Paideia High School/To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird is a Paideia Unit Plan. These guidelines address teachers for the purpose of guiding instruction. See Paideia Learning Plan for the student's point of view.

Column One

Column One teaching and learning should make up about 10% to 15% of the total scheduled instructional time. It is didactic in nature and uses teacher lectures, text books or other didactic instructional materials, and questioning appropriate to this mode of education. Teaching in this mode encompasses of three facets: Exoridium, Interpretation, and Erudition.

Exordium

The Exordium is the teacher's didactic introduction to the work that is the subject of a Paideia Unit Plan. This introduction consists of both an oral and physical (or electronic) presentation of the work. For longer works, the teacher may limit the oral presentation to key parts of the work. The teacher should read texts live distinctly, accurately, and intelligently. Other works should be orally presented similarly as appropriate to the type of work. In addition, the teacher should provide high quality audio and video recordings of works if possible. Students should have a consumable print copy of the work both electronically and in hard-copy if possible.

Oral Presentation

• Read Chapters 1 and 2 aloud in class. Students continue to read independently from this point as a concession to the length of the work. Students will most likely question "scuppernongs" in the text. See the picture in the erudition section.
• youtube audio of ' 'To Kill a Mockingbird' 'This audio is divided up by chapters--the link leads to Chapter One, subsequent chapters are also available.

Written Presentation

• <Enter a link to Wikisource or an external link to the work if possible. Do not enter the actual work markups or links. Versions with such elements can be entered under the Interpretation section (with vocabulary markups, for example) or the Erudition section (with links to background information, for example).>
• <Enter references to available books, prints, scores, or recordings and include a reference as follows A reference template may be added to update this template later because Majrjejm is sure there's a better way but doesn't know it yet.>
• <Enter any notes about the work, whether it's in the public domain, under copyright, out of print, available through used booksellers, other vendors etc.>

Interpretation

Textual Interpretation refers to the teacher's didactic analysis of a written work in terms of the four major questions a demanding reader should ask of a text. Using the term work instead of book, these questions are: (1) What is the text about as a whole? (2) What is being said in detail, and how? (3) Is the text true, in whole or part? and (4) What of it? The Exordium begins to answer the first question because it introduces the whole text both orally and in writing (although the oral presentation may be limited in the case of longer works). It is in the Interpretation stage of Column One instruction that the teacher didactically begins to thoroughly unlock the second question. The third and fourth questions are relevant to Interpretation, but question two receives most of the teacher's attention. It is only when the student begins Column Two activities that a fuller grasp of questions three and four begins to mature in the student's mind. Consistent with the purpose of Column One instruction, the teacher is simply introducing elements of proper interpretation for the student to build on during Column Two and Column Three learning.

These questions can be appropriately modified for analysis of a work in science, mathematics, or the fine arts. Analysis of these types of works proceeds in a manner analagous to that of a text. Inasmuch as imaginative literature can be considered a work of fine art, the analogies drawn in Adler's and Van Doren's How to Read a Book can serve as a guide to other types of works too.

Interpretation of <Words and Terms> or <Elements>

In textual interpretation, the teacher didactically presents the author's key terms in the stage of Interpretation of Words and Terms. In addition, the teacher anticipates unfamiliar general vocabulary. These words and terms are given didactically, either orally or in writing, or both, but the task of interpreting is a Column Two skill of learning that the teacher must coach. Consequently, the purpose of this Column One stage is merely to point out key terms and potentially unfamiliar terms. The student must learn how to interpret. Again, this planning can be adapted to other kinds of works.

Interpretation of Key Terms

The key terms are those few words or phrases the author uses in unique, special, or important ways.. In the Column Two stage, students are coached both to find these key terms and to "unlock" them on their own. This skill is essential to analytical reading. In this Column One stage, however, the teacher points out a list of such terms. Students should understand that this listing is not necessarily exhaustive. In addition, the teacher provides students with a handful of these terms worked out in detail for consideration; it should consist of about three to five terms.

• In Chapter 7, page 79 in the Grand Central publishers 50th anniversary edition, follow Atticus's directions and delete the adjectives, to get the sense of the Egyptians. This is also a good place to revisit the unreliability of the first person narrator, and Scout's particular challenges. "Children are excellent observers, poor interpreters."
• <Second Term>
• <Etc.>

General Vocabulary

The teacher may anticipate general unfamiliar vocabulary and point out the more difficult words either orally or in writing or both. However, defining words using context, a dictionary, or a knowlegable friend or adult (including the teacher) is a Column Two skill that must be coached. Teachers must help students build good habits of knowing the meanings of words. Dictionaries, in both electronic and book form must be available, and students must be taught how to use them. They must also be taught how to ask for definitions--a perfectly acceptible life skill commonly used by demanding readers!

• <First Word>
• <Second Word>
• <Etc.>

Note: If the teacher points out words in anticipation of their potential difficulty, this should be done in context by giving citations or electronically highlighting the words.

Interpretation of Sentences

One point of didactic interpretation at the level of interpreting sentences is to use grammar to get at the author's meaning. As with interpreting words and terms, this level of interpretation is also a Column Two skill that must be coached. Consequently, at the Column One didactic level, a teacher should choose a handful of the most difficult sentences in the text for demonstration. The teacher will always unlock the grammar of a few important and more difficult sentences for students independent of whether these sentences are key premeses to an argument. As appropriate to the text, a teacher should also consider demonstrating the grammar of sentences that work together as propositions in the author's most important arguments.

Another important point is to demonstrate the meter and prosody in both poetry and prose texts. This aim is in great danger of being completely overlooked or forgotten in a world where oral reading is not nearly as common as it once was. Nevertheless, great speechs often succeed in part because the author understands prosody. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and King's I Have a Dream serve as striking examples. The teacher should select sentences or versus to demonstrate both meter and rhythm.

• I could feel the walls of a pink cotton penitentiary closing in around me: use of imagery encapsulating her relationship with Aunt Alexandra, and Alexandra's expectations and goals for her. Use of both imagery and alliteration.
• <Second Sentence>: <explanation of the grammar and how it helps to unlock the author's meaning>
• <Third Sentence>: <explanation of meter and rhythm, consideration of overall prosody>
• <Fourth Sentence>: <etc.>

Interpretation of Passages

At the level of passages, the full trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) come into play. First, a teacher should choose one or two of the author's most important arguments for a demonstration of how to use logic as a key to interpreting a text. Next, the teacher should select several passages to demonstrate how they conform (or not) to rhetorical, poetical, and sylistic rules. These rules, of course, must be didactically taught as prerequisites to interpretation of texts.

• <Argument>: <demonstration of both the grammar of the sentences comprising premeses and of the concluding proposition along with the logic of the argument followed by an explanation of how the arguments help to unravel the author's meaning>
• <Passage Illustrating Rhetorical Rules>: <demonstration of the rhetorical rules and their value in the success of the author's purpose>

• Rich texture of background in setting the scene and creating a world: The passage concerning Mr. Avery in Chapter 6. After students have read chapters 4 to 6, read this passage aloud to the class. Explain the function of the passage in the story. It does not advance the plot particularly, but it does provide a textured background to the story. It makes the world in which these characters exist real, and in some senses emphasizes that this is a children's eye view of that world. A comparison to the film "Avatar" is helpful. One of the things people loved about that film was that the details of the scenes and backgrounds were so textured and vivid that the fantasy world it presented seemed real.

• Implied meaning that moves the story forward: Read pages 201-207 aloud. This is the scene from the end of Chapter 15 in which the children get between Atticus and the lynch mob. They need some help and explication to understand what's really going on here. Continue on into the beginning of Chapter 16, with the implication, "Jem heard me." What he hears isn't clear until the end of the section--that she's crying. Also point out the juxtaposition she is making, between Atticus facing down the mad dog and Atticus facing down the mob--emotional resonance and loss of innocence.

Erudition

Erudition refers to all manner of background information assumed by or necessary to understanding or fully appreciating the text.

<Note that these categories are presented alphabetically for ease of organization>

Anthropological References

• <information relevant to anthropological issues and discoveries--include citations--delete if not used>

Antiquarian References

• <information about references to things no longer commonly understood because of their situation in ages past--include citations--delete if not used>

Archaeological References

• <information about details related to archaeological discoveries--include citations--delete if not used>

Biographical References

• <information about the author--always include>
• <information about other textual references to important people--include citations--delete if not used>

Cultural References

A Grove of Scuppernong Vines

A Bowl of Muscadines (purple) and Scuppernongs (green)

Scuppernongs are a particular type of large green grape that grow in the southern states. In the bottom picture the large green grapes are scuppernongs.

The Ku Klux Klan is a white supremacist group that developed in the American South after the Civil War. They are particularly anti-Black, but share an almost equal animosity for Catholics, Jews, and any other group that they feel is outside the white, anglo-saxon protestant demographic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan

Ethical References

• <information and links to ethical references--include citations--delete if not used>

Geographical References

• <links to relevant maps--delete if not used>
• <information relevant to geographical references--include citations--delete if not used>

Historical References

• <information and links to historical references--include citations--delete if not used>

Mathematical References

• <information and links to mathematical references--include citations--delete if not used>

Political References

• <information and links to political references--include citations--delete if not used>

Religious References

• <information and links to religious references--include citations--delete if not used>

Scientific References

• <information and links to scientific references--include citations--delete if not used>

Column Two

Column Two teaching consists of coaching. This mode of instruction aims at helping students to form habitual skills in the language, scientific, and fine arts. Thus, a teacher must correct students as they practice listening, speaking, reading, writing, observing with the senses unaided, observing with the aid of scientific apparatus, measuring, estimating, calculating, and exercising dexterity in the musical and visual arts. Each of these arts in turn rely upon the aquisition of fine and gross motor, imagination, and memory skills. These rules for developing Paideia Unit Plans address teachers. For their counterpart written for students, see Paideia Learning Plan.

Column Two learning comprises 65% to 75% of scheduled learning time. It's chief charactaristic is student activity. Students must be practicing some skill or skills while the teacher corrects him or her. While athletic coaching is an obvious example of this type of instruction, debate coaching, directing a drama, art instruction, and piano lessons also represent coaching. In order to coach well, a teacher must have a repertoire of activities carefully designed to exercised desired skills. Additionally, the teacher must have a clear idea of how to correct the skills as students practice them to ensure their habitual formation.

Activities

Prerequisite Activities

Fine & Gross Motor Skills

<delete if not used>

Sensory Imagination Skills

<delete if not used>

Mnuemonic Skills

<consider this category for every unit>

Language Arts

Listening Skills

• <links to additional quality recordings--include citations--delete if not used>
• <information relevant to listening for grammatical, logical, rhetorical, poetical, and stylistic elements of the work--include citations--delete if not used>

Speaking Skills

• <imitation of quality oral readings--should be a part of every unit>
• <recitations from memory--should be some part of every unit>
• <oral presentations of written work--should be a part of most units>
• <class discussions--should be a part of every unit>
• <recitation of the rules of reading from Adler's and Van Doren's How to Read a Book or similar rules>

Reading Skills

• <read hard-copy with a pencil in hand--always!>
• <marking up a text both with a pencil and electronically>
• <reading through the work as a whole as taught in Adler's and Van Doren's How to Read a Book>
• <For this narrative work, the first read through is acceptably supplemented or replaced by listening to the book on tape.>
• With a large work of this type, students will need help focusing on the plot, and in particular decoding the subtlety of the language. This is very Southern, and the expression is often quite indirect. Our very Northern students need help noticing the implications inherent in the descriptions and dialogue.

The questions below were designed to help with the identification of the main parts of the story and some implications of events that will speak to later events:

To Kill a Mockingbird Ch. 1, 2, 3 Literal Comprehension Questions

1. Tell the story of what happened to her father’s first clients:

2. Why did the author include that anecdote?

3. As a reader, you can’t believe everything you are told by Scout and Jem . Which of the two do you think is more reliable, and why?

4. Describe the events of Scout’s first day of school:

5. What is Miss Caroline so upset about , when she discovers Scout can do it, and why?

6. Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell are both boys from Maycomb, who we meet on Scout’s first day of school.

What is similar about the boys? What are the differences between them?

Similarities:

Differences:

7. What deal do Scout and Atticus make in regards to going to school?

To Kill a Mockingbird Ch 4-6 Comprehension Questions

1. How does Scout end up in the Radley yard?

2. Why does Scout feel guilty about acting out the story of the Radley family for the games she and Jem and Dill play in the yard?

3. What is Jem's reasoning when he says it’s OK to continue to play the Radley game?

4. In chapter five, Scout questions Miss Maudie about “Boo” Arthur Radley.

In that explanation, Miss Maudie says: “. . .sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of—oh, of your father.”

Skip back to the beginning of the conversation, and read this statement in context, then explain what Miss Maudie means by this statement.

5. What does Atticus tell the children when he catches them trying to give Boo Radley a note on the end of a fishing pole?

6. Why are the three children so obsessed with Boo Radley?

7. Why does Jem have to go back and get his trousers at the end of Chapter 6?

To Kill a Mockingbird Chapters 7-9 Questions

1. What do the children find in the knothole of the tree on the Radley lot?

2. What happens to the knot hole?

3. Frequently throughout the story, Scout doesn’t understand her brother’s actions. Speculate, based on what has happened in the story so far—at the end of chapter 7, why does Jem stand on the front porch and cry?

4. Why does Scout think the world is ending?

5. To what does Mr. Avery attribute the unusual change in the weather?

6. Why does Atticus roust the children out of bed in the middle of the night?

7. Why doesn’t Scout fight with Cecil Jacobs?

8. Describe Scout’s relationship with her Aunt Alexandra.

9. Why does she say her Uncle Jack isn’t fair?

10. What is the case Atticus is taking on that is causing so much talk and upset?

To Kill A Mockingbird Ch 10 and 11 Comprehension Questions

1. According to Miss Maudie, why is it a sin to kill a mockingbird? (Explain the meaning in your own words, don’t just quote.)

2. At the beginning of chapter ten, Scout as narrator is discussing a dissatisfaction she and Jem have with Atticus. What is it?

3. On page 124, Calpurnia runs to the Radley’s front door and knocks. Scout observes that, “She’s supposed to go around in back.” Explain the significance of that comment.

4. Why is it so important that they shoot the dog, Tim Johnson?

5. What talent does it turn out Atticus has, unbeknownst to his children?

6. When does Scout think her father is “the bravest man who ever lived”?

7. What does Mrs. Dubose say that sends Jem over the edge?

8. What does Jem do to Mrs. Dubose?

9. What is Jem’s punishment?

10. Why did Atticus say he would have had Jem spend the time with Mrs. Dubose even if Jem hadn’t gotten in trouble?

11. What was the significance of the final gift Mrs. Dubose sent to Jem?

To Kill A Mockingbird Ch 12 and 13

1. What goes wrong with Scout’s summer at the beginning of chapter 12?

2. Why does Calpurnia take Scout and Jem with her to her church?

3. What was unusual about the way people sang hymns in Calpurnia’s church, and why did they do it that way?

4. Who is waiting for them when they get home from church?

5. How does Aunt Alexandra seem to define “fine folk”?

6. How has Scout learned to define “fine folk”?

7. What is the point of conflict between Alexandra and Atticus that leads Atticus to come into Scout’s room and try to talk to her about their family?

8. How does that talk end?

To Kill A Mockingbird Ch 14 and 15 Comprehension Questions

1. When Aunt Alexandra realizes that Scout and Jem went to Calpurnia’s church, what does she press Atticus to do?

2. Why do Jem and Scout get into a knock down drag out brawl in Chapter 14?

3. What do they children find under Scout’s bed?

4. Why did Dill run away?

5. Why were the neighbor men gathered to talk to Atticus in the front yard?

6. Why does Atticus go downtown on Sunday night?

7. Who do the children see confronting Atticus at the courthouse?

8. Why are those men at the courthouse?

9. Why does Scout jump into the circle of the discussion?

10. Why do the men leave?

To Kill A Mockingbird Ch 16 & 17 Comprehension Questions

1. Why are so many people coming into town from all over on this day?

2. Why does Miss Maudie say Atticus might subpoena Miss Stephanie?

3. On page 218, as Scout is working her way into the courthouse to observe the trial, she overhears the following piece of dialogue:

“Lemme tell you somethin’ now, Billy,” a third said, “you know the court appointed him to defend this nigger.”

“Yeah, but Atticus aims the defend him. That’s what I don’t like about it.”

Scout finds this confusing. Explain it to her.

4. Where in the courthouse do the children end up sitting?

5. What point does Atticus seem to be making about no one calling the doctor to see Mayella?

6. What is the one anomalous feature in the Ewell yard, as described by Scout?

7. Why does Reverend Sykes tell Jem to take Scout home?

8. What did Atticus ask Mr. Ewell to demonstrate for the court?

9. What was the point of proving that Mr. Ewell is left handed?

To Kill A Mockingbird Ch 18 & 19 Comprehension Questions

1. What is Mayella afraid of?

2. What does Atticus do that makes Mayella think he is mocking her?

3. Describe Mayella’s life, as revealed by Atticus’s questioning:

4. Who is the defense’s only witness?

5. What does Tom Robinson say happened?

6. Whose story do you find more believable?

7. Why do you find that story more credible?

To Kill A Mockingbird Ch 20 & 21 Comprehension Questions

On the top of page 269, Mr. Dolphus Raymond says, “Things haven’t caught up with that one’s instinct yet. Let him get a little older and he won’t get sick and cry. Maybe things’ll strike him as being—not quite right, say, but he won’t cry, not when he gets a few years on him.”

1. Who is he talking about?

2. What does he mean by this?

3. Is the process he’s describing a good one or a bad one? Why?

4. What does Atticus say Mayella’s “guilt” is?

5. What reasons does Atticus give the jury as to why they should acquit Tom Robinson?

6. In what way does Atticus contend all men should be equal?

7. What does Atticus give the children permission to come back for?

8. What hint does Scout have about the jury’s verdict?

9. What do the people in the colored balcony do when Atticus walks out of the courtroom?

To Kill A Mockingbird Ch 22, 23, 24 Comprehension Questions

1. Why does Jem cry?

2. What leads Alexandra to worry that Atticus is getting bitter?

3. What does Calpurnia find in the kitchen the morning after the trial?

4. Why is it there?

5. What does Bob Ewell do to Atticus at the end of Chapter 22?

6. What is Atticus’s response?

7. What standard does Atticus say he thinks a prosecutor should have to meet to get the death penalty?

8. What has Jem determined makes “fine folks” or “background”?

9. What is the difference between the way Miss Maudie questions Scout and the way Miss Stephanie questions Scout at the missionary tea?

10. What is Miss Maudie saying when she asks, “His food doesn’t stick going down, does it?”

11. How does Miss Maudie define “background”?

12. What happens to Tom Robinson?

To Kill A Mockingbird Ch 25, 26, and 27 Comprehension Questions

1. On page 323, Scout is pondering how Tom’s death can be a miscarriage of justice, when he’d received due process of law all the way through, then she understands. What is her explanation?

2. What conflict of attitudes in Miss Gates confuses Scout?

3. Why does Jem get so angry at Scout at the end of Chapter 26?

4. Who does Bob Ewell blame when he loses his job?

5. Why really did Bob Ewell lose his job?

6. How does Atticus explain the reason Mr. Ewell has a permanent grudge against the people associated with the trial?

7. Why did the ladies in Maycomb organize a Halloween event at the school?

8. What part is Scout scheduled to play in the pageant?

To Kill A Mockingbird Ch 28, 29, 30, and 31 Comprehension Questions

1. What do Scout and Jem hear near the Radley place on their way to the school for the Halloween pageant?

2. What happened to Scout’s part of the pageant?

3. Why do they yell at Cecil Jacobs on the way back home from the Halloween pageant?

4. Why does Scout have such confused impressions of what is happening when she and Jem are attacked?

5. What question does Scout keep asking everyone?

6. Who attacked the children?

7. How did Scout’s costume save her life?

8. Who saved Jem and Scout?

9. Why does Heck Tate insist the Bob Ewell fell on his own knife?

Writing Skills

• <Choose phrases from text and express them in different ways>
• <Reconstruct a previously disarranged passage from the text>
• <Compose verses or lines in imitation of the author>
• <Change a passage or poem of one kind into another kind>
• <Imitate a passage>
• <Write a composition imitating the author>
• <Translate sentences or passages into Latin or another language>

Column Three

Basic Narrative Information

List the characters: (on the board, as students generate them) Divide them into primary and secondary characters.

Possibly discuss which ones made it into the movie and which didn’t, and why—as related to how primary or secondary they are.

A protagonist (from the Greek πρωταγωνιστής protagonistes, "one who plays the first part, chief actor") is the main character (the central or primary personal figure) of a narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve.

Another way of putting it is: The main character is the person that the story is ABOUT. (Place both of these definitions on the board.)

[Narrator—the person telling the story. This is sometimes a character, sometimes not.]

Who is the main character in this novel? Why?

Courage

Mrs. Dubose

The character of Mrs. Dubose excerpts on pp 132-133, 135, 145-146 Have students read passages aloud.

What is Mrs. Dubose like as a person?

Atticus’ definition of courage pp. 147-149

Do you agree with this definition?

Why or why not?

Was Mrs. Dubose brave?

If yes, does this modify your opinion of her character? Why or why not?

Atticus

By his own definition on page 149, is Atticus brave? Why or why not? Give specific examples to support the point.

Possible places to look and analyze: p. 133-134 “the bravest man who ever lived”

On page 281, Scout once again has a vivid memory of the day her father shot the rabid dog. What point is the author making with that comparison?

Page 283 “lonely walk down the aisle”

Title

Significance of the title—Why is it a sin to kill a mockingbird? (Because they bring goodness/beauty into the world, and do no harm)

Mockingbird references:

119 “. . . sin to kill a mockingbird,” and Miss Maudie explains

281 All the doors are shut “and the mockingbirds were still” as the dog comes down the street

323 Mr. Underwood’s editorial where he equates killing a cripple with hunters kills songbirds

342 High above us in the darkness a solitary mocker sang out his repertoire in blissful unawareness of whose tree he sat in. . .

370 Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?

Who are the Mockingbirds—which ones get killed, and which ones don’t?

What causes or facilitates the “sin” in each case?

Final Question

Is this a great novel? Why or why not?

If you were Scout, would you want Atticus for your father? Why or why not?

Harper Lee showed her feistiness in her 1966 letter to the editor in response to the attempts of a Richmond, Virginia area school board to ban To Kill a Mockingbird on the grounds that a novel dealing with rape was "immoral literature": “ Recently I have received echoes down this way of the Hanover County School Board's activities, and what I've heard makes me wonder if any of its members can read. Surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that “To Kill a Mockingbird” spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic, that is the heritage of all Southerners. To hear that the novel is "immoral" has made me count the years between now and 1984, for I have yet to come across a better example of doublethink. I feel, however, that the problem is one of illiteracy, not Marxism. Therefore I enclose a small contribution to the Beadle Bumble Fund that I hope will be used to enroll the Hanover County School Board in any first grade of its choice.

Why might the school board have considered To Kill a Mockingbird "immoral literature"? What other factors, besides the fact of a rape in the story, might contribute to this assessment of "immoral" in regards to the novel?

Were they justified in that opinion?