This semester begins with some serious reflection for Ms. Patilla’s 8th grade class. To prepare for reading the Pulitzer Prize-winning book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, which deals with racial inequality, Ms. Patilla’s students have made identity charts to explore their relationship to society based on their race, gender, and community. They are also analyzing and discussing speeches by writers and activists such as Sojourner Truth, Robert Hayden, Lyndon Johnson, and Ella Wheeler Wilcox. In their discussions, the students must identify the controlling idea and key details of the speeches in order to fully analyze them.
As they read and question the different speeches, the students become prepared for the challenging task of analyzing and sifting through the content in To Kill A Mockingbird. This modern American classic contains many lessons that emphasize tolerance and decry prejudice.The narrator’s father, Atticus Finch, has served as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for lawyers.
The students’ discussions will prepare them to understand the world in which they live, and to compare and contrast their world to the 1936 Southern town of Maycomb County.