To Kill a Mockingbird Project
Unit: To Kill a Mockingbird
Persistent Issue: Discrimination in society
Driving Question: How can society improve with the issues brought forth in To Kill a Mockingbird?
- To answer this question, students must have an understanding of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. There is more than one plausible solution; students must do in depth research and evaluate, analyze, present, and defend their solutions.
Grabber and Introduction
One 90-minute class period
To begin the lesson, the instructor will introduce a To Kill a Mockingbird crash course video that discusses the issues with racism and discrimination in the novel. After the video, the instructor should have a class discussion over what issues from the novel are still relevant in society, i.e. racism, socioeconomic class divisions, gender equality, abuse, etc.
CRASH COURSE: RACE, CLASS, GENDER IN TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDS32LEe1Ss
Culminating Activity
The class will be divided into groups and will discuss the driving question. The students are to relate problems in the novel to today’s societal issues. They will need to provide three current events to support why the issue still exists and three specific examples of this issue from the novel. They will have a week to find and organize their research and present it to the class. Along with their research, they will need to come up with a proposal for how they can help with the issue in their community, i.e. forming a school club that raises awareness or holding a community forum that discusses these issues; they need to have a specific events and details within these proposals (i.e., the club will raise money for a specific organization, the community forum will have an informative guest speaker, etc.) This should all be presented in an organized powerpoint. The presentation and powerpoint should be engaging and include pictures, videos, articles, etc. After the presentation, the students should be well prepared with relevant and factual evidence to answer any questions pertaining to their issue and proposal; they should be able to explain why their proposal can be effective.
RESOURCES
These resources can be used by the students to research and analyze events that are going on in conventional society. There are also organizations provided that raise awareness of these issues. Students can use these to find statistics and draw inspiration for their own proposals to help raise awareness towards these issues.
Current Events
Ethnic and Racial Minorities & Socioeconomic Status
- http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/minorities.aspx
- http://www.education.com/reference/article/socioeconomic-status/
Organizations and Movements
- Racism and Discrimination
- http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/fight-against-discrimination/
- http://crossroadsantiracism.org/
- Gender Equality
- Abuse
- http://www.nationalcac.org/
- http://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/
- http://www.ncadv.org/
- https://www.rainn.org/
Rubric: Here is a rubric that contains categories that students should be graded on.
| Category | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Preparedness | Student is completely prepared and has obviously rehearsed. The PowerPoint is very organized and enhances the presentation. | Student seems pretty prepared but might have needed a couple more rehearsals. The PowerPoint is organized and adds to the presentation. | The student is somewhat prepared, but it is clear that rehearsal was lacking. The PowerPoint is unorganized and lacking information. | Student does not seem at all prepared to present. Has no PowerPoint and no resources. |
| Content | Shows a full understanding of the topic. Has at least three current events and three examples from the novel. | Shows a good understanding of the topic. Has two current events and/or two examples from the novel. | Shows a good understanding of parts of the topic. Only has one current event or example from the novel. | Does not seem to understand the topic very well. Does not have any current events and examples from the novel. |
| Comprehension | Student is able to accurately answer almost all questions posed by classmates about the topic. | Student is able to accurately answer most questions posed by classmates about the topic. | Student is able to accurately answer a few questions posed by classmates about the topic. | Student is unable to accurately answer questions posed by classmates about the topic. |
| Collaboration with peers | Almost always listens to, shares with, and supports the efforts of others in the group. Tries to keep people working well together. | Usually listens to, shares with, and supports the efforts of others in the group. Does not cause "waves" in the group | Often listens to, shares with, and supports the efforts of others in the group but sometimes is not a good team member. | Rarely listens to, shares with, and supports the efforts of others in the group. Often is not a good team member. |
| Stays on Topic | Stays on topic all (100%) of the time. | Stays on topic most (99-90%) of the time. | Stays on topic some (89%-75%) of the time. | It was hard to tell what the topic was. |