Pre-Reading Research
Purpose
Welcome to To Kill A Mockingbird pre-reading research and teaching! The main purpose of this project is to help students understand more about the author and setting of this book before starting to read it in order to achieve a greater understanding. The information in this project provides students with essential information about the social climate in the South during the 1930s, American history leading up to the social climate in the South, and Harper Lee's background and motivation for writing To Kill A Mockingbird.
Prior knowledge is an absolutely essential component of a reader's comprehension. Many students may not know or understand a lot about the 1930s time period. By providing students with background knowledge, they will be able to better understand character motivation and action, the author's purpose and point of view, and To Kill A Mockingbird's important themes.
Directions
The goal of this research is to have students become experts on a certain topic that relates to To Kill A Mockingbird and then teach the information to their peers creatively.
The topics are:
Group 1: About the Author
Group 2: The Scottsboro Boys
Group 3: Jim Crow Laws
Group 4: Growing up White/Black in the South
Group 5: The Great Depression.
Guidelines:
Each group will learn about one area by reading through the websites provided and answering questions. You will be required to put what you learned into a lesson to teach it to the rest of the class. This can be in the form of a video, handouts, skits, INTERACTIVE teaching, review games, etc. The idea is for your group to become the experts on the topic and then teach it to the rest of the class. Think of how you learn best and try to do this to teach the information to your peers. You will also need to think about what approach might be best for your topic. For instance, you might watch a clip of a film and have students answer questions, or you might want to create a collage and have students try to label the images based on a list of options. You might even consider writing a screenplay and then dressing up in costume to act it out. The sky is the limit, but you only have a few days to come up with the BEST way to teach the information to your peers. The idea is to TEACH the content to the class creatively.
Each member of your group is responsible for the finished product and will be assessed using these criteria:
10 Points - Content
5 Points - Creativity
5 Points - Group Effort
5 Points - Time (5 min)
Group 1: About the Author
Group 1
Your job is to become an expert about Harper Lee. Click on the links below to start learning. Read through all of the links and use the questions as a guide to plan your teaching. What was the most important information you learned? What do you think your classmates need to know about this topic in order to help with reading the novel? Your group is responsible for teaching your the class this topic. See the Directions for more information and ideas.
Harper Lee's death-The Guardian
Questions:
1. When and where was Harper Lee born? What was her family like?
2. Who was her childhood best friend?
3. What did her father do for a living? How might this have impacted his daughter?
4. What did she study in college? Did she participate in any extracurricular activities? Why might this be important to consider while reading To Kill A Mockingbird?
5. How did her decision to move to New York make To Kill A Mockingbird a reality?
6. What year was To Kill A Mockingbird published? When was it adapted to screen?
7. Was Harper Lee honored in any way following the publication of To Kill A Mockingbird?
8. Harper Lee's real life influenced many of the characters and events in To Kill A Mockingbird. Given what have you learned about her life (including personality traits, friends, family, experiences) make a prediction about what kinds of issues might surface in the book. Do you think your knowledge about Harper Lee will influence your reading of the book? Should it influence your reading of the book? Why or why not?
Group 2: The Scottsboro Boys
Group 2
Your job is to become an expert on the Scottsboro Boys. Click on the links below to start learning. Read through all the links and use the questions as a guide to plan your teaching. What was the most important information you learned? What do you think your classmates need to know about this topic in order to help with reading the novel? Your group is responsible for teaching the class this topic. See the Directions for more information and ideas.
The Trials of the Scottsboro Boys -- Includes newspaper articles, letters, biographies, and lots of useful information.
International Labor Defense's (ILD) Involvement -- Reliable essay showing the ILD's involvement.
Scottsboro: An American Tragedy -- Site for the video by this name
Questions:
1. Who were the Scottsboro Boys? How did they get into so much trouble?
2. Where and when did the Scottsboro Boys' original trial take place? How do you think this affected the outcome of their trial?
3. What does the NAACP acronym stand for? Why did the NAACP decide not to help the Scottsboro Boys?
4. The Communist Party came to the aid of the Scottsboro Boys. How did the South perceive the Communist Party, and how was it similar to the perception of blacks? What was the Communist Party's hidden agenda in providing aid to the Scottsboro Boys?
5. The Scottsboro Boy were not provided with adequate defense lawyers. Please list at least 3 ways in which the defense lawyers were inadequate.
6. Describe the trials. Were they fair or unfair? Please include at least 3 supporting facts to back up your description.
7. Were the Scottsboro Boys ever pardoned of their convictions?
8. The Scottosboro Boys' trial took place during the childhood of To Kill A Mockingbird's author, Harper Lee. Make a prediction about how this trial might be an important impetus for the book.
Group 3: Jim Crow Laws
Group 3
Your job is to become an expert about the history of Jim Crow laws. Click on the links below to start learning. Read through all the links and use the questions as a guide to plan your teaching. What was the most important information you learned? What do you think your classmates need to know about this topic in order to help with reading the novel? Your group is responsible for teaching the class this topic. See the Directions for more information and ideas.
"What Was Jim Crow?" by David Pilgrim
https://www.britannica.com/event/Jim-Crow-law
https://www.history.com/topics/jim-crow-laws
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/freedom-riders-jim-crow-laws/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/W-E-B-Du-Bois
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Booker-T-Washington
Questions:
1. Where did the term "Jim Crow" come from? How did the term "Jim Crow" become synonymous with the segregation laws in the South?
3. What ended Reconstruction in the South, and what effect did that have on southern blacks?
4. Legally, African-Americans had the right to vote. How was their right compromised? Please list 3 ways it became nearly impossible to vote.
5. How did the Plessy v. Ferguson case (1896) uphold Jim Crow laws? What effect did this case have on the lives (transportation, education, social implications, etc) of southern blacks?
6. Who was Booker T. Washington? Where did he live? What did he believe was the best way for southern African-Americans to survive in the South?
7. Who was W.E.B. DuBois? Where did he live? What did he believe was the best way for southern African-Americans to survive in the South?
8. Why do you think Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois had differing opinions on how to survive in the South? Please give 3 facts to support your opinion.
9. How did many southern blacks escape the South? Where did they go? What was this movement called?
Group 4: Growing up in the South in the 1930s
Group 4
Your job is to become an expert on what it was like to grow up in the South in the 1930s. Click on the links below to start learning. Read through all the links and use the questions as a guide to plan your teaching. What was the most important information you learned? What do you think your classmates need to know about this topic in order to help with reading the novel? Your group is responsible for teaching the class this topic. See the Directions for more information and ideas.
"Growing up Black in the 1930s"
http://missvs.weebly.com/uploads/3/8/3/6/38367893/black_in_1930s.pdf
Civil Rights (1960s when book published)
Interviews with people from the 1930s
INTERVIEW: GROWING UP WHITE - a white person's perspective in 1930s
INTERVIEW: GROWING UP BLACK - A real-life Calpurnia
Lynching
Things to think about while reading:
1. What does Mrs. Barge know about her ancestry? How does she talk about her family?
2. What were her and her family's living conditions like?
3. When was the first time she noticed a difference between the lives of black people and the lives of white people? From Mrs. Barge's account, what do you think is the most astounding difference?
4. What was school like for Mrs. Barge?
5. What kind of jobs were available to black people in the South?
6. Were black people allowed to vote?
7. Mrs. Barge clearly has a different opinion of white people than her father does. What does she say that proves this? How does her perception of white people differ from her father's? Why do you think that is?
"Growing up White in the 1930s"
http://teachfreespeech.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Growing-up-white-in-the-1930s.pdf
Things to think about while reading:
1. What do these three ladies have in common about their ancestry? How do they talk about their families?
2. What were the three ladies living conditions like?
3. What were these ladies' first experiences with black people?
4. Did these white ladies ever play with their black peers?
Questions:
1. Please compare the three ladies' backgrounds from "Growing up White in the 1930s." How do their backgrounds differ from Mrs. Barge's background from "Growing up Black in the 1930s"?
2. The ladies in "Growing up White in the 1930s" talk about what made a "good family" in the South. What do they say makes a "good family"? How do you think Mrs. Barge would describe a "good family"? Compare and contrast the three ladies' families to Mrs. Barges family, explain the similarities and differences. Based on your explanation, would Mrs. Barge's family be considered a "good family"? Why or why not?
3. List the occupations available to black women in the South in the 1930s according to Mrs. Barge's interview. How did these occupations influence Mrs. Barge's perception of white people? How did these occupations influence the perception of black people according to the three ladies' accounts from "Growing up White in the 1930s"?
4. Mrs. Barge ends her interview on a positive note by saying "you shouldn't put people into categories." Make a prediction based on these interviews about how Calpurnia (the colored help) might feel about the Finches (the family she works for). Why?
Group 5: The Great Depression.
Group 5
Your job is to become an expert on the Great Depression. Click on the links below to start learning. Read through all the links and use the questions as a guide to plan your teaching. What was the most important information you learned? What do you think your classmates need to know about this topic in order to help with reading the novel? Your group is responsible for teaching the class this topic. See the Directions for more information and ideas.
Dust Bowl
Clip #1 - Farmers
Clip #2 - Dust Bowl
Clip #3 - Moving West
Clip #4 - Migrant Workers
Clip #5 - Camp Communities
Great Depression
Prices from the 1930s compared to now
https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression
http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3608
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/stock-market-crashes
https://www.history.com/topics/dust-bowl
https://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_02.html
Questions:
1. What is "Black Tuesday" and why does it mark the beginning of the Great Depression?
2. Many people believe that WWII marked the end of the Great Depression. How did the war affect the economy?
3. What president was inaugurated in 1933? What were some of the changes made by this administration?
4. What was the New Deal? How did the New Deal affect American citizens?
5. What was the Dust Bowl?
6. How did the Dust Bowl affect the Southern Plains?
7. What affect did the Dust Bowl have on agriculture? How would this affect farmers and their employers?
8. Given what you learned about the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, make a prediction about what you think the setting of To Kill A Mockingbird will look like. What will the houses look like? What will the characters be wearing? How will the characters act towards each other? How will Scout's classmates act toward Scout knowing that her father is a lawyer?