To+Kill+A+Mockingbird

=To Kill A Mockingbird=

Chapters 1-2
Chris, Debbie, Megan

Brief overview of chapter: Ideas for discussions (cite specific strategies and specific passages): Writing opportunities: Possible comprehension issues: Supplemental texts and connected passages:

Chapters 3-4
Amanda, Desaree, Matt Brief overview of chapter: Ideas for discussions (cite specific strategies and specific passages): Writing opportunities: Possible comprehension issues: Supplemental texts and connected passages:

Chapters 5-6
Allyson, Amanda, Danielle Chapter five deals with the exclusion of Scout by Jem and Dil. The boys decide to go off on adventures alone, leaving Scout to spend her time with Miss Maudie. Miss Maudie and Scout talk about the neighborhood and the history behind it. The Radleys are mentioned, and the lack of information Miss Maudie reveals only enhances Scout's curiosity. Miss Maudie says that "The things that happen to people we never really know. What happens in houses behind closed doors, what secrets-" (p.51). Eventually, the boys include Scout again, but because they need her help. Scout is recruited to be their lookout when they decide they want to deliver a letter to Boo Radley. Although against their plan, Scout agrees. Before they can deliver the message however, Atticus shows up and begins to question the children. He takes the letter, and lectures them on leaving the Radleys alone. At the end, there is tension from Jem towards his father.
 * //Brief overview of chapter://**

Chapter six finds the three kids again trying to catch a glimpse of Boo Radley. This time, their plan is to sneak in the backyard at night, through the collared patch, to look through Boo Radley's window. Despite Atticus' advice to mind their own business, they are determined to follow through. The kids get to the window, only to run away once they realize that Nathan Radley is outside and shooting at them. They narrowly escape, but Jem loses his pants in his struggle to break free of the fence. They run all the way back home, and then casually gather at the Radley's house with the rest of the neighborhood to inquire what happened. The assumption is that a negro man was the one in the Radley's backyard, and that is who is targeted. Atticus assumes otherwise, and questions Jem on his lack of pants. Making up that they were playing "strip poker", Jem resolves to return and retrieve his pants. With Scout's help, he does get his pants back, but returns visibly shaken from the experience.

//**Ideas for discussions**// (cite specific strategies and specific passages):

Privacy - Discuss why the Radleys are such a point of interest? How have times changed from this "open door policy" to the way communities are set up now? Would it still be found weird if there was a family like the Radleys in your neighborhood/community?

Rumors and Gossip - How has Scout's perception of the Radleys been shaped by what she hears? By what she doesn't see?

Gender - How are the female characters portrayed? What are the relations between the male and female characters? How does Scout view herself as opposed to how others view her?

Race relations - What do you make of this passage - "Scared hi pale though. Says if anybody sees a white nigger around, thats the one." (p.54)

Writing opportunities:

Why do you think there is an absence of a dominant female character in this book? Where does Scout really fit in - with the men or with the women?

//**Possible comprehension issues**//: "The matches were dangerous, but cards were fatal" (p.55) - Why were matches less controversial than playing with cards?

"Strip Poker" - Why was this appropriate for children to use as an excuse?

The amount of action and plot development in chapter six, and how we can work through it?

Supplemental texts and connected passages: Important Quotes: "There are just some kind of men who are busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results." (p.50)

"Jem was not one to dwell on past defeats: it seemed the only message he got from Atticus was insight into the art of cross-examination." (p.57).

Supplemental Texts: A movie such as "Little Giants" where the main character is a "tomboy" figure who doesn't completely fit in with either the boys or the girls.

Chapters 7-8
Paul, Skye, allysa Brief overview of chapter: Ideas for discussions (cite specific strategies and specific passages): Writing opportunities: Possible comprehension issues: Supplemental texts and connected passages: