“Once Upon A Time”

“Once Upon A Time”

May I first express my thanks to Laura for being so efficient with her blog that I was able to follow the path she laid out in order to jump into this assignment! Making an impulsive selection during our Trackstar assignment, I was inclined to change topics, but instead stuck with my first choice.  The selection of Harper Lee’s book, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, when used as instructional material for literary criticism, is like being let loose in a candy shop-- there is just sooooooooooooo much to choose from. Racism, poverty, the issues of divorce and death, of child neglect and abuse, all with the undercurrent of a ghost story made my mission easy. My hypothetical assignment comes with two parts, the individual portion requires both internet and library research that will culminate in a three page essay.  The second part involves group work to design a power point presentation with a brief oral summary of their work to be presented before the class. The resources I have provided my imaginary students offer insight into the racial climate of the time, the economy, social justice, fashion trends, as well as biographical information about the author and her inspiration for her characters. Because of this, the essays should have various perspectives and touch on multiple elements of the educational standards such as [9.3.9] explain[ing] how voice and the choice of a narrator affect characterization and the tone, plot, and credibility of a text. Example: Read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and discuss the impact of six-year-old Scout’s narration as the story unfolds. Or the ever popular [9.3.12] analyze the way in which a work of literature is related to the themes and issues of its historical period. And opportunity for, Standard 4-WRITING: Processes and Features [where] Students discuss ideas for writing with other writers. They write coherent and focused essays that show a well-defined point of view and tightly reasoned argument. Students progress through the stages of the writing process (prewriting, writing, editing, and revising).And last but not least, [9.4.6] Synthesize information from multiple sources, including almanacs, microfiche, news sources,… studies, speeches, journals,…,, and Internet. I want the book to draw out the aspects that speak most strongly to them as teens, and hope that class discussions will provide the impetus for them to revisit the novel later in their lives and see how differently it affects them. Thank you once again to Laura, and to the State of Indiana, because of them this blog practically wrote itself.