Stage 1---Desired Results
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UBD Project:
My
UBD will be an 11th grade literature unit on To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
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Established Goals:
Nebraska Standards
LA
12.1 Students will
learn and apply reading skills and strategies to comprehend text.
LA
12.2 Students will
learn and apply writing skills and strategies to communicate.
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Understandings:
Students will understand...
1. How
historical fiction can teach us about the negative repercussions of personal
and societal stereotypes and biases.
2. What
Harper Lee shows us about how Tom Robinson is treated because of the societal stereotypes
and biases in their community.
3. Historical
Fiction helps define a particular time and place in our history, and which enables us to experience it
more deeply and relate to it more closely.
4. How the setting of the South in the 1930s, during the depression, in To Kill a Mockingbird helps us relate to
what is happening in the novel.
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Essential
Questions: (mockingbirdproject)
1. How does To
Kill A Mockingbird frame issues of courage and cowardice against the
backdrop of the American South in the 1930s?
2. How can citizens, particularly ourselves, break through
barriers of prejudice to promote tolerance?
3. What makes a good work of historical fiction?
4. Why is Harper Lee’s theme of social injustice still
relevant today and, in particular, in your community?
5. What does it mean to be an individual in society? Does
society force its citizens to take unpopular, but moral, stances in order to
promote change?
6. What does it mean to “come of age”?
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Students
will know...
1. Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)
2. The Jim Crow laws
3. Civil Rights Movement
4. Brown vs. Board of Education
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Students
will be able to...
1. Comprehend the vocabulary of
the story.
2. Explain the difference
between equality and separate but equal in their own words.
3. Write a position paper and hold
a debate.
4. Create a final poster project
that will show their comprehension of the material.
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Stage 2---Assessment Evidence
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You are a private investigator.
Your clients are Southern African Americans on their way to trial. Your clients
are looking for information to bring justice to an untried hate crime against
their family. Your task is to dig up the key information on one of the
following four topics with your assigned group: Plessy vs. Ferguson
(1896), The Jim Crow laws, Civil Rights Movement, and Brown vs. Board of
Education. I will let each group what topic it is responsible for. Help
bring your clients family justice in the court of law. Your group will be
judged by the following criteria:
1. Each group member must demonstrate a thorough
understanding of the assigned topic.
2. Your group will present the key facts to the class
with active participation from each member of the group.
3. The information presented must be clear and concise
in a format that is easily followed by the class. I must see the effort put
into the product. It is up to your group how you wish to present the
information found. Examples might be a powerpoint, Flip chart, or handout.
Performance Task 2:
You are a journalist and your
task will be to keep a journal throughout the novel. You are to choose
one of the characters from the story to write as. Your audience is
yourself and me the teacher. Your challenge is to figure out the meaning of the
following topics: the racial inequality in the South during the 1930s, the
difference between justice and judgment in the court system during this time
period, and how the story stems from the actual events of the Scottsboro Boy’s
trial.
You will create journal entries
about the events in the novel as a character of your choice. You will show comprehension of events
in the story as well as the topics given to explore. A successful result will
prove to me that you understand these topics through your writing. You will
place yourself in the novel’s character’s shoes and explore these issues. You
will also be evaluated on neatness. I don’t want to struggle to read
handwriting. If you feel that you need to type the final draft that is fine
with me.
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Other Evidence:
1. Students will display their understanding of the
essential questions through quizzes, testing, discussion, and writing tasks.
2. Students will be graded on active classroom
discussion and participation.
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Stage 3---Learning Plan
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WHERETO:
W
By the end of the
unit the students will understand the following concepts...
1. How
historical fiction can teach us about the negative repercussions of personal
and societal stereotypes and biases.
2. What
Harper Lee shows us about how Tom Robinson is treated because of the societal
stereotypes and biases in their community.
3. Historical
Fiction helps define a particular time and place in our history, and which enables us to experience it
more deeply and relate to it more closely.
4. How the setting of the South in the 1930s ,during the depression, in To Kill a Mockingbird helps us relate to
what is happening in the novel.
Answer the following essential
questions...
1. How does To
Kill A Mockingbird frame issues of courage and cowardice against the
backdrop of the American South in the 1930s?
2. How can citizens, particularly ourselves, break
through barriers of prejudice to promote tolerance?
3. What makes a good work of historical fiction?
4. Why is Harper Lee’s theme of social injustice still
relevant today and, in particular, in your community?
5. What does it mean to be an individual in society?
Does society force its citizens to take unpopular, but moral, stances in order
to promote change?
6. What does it mean to “come of age”?
Students will know about...
1. Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)
2. The Jim Crow laws
3. Civil Rights Movement
4. Brown vs. Board of Education
Students will be able to...
1. Comprehend the vocabulary of the story.
2. Explain the difference between equality and separate
but equal in their own words.
3. Write a position paper and hold a debate.
4. Create a final poster project that will show their
comprehension of the material.
5. Complete the performance tasks satisfactorily.
H
1. Students will watch Dr. Seuss’s cartoon “The
Sneetches.” “The Sneetches“ is the tale of how the Star-Belly Sneetches
discriminate against the Plain-Belly Sneetches, excluding them from games and
weenie roasts, and how Sylvester McMonkey McBean bilks the town out of all of
its money by putting on and/or removing stars on the persons of Sneetches to
the point that no one can any longer tell who’s who. Students will do a quick write in reaction to the
story. They may be reminded of the
holocaust, write about prejudice in general, or focus on who the Star-Bellies
are at their school. Have students
share in small groups and then discuss the themes of the story as a whole class.
(wps.ablongman.com)
2. Handout the lyrics to “Strange Fruit” By Lewis Allen. We will read and then
discuss.
E
The teacher will
model for the students what is expected of them or they will be given an
example of what is expected. The students will also receive a rubric for how
the project they are doing will be graded.
R
1. Some of the
themes will also be difficult for the students to understand and that is why we
will go over them before we begin.
2. Like Mark Twain, Harper Lee writes the way the people
would have actually spoken (in slang). The wording and also word choice can be difficult
and confusing for the readers. I found an example from a struggler. This is
what they said, “I thought I'd read "To Kill a Mockingbird" since
it's a classic and I've never read it. I only read the first chapter, and I
can't get myself to read anymore. It is just so poorly written and hard to
understand.
Example: The very first paragraph of the book.
"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at
the elbow. When it healed, and Jem's fears of never being able to play football
were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury. HIs left arm was
somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or waked, the back of his hand
was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh. He couldn't
have cared less, so long as he could pass and punt."
Which arm was broken? Which hand is the author
referring to when it says "the back of his hand was a right angles to his
body..."? I *assume* his left arm was broken and it is referring to his
left hand?? But that's the thing, I have to assume that.
Another example: "His family was from
Maycomb County originally, his mother worked for a photographer in Meridian,
had entered his picture in a Beautiful Child contest and won five
dollars." First of all, that is like three sentences separated by commas
and not periods... The last sentence being a fragment sentence. The sentence as
it is does not flow well at all.
These are only two examples. I have read only
the first chapter and there are several more examples I could list. I can't get
myself to read any more. My definition of a well-written book, how a book
should be written, is so that it is understood as easily as possible. I don't
care if you are the smartest person in the world and write insanely complex,
that does not make you a good writer. You should not have to be smart to
understand a story someone is trying to tell. That is what makes a good writer
good.. Explaining a story in great detail what is important, leaving out what
is not important, and doing it all so that it is very easily understood. (answers.yahoo.com)
A good website to help students understand some of the
language in the book is
http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Belmont_HS/tkm/
. This will be a great source for them. Also, if we go over vocabulary before
and during reading it will help, as will stopping and discussing confusing
parts of the story. I like to read a ways and then reword what I just read in
another way.
E
Students will be
keeping a journal in which they will summarize the chapter. They will jot down
anything interesting, new characters met, questions about what they read, and
so on.
T
I will be using the
following websites to help me plan with differentiated instruction for this
book.
O
I will organize my
lesson in a before reading, during reading, and after reading sequence.
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WHET:
W
By the end of the
unit you will understand the following concepts...
1. How
historical fiction can teach us about the negative repercussions of personal
and societal stereotypes and biases.
2. What
Harper Lee shows us about how Tom Robinson is treated because of the societal
stereotypes and biases in their community.
3. Historical
Fiction helps define a particular time and place in our history, and which enables us to experience it
more deeply and relate to it more closely.
4. How the setting of the South in the 1930s ,during the depression, in To Kill a Mockingbird helps us relate to
what is happening in the novel.
Answer the following essential
questions...
1. How does To
Kill A Mockingbird frame issues of courage and cowardice against the
backdrop of the American South in the 1930s?
2. How can citizens, particularly ourselves, break
through barriers of prejudice to promote tolerance?
3. What makes a good work of historical fiction?
4. Why is Harper Lee’s theme of social injustice still
relevant today and, in particular, in your community?
5. What does it mean to be an individual in society?
Does society force its citizens to take unpopular, but moral, stances in order
to promote change?
6. What does it mean to “come of age”?
Students will know about...
1. Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)
2. The Jim Crow laws
3. Civil Rights Movement
4. Brown vs. Board of Education
Students will be able to...
1. Comprehend the vocabulary of the story.
2. Explain the difference between equality and separate
but equal in their own words.
3. Write a position paper and hold a debate.
4. Create a final poster project that will show their
comprehension of the material.
5. Complete the performance tasks satisfactorily.
1. Benefits:
“As part of the literary canon,
To Kill a Mockingbird is a necessary book for students to
read in high school before entering college or the working world.
To Kill a
Mockingbird earned
Harper Lee a Pulitzer Prize and became an instant classic. There are really so
many ways this book can be taught and read, but this unit focuses on the binary
between corruption and innocence through a concentration on themes and symbols
used throughout the book. This is a valuable way to look at
To Kill a
Mockingbird because every person, innocent and corrupt alike, plays
a role in a society. This is especially an important theme while teaching in
high school because so many students succumb to peer pressure resulting in poor
choices. This unit addresses the definition and surface level psychology of mob
mentality, and then it shows how the innocent are often the victims of this
phenomenon. Addressing mob mentality is particularly applicable to high school
students because it can take the form of bullying, teasing, and, in extreme
cases, gang participation. These forms of mob mentality are all very real
experiences for some high school students and can be a way for students to
connect to the text. Asking high school students to interpret
To Kill a
Mockingbird through
the theme of innocence and societal corruption not only applies to high school
experience, but it also extends to their lives outside of high school. This
unit also addresses corruption in American courts, race relations, the effects
of labeling others, and hypocrisy. The issues addressed in
To Kill a
Mockingbird remain
relevant issues today, and the lessons taught in this unit will enrich the
lives of students tomorrow.” (
http://www.d.umn.edu/ )
Read the articles
2. Assess prior
knowledge:
Students should fill
out the K (What They Know) and W (What They Want to Know) columns of the KWL
worksheet on the U.S Great Depression.
Teacher Script:
“We are beginning a
new unit today. We will spend the
next few weeks reading and discussing the lessons from Harper Lee’s famous
novel To Kill a Mockingbird. This American classic was published in 1960, but
was written to describe life in the south during the Great Depression. This
great book has many lessons for us today.
From your history classes; remind me what years were included in the US
Great Depression? (1929-mid 1940s).
One of your small groups today will be able to give us an answer to that
question. I would like to help you
learn about this time period as it sets the background for To Kill A
Mockingbird. To begin, please fill
out the KWL sheet that was handed to you. On this sheet you will fill out the K
portion and W portion regarding what you know and want to know about the U.S.
Great Depression. By the end of the activity you will be able to complete the L
portion based on what we learn in class today. You have 5 minutes to complete
this worksheet to Know) columns of the KWL worksheet on the U.S Great
Depression.”
1). Arrange students
in groups of 3 that we will call ―Presentation Groups‖. Then, go to each group and assign students a number 1, 2, or 3 and
have students leave their Presentation Group and join a research group. Each
Research Group One should have one copy of the Encarta notes for Depression
Intro and three student worksheets. Each Research Group Two should have one
copy of the Encarta notes for Depression Causes and three student worksheets.
Each Research Group Three should have one copy of Encarta notes for Depression
Impacts and three student worksheets.
Each research group will have 20 minutes to complete their worksheet and
return to their Presentation Group.
2). While in their
research groups, students should refer to Worksheet a, b, or c and answer the
questions regarding their topic. Each student will record the information
they‘ve learned.
3). Students will
return to their Presentation Groups. While in these groups each student will
teach their other group members about their research topic. Students are
required to record this information on their worksheets to insert in their
notebooks.
Teacher Script:
1). Today, we will
be doing a jigsaw cooperative-learning activity in which you will learn some
basic background information about the Great Depression. This information will
give you background knowledge of the time period described in Harper Lee’s To
Kill A Mocking Bird. Before we begin, I am going to assign you to a
presentation group. Once you receive your assignment please go to your
presentation group and wait until I assign you a number. Once you receive that number,
either a 1, 2, or 3, I want you to join a research group that shares your
number and follow the directions on the papers I hand you.
2). (You can take
time to read directions to the class and answer any questions or allow the
students to read the directions quietly and then ask any questions). Once you
get into your research groups you have 15 minutes to complete the assignment.
It is __:__ (time) right now, please finish by __:__ and rejoin your
Presentation Groups.
3.) Please finish
what you are writing and rejoin your Presentation Group. During this time your
group has 15 minutes, about 5 minutes a student, to teach the other members of
your Presentation Group your research topic. Each Presentation Group will then be called upon to help us
summarize what we have learned about the time period of the Great Depression. When you are not presenting to your
peers you should be recording the information on your own worksheets, which
will be graded and then placed in your notebook.
H
1. We are going to watch Dr. Seuss’s cartoon “The
Sneetches.” “The Sneetches“ is the tale of how the Star-Belly Sneetches
discriminate against the Plain-Belly Sneetches, excluding them from games and
weenie roasts, and how Sylvester McMonkey McBean bilks the town out of all of
its money by putting on and/or removing stars on the persons of Sneetches to
the point that no one can any longer tell who’s who. You will do a quick write in reaction to the story. We will
then share what we wrote in small groups and then discuss the themes of the
story as a whole class.
2. Handout the lyrics to “Strange Fruit” By Lewis Allen. We will read and then
discuss.
E
Prereading:
1. Let the students know what the
expected outcome of the unit will be.
2. Let them know why it is important
to read To Kill A Mockingbird.
3. Assess background knowledge.
4. Do the Hook activities.
5. Do performance task 1.
7. Read the background on Harper
Lee.
During
Reading:
1. Students will read independently,
as a group, and as a class.
2. Students will do performance task
2.
3. The class will discuss important
events, themes, vocabulary, difficult text, summarize in own words, and answer teacher-generated
question in journals and as class discussion.
4. Students will take quizzes over important
materials.
5. Students will participate in
classroom activities.
6. Students will fill out graphic
organizers and study guides.
Postreading:
1. Students will take a test over
the book. There will be an essay question that requires them to explain the
difference between equality and separate but
equal in their own words.
2. Students will show their
comprehension by completing the poster project.
3. We will watch the movie “A Time To Kill” and compare
and contrast the novel and the movie. The students will then write a position
paper and hold a debate about one of the characters of their choice from either
the novel or the movie in small groups.
T
This unit is very
individualized. The materials used will include scaffolded group work,
individual work-that can be tiered for ability, class work in which the teacher
will explain difficult passages or concepts, study guides, and graphic
organizers.
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Resources:
