1) Eric Burnett's Civil War and Reconstruction includes an extensive list of readings on the causes, major conflicts, and aftermath of the Civil War. For our unit discussing To Kill a Mockingbird, I would ask the students to visit the site over a weekend for a homework assignment, and read parts V-VIII under the "Reconstruction" heading. This review would prime them for beginning a discussion of the novel during the next week. The assessment for this reading would include each student turning in a list of five questions they still had about life in the early 20th century in the South (emphasizing issues of race and class).
2) The To Kill a Mockingbird: Then and Now Student Center offers many resources for students beginning the novel or returning to it for review. The site includes a few interactive games, including images from the film and different passages that they correspond to within the text. There are also various clips from the film for recreational viewing, along with documentary-style short films about the Civil Rights movement and Reconstruction in the South. For the purposes of my class, I would ask my students to use the Message Board function to post a weekly journal entry to summarize and reflect on their feelings about the reading. These entries would count as a homework grade.
"The To Kill A Mockingbird: Then and Now Student Center" is something I wish I had access to when I read this book in high school. Journal entries are a useful tool when reading a novel like this, because the students will have so many thoughts and questions about the time period. Hopefully this will encourage students to ask questions of their (great)grandparents or older neighbors that may have experienced what went on in the South at that time.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Eric Burnett's website, approaching the novel as historians would help the students ask critical questions of the text and help them make significant connections. Even though I'm sure students will have access to the school's computer lab and libraries in their community, to ask the students to complete a task that requires the internet over the weekend may be a big task for some students. Is there any way you can allow some class time for this reading assignment, so the students without home internet access have the same opportunity as the other students?