Introduction
HISTORY INFLUENCES LITERATURE AND LITERATURE INFLUENCES HISTORY.
In this quest you will learn about The Scottsboro Boys, The Great Depression, and the people who fought for civil rights.
This will enable you to place the novel in cultural and societal context, both of which are extremely important to understanding setting.
Task
This WebQuest is to introduce you to the time period in which To Kill A Mockingbird is set. Hardship and tensions were on the rise across our great nation which gave fuel to social injustice and inequalities.
Follow the directions to travel through The Great Depression and The Scottsboro Trials to understand the turmoil that faced many Americans during this time period.
You will have part of today and tomorrow to complete your WebQuest.
Process
Process
ALL OF YOUR WORK WILL BE COMPLETED IN A GOOGLE DOC ON YOUR GOOGLE DRIVE & SHARED WITH Mr. Harmon. ASK FOR HELP IF YOU NEED IT TO GET STARTED!
You will be placed into the red or green group. Follow the directions for your color only.
1. Go to your Google Drive. Click on New and then click on Google Docs. Create an MLA formatted document. Your answers will be placed in this document and saved as: Your Last Name TKAM Web Quest.
2. FIRST SITE: BOTH GROUPS
In the link below,
Look at the photo and write down your comments.
a. How does this make you feel?
b. How do you think other people feel about the photo?
c. Do you think the photo is an example of racial discrimination? Why/Why not?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/issues/jim-crow-laws
3. SECOND SITE:
Red Group:
In the link below, select a person with audio and listen to their story.
Write a summary.
Who is the person you read about?
What did they do?
Green Group:
In the link below, select a person of interest and read the article.
Write a summary.
Who is the person you read about?
What did they do?
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_people.html (It's the same link for both groups!)
4. THIRD SITE:
Red Group:
In the link below, open the document on The Scottsboro Trials
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/scottsboro/
This PBS site has information about a documentary, primary documents, maps and timelines, as well as images and biographies. It also includes places for reactionary thinking.
Read the assigned part and summarize in your document.
Be prepared to talk about the trial in class and present your findings orally to the class.
Green Group:
In the link below, open site to The Scottsboro Trials.
https://www.archives.gov/files/publications/prologue/2014/spring/scottsboro.pdf
This site is composed of excerpts from primary documents: court transcripts, news articles, judge’s opinions.
Read the assigned part and summarize in your document.
Be prepared to talk about the trial in class and present your findings orally to the class.
https://famous-trials.com/legacyftrials/scottsboro/SB_biog.html
This site has images and biographical sketches in addition to primary documents.
Read the assigned part and summarize in your document.
Be prepared to talk about the trial in class and present your findings orally to the class.
5. FOURTH SITE: BOTH GROUPS
In the link below,
a. Take some time and look through the photos from The Great Depression.
b. Get an idea of what life was like during this time period.
c. Choose three pictures that interest you and place them into your document.
d. Write a brief summary about how the pictures make you feel.
How do you think people lived during that time period?
During what time period do you think the novel To Kill A Mockingbird will take place?
http://history1900s.about.com/od/photographs/tp/greatdepressionpictures.htm
Evaluation
| Beginning 1 |
Developing 2 |
Qualified 3 |
Exemplary 4 |
Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organization | Information appears to be disorganized and paragraphs are not well constructed | Information is somewhat organized but paragraphs are not well constructed | Information is somewhat organized and paragraphs are somewhat well constructed | Information is very organized with well constructed paragraphs | |
| Amount of information | One or more topics were not addressed | All topics are addressed, and most questions answered with 1 sentence about each | All topics are addressed and most questions answered with at least 2 sentences about each | All topics are addressed and all questions answered with at least 2 sentences about each | |
| Mechanics | Many grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors | A few grammatical spelling, or punctuation errors | Almost no grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors | No grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors | |
| Illustrations | Illustrations are not accurate and do not add to the reader's understanding of the topic | Illustrations are not accurate or do not add to the reader's understanding of the topic | Illustrations are accurate and add to the readers understanding of the topic | Illustrations are neat, accurate and add to the readers understanding of the topic | |
| Identifies Important Information | Student does not discuss any main points | Students discuss 1-3 main points | Students discuss 4-5 main points | Student discusses all the main points | |
| Presentation | Delivery not smooth and audience attention often lost | Delivery not smooth, but able to maintain interest of the audience most of the time | Rehearsed with fairly smooth delivery that holds audience attention most of the time | Well rehearsed with smooth delivery that holds audience attention |
Conclusion
I hope you have learned about the time period in which To Kill A Mockingbird took place. After you present your findings to the class, we will begin reading the novel. Together we will find the answer to why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird.
We'll begin reading this novel next week!
Credits
Thanks to Ms. B and PBS for concepts and materials.