Harper Lee and The 1930s Era Webquest

Welcome: Harper Lee and The 1930s Era Webquest 
Description: This is an introductory activity prior to reading the novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" in which students will look for biographical details about Harper Lee and historical details about the 1930s era. Thanks to the provided links they will have to look for speficif information to answer specific questions. 
Grade Level: 9-12 
Curriculum: English / Language Arts 
Keywords: Harper Lee Great Depression Mockingbird 
Author(s): Leesa Baltas

Before reading and studying "To kill A Mockingbird" you will learn biographical details about the author Harper Lee and her upbringing in the deep south of the United States, as well as historical information of the 1930s. By looking for specific information on different links provided, you will get more in depth knowledge about The Great Depression, Segregation, and Discrimination of that era. This will in turn help you to grasp the full scope and meaning of the events that occur in the novel.

You are about to start a journey in this webquest, where you will learn to find information about an author and historical events of the period of time referred to in the author's book. You will develop your sense of critical thinking by sorting through what you have found and deciding what is important and what is less essential to complete your assignment.

The things you learn through your findings will help you to read and better understand the novel we will study in-depth in class.

In order to do this webquest, the class will be divided into three groups of research with specific websites to visit and information to look for to answer a series of questions.Group 1 will work on the author's biographical background. Group 2 will research certain aspects of historical events and presidents of the time. Group 3 will look for information on an important event of the times. STEP 1: Find your group's worksheet here and answer the questions by visiting the website(s) provided: 

Harper Lee and the 1930's webquest

Group 1: Go to → en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harper_Lee  and find the following information:

Full name:

date and place of birth:

Parents' names:

Population of her hometown:

Describe her childhood:

 1/Give examples of racism going on during her childhood:

 2/Who is Truman Capote and what's his tie to Harper Lee?

 3/How much formal education did Lee have?

 4/How did her upbringing and life influence her writing of To Kill a Mockingbird?

 5/Which of her family members' names did she use in the novel?

Harper Lee and the 1930's webquest

Group 2: Go to → http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Thursday 

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

                      and answer these questions:

1/ What does the term « Black Thursday » refer to?

2/ What was the date?

3/ Explain how the country was led to the Great Depression:

 4/ What are « dust bowl » farmers?

5/ During the Depression, what did « dust bowl » farmers do, where did they go and why ?

ALSO Go to --> www.enchantedlearning.com/history/uspres/list.shtml

6/ Who were the presidents during the 1930's ?

Harper Lee and the 1930's webquest

 Group 3: Go to → www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_acct.html

 1/ what were the Scottsboro boys known for?

 2/ Who were they?

 3/ What did they do and how did they get into so much trouble?

 4/ How did the defense attorneys show their lack of experience?

  5/Were they ever pardoned of their wrongful convictions?

 STEP 2: Information Gap activity: In class, you will need to ask the other groups questions, to get the answers to the other parts of the webquest you did not specifically work on, in order to have all the background information, on all aspects studied here, and complete the paper version of the webquest worksheet that will be handed out in class. STEP 3: Writing Homework: Consult the following websites and explain what life was like in the 1930s. Be sure to write down the weblinks to access these pages from home. https://www.createwebquest.com/node/40975 www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snprelief.htm www.alabamamoments.alabama.gov/sec48det.htmlwww.fsd79.org/cms/lib/IL01001571/Centricity/Domain/262/Black%20in%201930s.pdf STEP 4: Knowledge Quiz: Take the quiz on the evaluation page of this webquest.

Quiz for ALL students --> Answer the following questions (2pts per question)

1/ Write a short biography about Harper Lee. Give essential facts, her date of birth, death, where she was born and grew up, bibliography, and influence of her childhood on her writing.

2/ Explain what her relationship was with Truman Capote.

3/ What and when was "Black Thursday"?

4/ During the Depression, what did « dust bowl » farmers do, where did they go and why ?

5/ Write a short paragraph explaining all you know about the Scottsboro Boys and how they are linked to Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird".

Congratulations! You have completed all of the steps to getting the necessary background knowledge to understanding Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird".

You are now ready to begin reading and enjoying this classic American novel set in the 1930s of The Deep South in Alabama.

Once we are through reading and studying the book, we will enjoy watching the film, with Gregory Peck, which has also become an America cinematographic classic.

Standards: TESOL Technology Standards: 

TESOL Standard 1: English language learners communicate for social, intercultural, and instructional purposes within the school setting.

TESOL Goal 3: (Standard 3): “Language learners appropriately use and evaluate available technology-based tools for communication and collaboration.”

TESOL Goal 3: (Standard 4): "Language Learners use and evaluate available technology based research tools appropriately" by ...."collecting information from a variety of resources" ...."employ strategies to evaluate online information" ...."document source material appropriately".

Many thanks to: Createwebquest.com 

And

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harper_Lee  and find the following information:

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

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

www.enchantedlearning.com/history/uspres/list.shtml

www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_acct.html

www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snprelief.htm www.alabamamoments.alabama.gov/sec48det.htmlwww.fsd79.org/cms/lib/IL01001571/Centricity/Domain/262/Black%20in%201930s.pdf

[img_assist|nid=41196|title=Leesa Baltas|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=63]

Hello, my name is Leesa Baltas and I created this webquest for my Master's in TESOL. This is a more elaborate version of a webquest I have already done in class, that students liked and learned a lot from. I have not yet implemented this version of it. If you should happen to try it out, let me know what worked and what needs changing. Enjoy!