Lesson+Plans

**Intro Lesson to prejudice and to "To Kill a Mockingbird"**

 * Grade Level(s)**: 7-9


 * Duration**: at least one 42-minute class period (may need more depending on length of discussion and student's time needed to reflect)


 * Objectives**: Students will be introduced to the theme of prejudice. They will reflect upon the concept of prejudice and view it in light of their own lives. Students will also be introduced through visual images to the history surrounding Lee's classic novel "To Kill a Mockingbird." They will pull themes and ideas from these photos and express their impact through written work (haiku).


 * Standards met:**


 * 1) Make meaning through asking and responding to a variety of questions related to text
 * 2) Explain and analyze how the context of setting and point of view impact a literary text
 * 3) Write responses to literature that extend beyond the summary and support references to the text, other works, other authors, or personal knowledge


 * Materials**: Dr. Seuss' //The Sneetches;// markers/construction paper/drawing utensils; a variety of pictures that accurately depict the deep South during the 1930's (pictures should emphasize Jim Crow Laws, Racial segregation, and The Great Depression); a few example haiku poems; teacher's model of the haiku poem students will be creating


 * Procedures**:
 * 1) Introduce unit (Who has heard of prejudice? What do you think it means? Explain that we will be starting a lesson with the theme of prejudice in "To Kill a Mockingbird.")
 * 2) Read //The Sneetches// aloud to students asking them to respond to the text through drawing
 * 3) Think/pair/share to discuss responses to the picture book
 * 4) Introduce the concept of setting and how it impacts texts
 * 5) Show pictures from the south during the 1930's *students should take notes and record emotions while viewing photos
 * 6) Introduce the haiku and show several examples
 * 7) Model a haiku you have written that relates the theme of a chosen photo
 * 8) Students will then write their own poems using a photo of choice


 * Assessment**: The assessment for this lesson is primarily informal and involves the teacher's observation that meaningful insights are being made (participation points can be given if necessary). The students' artwork created during the reading of //The Sneetches// along with each student's haiku will prove informative enough on whether a meaningful connection was made.

Students must have read at least halfway through the novel in order to complete this activity. During this lesson, students will have the chance to imagine what it is like to be in a certain character’s shoes (literally and figuratively) by creating artistic examples of what shoes their character might be wearing. By discussing perspective and point of view and defining them formally, they will understand how perspective can alter a story’s meaning or course and will be able to produce an original work of their own that exemplifies the use of perspective to tell a narrative in a certain way. Give students credit based upon the work they have completed in class. Is the scene they created told from a different perspective other than the protagonist’s? Does it show some sort of grasp on the idea of perspective? Did the student provide reasons as to why the character’s perspective is different?
 * Lesson Plan:** Taking A Walk in Someone Else’s Shoes: Perspective in //To Kill a Mockingbird//
 * Grades:** 9 or 10
 * Subject:** Language Arts
 * Duration:** Two class periods
 * Objectives:**
 * Students will be able to discuss how a different perspective can alter a narrative
 * Students will be able to define point of view and identify different types
 * Students will be able to write a fictional piece from a different perspective
 * Prerequisites:**
 * Materials:**
 * //To Kill a Mockingbird// by Harper Lee
 * Construction paper
 * Magazines
 * Markers or crayons
 * Lesson Description:**
 * Lesson Procedure:**
 * Day One:**
 * 1) The teacher will introduce the activity with a quote from the novel: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb in his skin and walk around in it” (39).
 * 2) Ask students to consider what the quote means. What is Atticus trying to convey to Scout? What does he mean by “point of view”? Discuss point of view and what role it plays in the novel. How does empathy play into it?
 * 3) Divide students into small groups to brainstorm how perspective is important in a novel. Hand out the chart that describes the different points of view a narrative may be written in and ask them to identify what point of view Harper Lee’s novel is told in. Why is it important that the novel is told in Scout’s voice? Would it be different if Jem or Atticus were the narrators?
 * 4) Once you are satisfied with the discussion, ask students to consider a character in the novel whose perspective you may not be exposed to that often. Ask them to write that character down.
 * 5) Once everyone has chosen a character, ask each student to take a piece of construction paper and either sketch or find in a magazine the shoes that person may literally wear. Ask them to write a short explanation of why they drew/chose the shoes they did.
 * 6) Ask students to consider how the point of view/perspective changes if the novel or parts of it were told from this character’s perspective.
 * Day Two:**
 * 1) Review point of view/perspective with students. Ask them all to take out the shoes they made.
 * 2) Hand out short selections and passages from the novel. Ask students to use the selections as a guide to write a short 2-3 page scene (or elaborate on it) from their chosen character’s point of view. Have them consider tone, setting, and mood.
 * 3) Put the students in small groups and have them share their creations with one another. Have them discuss how writing from the chosen character’s perspective altered the story or the way it was told (if at all).
 * 4) Have the whole class convene and discuss their projects as a group.
 * Discussion Questions to Consider:**
 * Why is point of view important in a novel? What does it tell you about the characters/setting etc.?
 * Is it important that a novel is told from the perspective of just one character? Or should it include more voices and points of view? Would it add or take away from the novel?
 * Assessment:**

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