Small Group Tasks

First, I want to thank all of you for your work in small groups.  I know it's different, but you have really risen to the challenge. To me it feels a lot more fun, as it should!

Here's a list of what you should have completed before Spring Break:

1. Writing Sample - Cultural Context (what might the setting have been like)

2. Writing Sample - Atticus's lesson about understanding people's point of view (18 minutes)

3. Author Study - Compare/Contrast Scout and Harper Lee. Explain how autobiographical elements contribute to the writing style, tone, or theme of the novel. Use what you learned from "The Big Read" audio documentary

4. Study guide questions for Chapters 1-9

*This is what we are going to work on Thursday and Friday:

*5. Literal and reflective questions based on read-alouds:

• Listen to the audio book recordings for whatever chapter you are on (links in TKaM tab above).  As you listen and read along, think of questions you would ask students if you were teaching the book.
• Write three writing prompts based on details found in that chapter. These need to be inferential questions that make people think, but are still based on the text.  People should not be able to "fake it" if they haven't read the chapter.
• Bad Example 1: What did Book leave in the tree? (very little deep thinking)
• Bad Example 2: What does the fact that the figures were made of soap symbolize about Scout and Jem? (Innocence/purity. Don't need to read the chapter to figure that out.
• Good Example: What items left by Boo could be symbolic of his being isolated from the world for 15+ years? (You need to know what he left, and think about which objects represent his loneliness or the passage of time) 
• A writing prompt could be a series of questions (eg. What did Boo leave in the tree? Which objects symbolize his character? Why?). It could also be brief instructions for the responder (eg. Think about the items Boo left in the tree. Choose two that represent his character. Explain how the items symbolize him).

*6. Study guide questions for Chapters 10-11

*7. Choose which character you want to write your paper about and email me.

*8. Character Guide for Part 1. You may do this on your own, OR share a document with other students and work on it together.  If a file is shared, I expect people to share the workload. If Micki does 80% of the work and Tracy does 20%, she will get an A and he will get an F.

*9 (OPTIONAL) - Write a "deleted scene" of the kids playing Boo Radley. This can replace one chapter's worth of questions.  Everybody who came up for the ELP Open House on monday can also skip a chapter (unless I have already told you otherwise)