
Map of Maycomb
TKAM Video: SPOILER ALERT! This video (Sparks Notes) tells the WHOLE story!
Words of Wisdom Quotation Sites:
- Good Reads (Quotations are listed at the bottom of the page)
- Brainy Quote
- The Quotations Page
- Quoteland
- Famous Quotes and Sayings