E. Quinson

D-201

9H, period 5

 

Monday, October 27, 2008

SWBAT:  read and discuss literary gothic literary motifs in in To Kill a Mockingbird.

DO NOW:  Review your homework entry about fire and ice, if necessary, add or revise you thinking on this motif of fire and ice.  I may run a Harkness Table exercise….

DEVELOPMENT:

1.      Review H.W. and DO NOW.

2.      Students take notes on gothic as a literary term.

3.      Consider Boo Radley and his development as a figure of fantasy for the children.

a.       What predictions can we make about Boo’s role in the novel to come?

4.      Group work:  students share homework entries about fire and ice.

a.       What do fire and ice represent?

b.      Why include them in counter point?

c.       How was weather used in Great Expectations?

d.      Can we draw any literary conclusions?

5.      Group share.

6.      Review H.W.

H.W.:  1.  Read Chapters 9-10.  2.  Find several passages to discuss in class. What passage or passages strike you as interesting or singular?  What questions do you want to discuss with the class tomorrow? 3.  Blog it!  Please choose either Mad Dog Loose! Or Fire and Ice on our blog and post a thoughtful response, right on our blog in lieu of our usual 2pp. in w.n.

 

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

SWBAT:  develop an opinion about the role of Atticus Finch in TKMB

DO NOW:  Write an entry:  Discuss Atticus Finch.

DEVELOPMENT:

1. Review H.W./DO NOW.
2. Harkness Table, student led discussion.  Perhaps we should focus on Atticus?
3. Review/summarize.

H.W.:  1.  Read Chapters 11-13, pp. 99-134.  2.  Find several passages to discuss in class. What passage or passages strike you as interesting or singular?  What questions do you want to discuss with the class tomorrow? 3.  Blog it!  Please respond to the following posts:  Mrs. Dubose, Calpurnia’s Church, and Aunt Alexandra on our blog.  Please post thoughtful responses, right on our blog in lieu of our usual 2pp. in w.n..

 

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

SWBAT:  discuss the intrusion of the outside adult world on Scout’s childish vision of life in Maycomb.

DO NOW:  Write an entry in your writer’s notebook: Have you ever been ashamed of one or both of your parents?  Why? 

DEVELOPMENT:

1.      Review H.W. and DO NOW.

2.      Discussion Questions: 

• Mad dog – what do we learn about Atticus?  What does Scout learn? 

·        Analyze Quote:  Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy . . . but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird

• Mrs. Dubose – Review Jem’s adventure with Mrs. Dubose.  Why does Atticus call her a great lady?  How can someone so vile be admirable?  Might the camellias be a symbol?  If so, for what?  Why does Mrs. Dubose send Jem a camellia after she dies? How do we react?  Why does Harper Lee include this event in her novel? 

"'A lady?' Jem raised his head. His face was scarlet. 'After all those things she said about you, a lady?'

'She was. She had her own views about things, a lot different from mine, maybe...Son, I told you that if you hadn't lost your head I'd have made you go read to her. I wanted you to see something about her. I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.'"

• Discuss Calpurnia’s world as we learn about it in the chapter where Jem and Scout visit her church.  How does it differ from the white world?  How is it the same?  Why and how?  How does Calpurnia seem to exist in both worlds.  Discuss this quotation:    "'It's not necessary to tell all you know. It's not ladylike -in the second place, folks don't like to have someone around knowin' more than they do. It aggravates 'em. You're not gonna change any of them by talkin' right, they've got to want to learn themselves, and when they don't want to learn there's nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language.'"
• Discuss Aunt Alexandra’s viewpoints on life.    Analyze this quotation:  "I never understood her preoccupation with heredity. Somewhere, I had received the impression that Fine Folks were people who did the best they could with the sense they had, but Aunt Alexandra was of the opinion, obliquely expressed, that the longer a family had been squatting on one patch of land the finer it was." Page 130

3.      Different groups of students will discuss each question. 

4.      Group share.

5.      Review H.W.

H.W.:  1.  Read Chapters 14-16, pp.  135-166.  2.  Find passage(s) or ideas to discuss with the class.  3. Blog it!  Please respond to the latest posts. 

 

Thursday, October 30, 2008

SWBAT:  discuss literary tension and suspense in To Kill a Mockingbird.

DO NOW:  Pop Quiz?  Or write an entry in your writer’s notebook:  why has Dill returned to Maycomb? 

DEVELOPMENT:

7.      Review H.W. and DO NOW.

8.      How are Jem and Scout luckier than Dill?  What kind of a kid is Dill?  Do we know people like this? 

9.      Brainstorm notes on tension and suspense and how it is built.

10.  Group work:  students discuss how Harper Lee builds the suspense of the scene by the jail. 

a.       What details help us to visualize the scene?

b.      What elements make us uneasy?

c.       What should make Scout uneasy?

d.      Why won’t Jem go home?

e.       How does Scout break things up?

f.        What do we learn about the men who came to get Tom? Do they have any redeeming qualities? 

g.       How can Scout’s goodness overwhelm the danger of the situation? 

h.       Is it realistic? Why or why not?

i.         Does realism matter in fiction?  Why AND why not? 

11.  Group share.

12.  Review H.W.

H.W.:  1.  Read Chapters 17-18, pp. 166-190.  2.  Find passages to discuss.  3.  Blog it!  Please respond to the latest posts in lieu of 2 pages of writer’s notebook entries.

 

Friday, October 31, 2008

SWBAT:  read and discuss tension and suspense in To Kill a Mockingbird.

DO NOW:  Pop Quiz?  Or write one page in your writer's notebook:  Why do the children sit with Reverend Sykes, upstairs in the “colored” balcony?  Why is this fitting?

DEVELOPMENT:

1.      Review H.W. and DO NOW.

2.      Disussion Questions:

·                    How does Lee build anticipation of the trial? 

·                    Why does Miss Maudie refuse to attend?  What is a roman circus?

·                    Why do Jem, Scout and Dill attend? 

·                    What important details emerge about the Ewells?

·                    What exactly is the charge?  Who makes it and why?

3.                  Group share.

4.                  Review H.W.

H.W.:  1.  Read Chapters 19-22, pp. 190-217.  2.  Find passages and other discussion-worthy topics.  3.  Blog it!  Please respond to the latest posts in lieu of 2 pages of writer’s notebook entries.

 

Monday, November 3, 2008

SWBAT:  analyze improvements in race relations as a result of the trial.

DO NOW:  Write an entry:  Why does Reverend Sykes ask Scout to stand for her father? 

    "'Miss Jean Louise?'

    I looked around. They were all standing. All around us, and in the balcony on the opposite wall, the Negroes were getting to their feet. Reverend Sykes's voice was as distant as Judge Taylor's:

    'Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin'.'"

DEVELOPMENT: 

1. Discuss H.W. and DO NOW entries.
2. Discussion Questions:
1. Review Atticus’ case FOR Tom Robinson
2. Review Atticus’ explanation of what really happened.
3. Why is Atticus so sure that a white jury won’t acquit Tom?  Why does he hold out hope for an appeal.
4. Why isn’t the African-American community angry?
5. What should be our reaction?
6. Why is Jem so upset?  What does he mean he used to think these people were the finest in the world?  What by the way makes a fine family, according to Aunt Alexandra?  On the other hand, who stood by Atticus even if she did not always agree with him?
7. WHY AREN’T THINGS EVER CLEAR AND STRAIGHT IN THIS NOVEL???
3. Group Share
4. Review H.W.

H.W.:  1.  Read Chapters 23-27, pp. 217-254.   2.  Find passages and other discussion-worthy topics.  3.  Blog it!  Please respond to the latest posts in lieu of 2 pages of writer’s notebook entries.