Lesson Four - To Kill a Mockingbird

Introduction

Lesson Four - To Kill a Mockingbird
Duration - 12 blocks (12 x 80 min + homework)

"I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.... Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird." - Atticus Finch, in To Kill a Mockingbird

"When To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960, it brought its young first-time author, Harper Lee, a startling amount of attention and notoriety. The novel replays three key years in the life of Scout Finch, the young daughter of an Alabama town's principled lawyer. The work was an instant sensation, becoming a best-seller and winning the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Scout's narrative relates how she and her elder brother Jem learn about fighting prejudice and upholding human dignity through the example of their father. Atticus Finch has taken on the legal defense of a black man who has been falsely charged with raping a white woman.

"Lee's story of the events surrounding the trial has been admired for its portrayal of Southern life during the 1930s, not only for its piercing examination of the causes and effects of racism, but because it created a model of tolerance and courage in the character of Atticus Finch. Some early reviewers found Scout's narration unconvincing, its style and language too sophisticated for a young girl. Since then, however, critics have hailed Lee's rendering of a child's perspective—as told by an experienced adult—as one of the most technically proficient in modern fiction. A regional novel dealing with universal themes of tolerance, courage, compassion, and justice, To Kill a Mockingbird combined popular appeal with literary excellence to ensure itself an enduring place in modern American literature." - enotes.com

Resources: Part 1

Word and PDF documents

allusions 
vocabulary 
idioms 
PARALLELS

ANALYSIS - To Kill a Mockingbird    

TKAM journal entries

VIDEO

Lesson: Part 1

"When To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960, it brought its young first-time author, Harper Lee, a startling amount of attention and notoriety. The novel replays three key years in the life of Scout Finch, the young daughter of an Alabama town's principled lawyer. The work was an instant sensation, becoming a best-seller and winning the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Scout's narrative relates how she and her elder brother Jem learn about fighting prejudice and upholding human dignity through the example of their father. Atticus Finch has taken on the legal defense of a black man who has been falsely charged with raping a white woman.

"Lee's story of the events surrounding the trial has been admired for its portrayal of Southern life during the 1930s, not only for its piercing examination of the causes and effects of racism, but because it created a model of tolerance and courage in the character of Atticus Finch. Some early reviewers found Scout's narration unconvincing, its style and language too sophisticated for a young girl. Since then, however, critics have hailed Lee's rendering of a child's perspective—as told by an experienced adult—as one of the most technically proficient in modern fiction. A regional novel dealing with universal themes of tolerance, courage, compassion, and justice, To Kill a Mockingbird combined popular appeal with literary excellence to ensure itself an enduring place in modern American literature." - enotes.com

As this novel was written in a different time and place from which you are familiar, download and print the documents on "allusions", "idioms", and "vocabulary. Keep these beside you for referral as you read through the novel.  You may also find it helpful to have the "plot structure" printed off, as well.

You will be reading through the novel at a pace of roughly 40 pages per school day.
As you read through the novel, turn to the "analysis" document, for discussion of each chapter.

The website Studying To Kill a Mockingbird would add further insight.

Part One
DAY 1 Chapters 1-3
DAY 2 Chapters 4-8* 
DAY 3 Chapters 9-11*

Part Two
DAY 4 Chapters 12-15
DAY 5 Chapters 16-19
DAY 6 Chapters 20-24
DAY 7 Chapters 25-31*

You will be making a journal entry at the end of each chapter marked with an asterisk. 
Study the journal entries document, prior to beginning each section.

Assignment 1

Assignment (100 marks)

Open the Word document To Kill a Mockingbird Journal Entries.
Save it as E101U4L5.1surname 
In this document, write your three journal entries.
Submit this assignment using the Dropbox for U4L4 TKaM journals

• Make three separate entries as you read through the novel.
• Each entry will be at least 250 words in length.
• On the previous page, where the reading pace (days and chapters) is presented, an asterisk indicates when a journal entry needs to be written.

Although you are writing three separate entries, write them all in ONE Word document.
Do NOT submit three separate documents.

Assignment 2

Respond to the questions posted in the U4L4 Forum: Mockingbird

Respond to the questions in as much detail as possible in order to earn full marks.

The forum is worth 50 marks.

Your first post - that is, your answers to the questions posed - are worth 35 of those 50 marks. 
Compose your answers in a document and then copy and paste them into the forum.
If you compose in the forum window, and it is open for too long, it may time out before you click "submit" and all of your work will be lost!!

The remaining 15 marks are earned by your comments on your classmates' posts. 
You must comment on at least three of your classmates' posts.
Writing "I agree, good post" will earn you no marks, as that engenders no discussion.

The forums in this course replace the discussions that would be held in a traditional classroom.
Be sure that your comments add to a discussion.

Lesson: Part 2

"Harper Lee’s Maycomb county bears out many of the stereotypes commonly attributed to the south and southerners regarding race relations. In the midst of portraying negative attitudes and prejudices, however, a truer face of the south shines through in the actions of the Finch family. Lee skillfully balances Atticus and his children with symbols of life in a “typical” southern town to draw a sharp distinction between those who would live the life they are told to live and those whose consideration of the world around them make their lives richer and more meaningful.

"Atticus doesn’t kill racism in Maycomb county; he can’t. But by showing his children racism in action and fighting the prejudice of the 'mockingbirds' of this stereotypical Southern town, Atticus plants the seeds of a future in which blacks and whites can live in peace." - enotes.com

 Read the in-depth analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird, which covers characters, plot, conflict, theme, style, mood, symbolism and morality in the novel.

Read the five essays on To Kill a Mockingbird, offering five different viewpoints on the novel.

Assignment 3

(100 marks)

Open a new Word document. Label it E101U4L4.2surname
In this document, complete ONE of the assignments outlined below.
Submit this assignment using the Dropbox  for U4L4 TKaM creative

Writing at least 500 words, complete ONE of the following:

Mayella Ewell's monologue. Write her version of how she experienced Tom Robinson's trial. What would she have to say about her testimony, as well as that of her father and Tom Robinson? What is her attitude toward her father? Toward Tom? How does she feel about how she was treated by Judge Taylor and Atticus Finch? Decide how open and truthful you want to be.

Mr. Underwood's editorial. We are given quite a lot of information about Mr. Underwood's editorial in the Maycomb Tribune, following Tom's death. For example, that he “likened it to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children”. An editorial is a section in a newspaper which does not give news, but comments on it and interprets it. Using all the clues you can find, try to write the editorial as you think Mr. Underwood might have done.

The secret diary of Arthur Radley. At the end of the novel we realize that Arthur (Boo) Radley has never stopped watching the children, and that he has foreseen the danger from Bob Ewell, which Atticus has not taken seriously. Imagine that Arthur keeps a diary, in which he writes about what he has seen and how he makes sure that the children are safe. We do not know what style Arthur would use, so you must choose one you think appropriate to what we know of him. Write a series of entries for such a diary, to cover the main events of the final chapters of the novel.

Conclusion

"You want to prepare your child to think as he gets older. You want him to be critical in his judgments. Teaching a child, by your example, that there’s never any room for negotiating or making choices in life may suggest that you expect blind obedience—but it won’t help him in the long run to be discriminating in choices and thinking." - Lawrence Balter, U.S. psychologist and author

Consider how this idea applies to Atticus Finch.