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Journal

As we prepare to start reading To Kill A Mockingbird, we have taken the time to familiarize ourselves with the historical setting of the novel. It was a time when many changes were sweeping through the United States and civil rights for minorities were still a long way away.

Your assignment is to keep a journal while you read this story. As you write in your journal, reflect on your thoughts, feelings, or questions that you have about the story. Ask yourself some of the following questions: how would you feel if you were in the same situation? Do you think some events in the novel would have been handled differently in today's society? For better or worse? These are just some ideas to point you in the right direction -- you can respond in any way you want to the literature.

You will have a total of 20 journal entries to write. They can be handwritten or typed. If you handwrite them, please make sure they are neat and legible -- you will be docked for sloppiness. Each entry should be at least a paragraph long. This is worth 100 points -- 5 points possible for each entry.

To Kill A Mockingbird Journal Rubric

This assignment is worth 100 points.

To get a "5," your journal entry must

• be well-thought out and prepared,
• show familiarity with the text,
• be neat and legible,
• present several good ideas and reflections about the text

To get a "4," your journal entry must

• be well-thought out and prepared,
• show general familiarity with the text,
• be neat and legible
• present some good ideas and reflections about the text.

To get a "3," your journal entry must

• be somewhat thought out and adequately prepared,
• show a vague familiarity with the text,
• need improvement with neatness and legibility,
• present a few ideas and reflections about the text.

To get a "2," your journal entry must

• display little, if any, thought or preparation,
• show unfamiliarity with the text,
• need improvement with neatness and legibility,
• present few, if any, worthwhile ideas and reflections about the text.

To get a "1," your journal entry must

• not display any thought or preparation,
• show unfamiliarity with the text,
• be sloppy and illegible,
• present few, if any, worthwhile ideas and reflections about the text.

To Kill A Mockingbird Role-playing

I will assign you each to a group and a specific character. Assume the role of the character that you will be playing. The lines you say do not have to be the same as those actually spoken, just be sure to follow the character's personality as you understand it. Remember that these roles must be improvised -- not written out. You will have only 10-15 minutes to organize your presentation.

1. Scout's first day at school -- Scout, Miss Caroline, Walter Cunningham, Burris Ewell, Chuck Little

2. Lunch at home with Walter -- Walter Cunningham, Jem, Scout, Calpurnia, Atticus

3. The "Boo Radley drama" that the three children act out -- Atticus, Scout, Dill, Jem, Nathan Radley

4. Christmas at Aunt Alexandra's and Cousin Francis's -- Scout, Francis, Atticus, Uncle Jack

5. The mad dog scene -- Jem, Scout, Atticus, Heck Tate, Calpurnia

6. Scene with Mrs. Dubose -- Scout, Jem, Atticus, Mrs. Dubose

Evaluation:

The presentation is worth 20 points. The written responses are worth 30.

1. Your grade is based on how closely you follow the character's personality as presented in the book.

2. Your grade also depends on how well you respond to the words and actions of the others in your group and your ability to improvise in your situation and stay in character.

3. Giggling or inappropriate remarks made by you during your skit or during someone else's will result in docked points for you.

4. For each scene presented, you must evaluate the acting and realism with which each character is presented. You must state what you think is important about each of the scenes and what you think the characters in the book learned about themselves in the scenes. Each response should be 1-2 paragraphs long and is worth 5 points for each scene, including your own.

To Kill A Mockingbird Role-playing Rubric

Presentation

Total points for presentation: ______/ 20

Written Responses

Total points for written evaluations: _____/ 30

Total Overall Points: ____/ 50

Process Standard: 18

To Kill A Mockingbird Mini-research Project

It is important for us to understand the setting and time period that the novel To Kill A Mockingbird takes place in. Below are listed some topics that you could possibly research. You might have to dig to find some information. The questions listed after each topic are just ideas to get you started. You do not need to answer any or all of them, and you are certainly free to think of your own too.

Your task is to give us an idea of what it would have been like to live in the South during the 1930's. You can use props, costumes, food, music, visuals, or whatever your creative mind can come up with. Presentations need to be about 3-5 minutes long. In addition, you need to hand in at least ten notecards, plus one source card. A visual aid is also required.

1. Clothing -- What did people wear during the 1930's?

2. Music -- "Dixie" is one song that is mentioned in the novel. What other songs were popular in the South? What did they sing about? Were there any social messages that featured prominently in their music?

3. Movies -- Dill goes to the show five times with the money he won at the "Beautiful Baby" contest. What are some of the movies that he might have seen? Who would have been the popular stars at the time? How was moviemaking different from what we are familiar with today?

4. Current Events -- What were the major news stories of the time? What was happening in the world? In the U.S.? Who was President?

5. Cars -- What did the cars look like for this period? How much did they cost?

6. Food -- What was the traditional food like in the South during the '30's?

7. Depression -- What were some causes of the Great Depression? How did it affect the lives of Southerners?

8. Prejudice -- What would it have been like to be a black Southerner in the '30's?

9. Justice System -- Would the justice system be different than ours today? How long did one have to go to school to be a lawyer? What were juries like? What about lynchings?

10. Art, Architecture, and Literature -- Who were the Southern artists and writers of the period? What is significant about their works? The courthouse had Greek revival columns...what would these columns look like?

To Kill A Mockingbird Mini-Research Project Rubric

Presentation:

It should be evident that you are well-prepared to present your project to the class. This includes having rehearsed it beforehand. You will be evaluated on your informational aspects, apparent effort, visual aids, and overall presentation quality.

1	2	3	4	5
hastily put together, little informative aspect, no visual aid, poor effort	little preparation, somewhat informative, poor visual aid, below avg. effort	prepared & informative, good visual aid, avg. effort	well-prepared, very informative, good visual aid, very good effort	excellent preparation, very informative, great visual aid, excellent effort

Notecards:

Your notecards should follow the standard MLA format (like a research paper). Information should be paraphrased, with page numbers at the bottom. Your source card(s) should also give all relevant bibliographical information (again conforming to MLA standards). Ten notecards are the minimum required (a "C" grade).

1	2	3	4	5
<10 notecards, not properly cited, does not follow MLA standard format, info not organized	<10 notecards, not properly cited, loosely follows MLA format, info somewhat organized	10 notecards, properly cited, follows MLA format, info is adequately organized	10-15 notecard, properly cited, follows MLA format, info well-organized	15+ notecards, properly cited, follows MLA format, excellent organization

Total points presentation: ____ X 5 = _____/ 25
Total points note/source cards: ____X5 = _____/ 25
Total overall points: _____/ 50

Content Standards: 2, 7, 8, 9, 12

Process Standards: 16, 17, 18

 

 

Copyright 2018, Jon Mueller. Professor of Psychology, North Central College, Naperville, IL. Comments, questions or suggestions about this website should be sent to the author, Jon Mueller, at jfmueller@noctrl.edu.