To Kill a Mockingbird Journal Assignments
Here is list of journal assignments for To Kill a Mockingbird The purpose of the journal entries is to spark discussion in class and lead you to a deeper understanding of the novel. Journal entries will be posted on the blog of your Weebly writing portfolio. Journal entries should be 200-300 words and adequately address the question.
Grades will be given based on the following criteria:
1. Does the entry adequately address the question?
2. Is the the entry understandable, using proper grammar, word choice, and spelling?
3. Are the entries properly organized, using thesis statements, paragraphs, and topic sentences
4. Is the entry completed on time?
Grades will be given based on the following criteria:
1. Does the entry adequately address the question?
2. Is the the entry understandable, using proper grammar, word choice, and spelling?
3. Are the entries properly organized, using thesis statements, paragraphs, and topic sentences
4. Is the entry completed on time?
Journal 6 - Walking in Someone's Skin
At the end of Chapter 3, Atticus offers Scout the following advice:
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . .
until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (pg 33)
1. What does Atticus mean by this?
2. Describe examples in the story up to this point where the failure to walk in someone's skin led to a misunderstanding or trouble .
2. Describe examples in the story up to this point where the failure to walk in someone's skin led to a misunderstanding or trouble .
Journal 7 - The Concept of Courage
Due Date: Monday April 7th - to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia
How does Harper Less use characters and events in To Kill a Mockingbird to define courage in Part One?
1. Introduce the Novel/Define Courage and discuss different types of courage.
2. Explain how three different characters in TKAM show courage.
3. Support your discussion with evidence from the text.
How does Harper Less use characters and events in To Kill a Mockingbird to define courage in Part One?
1. Introduce the Novel/Define Courage and discuss different types of courage.
2. Explain how three different characters in TKAM show courage.
3. Support your discussion with evidence from the text.
Journal 8 - Atticus Finch's Closing Arguments
Due Date: Wednesday April 23 - to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia
1. Introduce the trial scene and explain that you will determine whether Atticus makes an effective case for Tom Robinson's innocence.
2. What are the main arguments Atticus uses in his closing arguments?
3. Describe the incident that Bob and Mayella Ewell say happened.
4. What evidence does Atticus present to create doubt as to the truth of their story?
5. Who was his audience? What appeals does he make to them? Was his speech effective?
1. Introduce the trial scene and explain that you will determine whether Atticus makes an effective case for Tom Robinson's innocence.
2. What are the main arguments Atticus uses in his closing arguments?
3. Describe the incident that Bob and Mayella Ewell say happened.
4. What evidence does Atticus present to create doubt as to the truth of their story?
5. Who was his audience? What appeals does he make to them? Was his speech effective?
Journal 9 - Atticus Finch - Model of Nonviolence?
Due Date: Sunday, May 18 - to http://dropitto.me/wardlandia
In his 1963 book Why We Can't Wait, Martin Luther King invokes To Kill a Mockingbird and Atticus Finch as an example of the moral courage of nonviolent resistance:
In his 1963 book Why We Can't Wait, Martin Luther King invokes To Kill a Mockingbird and Atticus Finch as an example of the moral courage of nonviolent resistance:
"We are a nation that worships the frontier tradition, and our heroes are those who champion justice through violent retaliation against injustice. It is not simple to adopt the credo that moral force has as much strength and virtue as the capacity to return a physical blow; or to refrain from hitting back requires more will and bravery than the automatic reflexes of defense.
"Yet there is something in the American ethos that responds to the strength of moral force. I am reminded of the popular and widely respected novel and film To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus Finch, a white southern lawyer, confronts a group of his neighbors who have become a lynch-crazy mob, seeking the life of his Negro client. Finch, armed with nothing more lethal than a lawbook, disperses the mob with the force of his moral courage, aided by his small daughter, who, innocently calling the would-be lynchers by name, reminds then that they are individual men, not a pack of beasts.
"To the Negro of 1963, as to Atticus Finch, it had become obvious that nonviolence could symbolize the gold badge of heroism rather than the white feather of cowardice."
The six generally presented principles of nonviolence are:
- Nonviolence is not passive, but requires courage
- Nonviolence seeks reconciliation not defeat of an adversary
- Nonviolent action is directed at eliminating evil, not destroying an evil-doer
- A willingness to accept suffering for the cause, if necessary, but never too inflict it
- A rejection of hatred, animosity or violence of the spirit, as well as refusal to commit physical violence
- Faith that justice will prevail
Does Atticus Finch follow these principles in his actions in To Kill a Mockingbird? Provide examples from the text to support your points.