Introduction

Lesson topic: Themes in To Kill a Mockingbird

Length of lesson: 90 minutes
Virginia Standards of Learning:
9.3 The student will read and analyze a variety of literature.
9.6 The student will develop narrative, expository, and informational writings t
o inform, explain, analyze, or entertain.
9.7 The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, punctuati
on, spelling, sentence structure, and paragraphing.
9.2 The student will make planned oral presentation.
Cognitive Objectives
• Students will demonstrate prior knowledge of certain ideas and attitudes present
in society.
• Students will discuss their agreement/disagreement with these ideas and attitude
s.
• Student will make predictions about themes and characters in the novel.
• Students will identify and comprehend themes in the novel.
• Students will demonstrate good writing skills by writing a well-constructed essa
y—including introduction, three main points with supporting details, and conclusio
n--about one of the themes (using the statements in the anticipation guide).
• Students will demonstrate and improve their oral presentation skills.
Materials and Advanced Preparation
• PowerPoint presentation
• Laptops with ActivInspire technology
• Promethean board
• Paper copy of anticipation guide
• These activities were developed using the novel and two websites: www.webenglish
teacher.com/lee3.html; www.readwritethink.org
Teaching and Learning Sequence
Introduction/Anticipatory Set
• Explain to students: We will begin reading a new novel. The following PowerPoin
t presentation contains ten statements for your consideration. Some of these ma
y sound familiar to you. (The title of the novel will not be revealed until la
ter.)
• Instruct students to read and respond to each statement by indicating whether th
ey agree or disagree. Emphasize to students that there are no wrong answers. (T
hese statements will be presented again at the end of the novel study to determi
ne whether students’ opinions have changed as a result of the reading.)
• Students will record their responses by using ActivInspire (interactive technolo
gy), which permits students to see immediately how the class responded overall,
i.e. the percentage who agreed/disagreed with the statement. If interactive tec
hnology is unavailable, students will record their answers on a paper copy of th
e anticipation guide.
Lesson Development
• Initiate discussion: Ask students to discuss the ideas presented in the PowerPo
int by initiating questions designed to draw out students’ responses, e.g. can you
think of examples of the ideas presented by the statements, and what do you thi
nk the statement “girl should act like girls” means?
• Follow with a brief lecture providing historical context for novel.
• Next, divide the class into small groups. Each group will research topics such
as segregation and Jim Crow laws on the internet.
• Each group will report the results of their research to the class, either orally
or blog.
• If students blog, they must reply to each other.
Closure
• Review the statements, highlighting the statements with which most students agre
ed, the ones with which most students disagreed.
• Next, assign students to write an essay in response to one of the statements pre
sented, explaining why they agreed/disagreed with it.
• Next, explain how using an essay map will help students organize their essay and
ensure that the essay is properly constructed including introduction, main idea
s, supporting details, and conclusion. Direct students to http://www.readwritet
hink.org/files/resources/interactives/essaymap.
Homework
• Finish essay for homework.
• Plan a short presentation of your essay, orally in class, not to exceed 5 minute
s.
• Begin reading the novel. Read at least 50 pages by the next class meeting.
Assessment
• Formative –response to anticipation guide, class discussion, internet research
• Summative—essay and oral presentation

References
• Lee, H. (1960). To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott
• Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird Lesson plans and teaching resources. Web Engl
ish Teacher. Retrieved from http://www.webenglishteacher.com/lee3.html
• http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/essaymap
Copy and paste to create a document