I’m not sure that any name resonates with me quite the way that Atticus Finch does. I said that name to another English teacher today, and she put her hand over her heart and made a pitter-patter motion. In this moment her body language said it all, and frankly, I completely agreed with the sentiment.
What is it that makes this fictional character so powerful in the hearts and minds of the people who teach this story? I think it has to do with social justice. We all hope that we are good representatives of social justice-standing up to negativity and the injustice that invades our communities, news feed, and sometimes even our classrooms. We all hope that if we lived in Maycomb, Alabama, that fated summer when Atticus Finch defended Tom Robinson, as Judge Taylor looked on chewing his cigar down to a stub, that we would be as brave and calm as Atticus Finch in the face of adversity.
Social justice is the reason that To Kill a Mockingbird will stand the test of time in the language arts classroom. TKAM is not just about a little girl learning the ways of the world in the south; it is about treating others with the decency and respect they deserve. It opens up the classroom to become a safe place for discussion; a place for understanding microaggressions, prejudices, and stereotypes.
No TKAM unit would be complete without a central focus on social justice. Therefore, discussions and activities focusing on themes related to social justice are the cornerstones of my To Kill a Mockingbird unit. Below, I have shared a few of my favorite ways to elicit and facilitate these conversations with my students.
Bell Ringers for To Kill a Mockingbird
I am a big fan of purposeful bell ringers. I don’t love the arbitrary bell ringer journals that have students journaling on Monday, and practicing grammar on Thursday. I love bell ringers that relate exactly to our topic of study. When I am teaching rhetorical appeals, I will use magazine advertisements to reflect on the use of Ethos, Pathos, or Logos. When we are studying grammar, I will use mentor sentences that practice the semicolons we learned more about the day prior. For TKAM, I use the bell ringers to get students reflecting and talking about the social injustices they see in the world of TKAM and our world now.
Throughout the text, I will routinely ask students to reflect on this topic as they see events unfolding within the text and within the world around us. They are not always easy conversations to have with students. It can be difficult to navigate the troubled experiences of Scout as she learns to see the inequalities of the world in which she lives. In a way, our students are very similar. They are just reaching outside of their own families to see a larger world around them. One that is not always sheltered, one that is not always safe, and one that is far from perfect.
I think it is important to approach this text for the larger message that students can glean. Like Scout, and Atticus, and Miss Maudie, we can impart change; we can have a great impact on the world. The conversations students have towards the beginning of the text often reveal how powerless students feel in general, but especially with difficult topics such as discrimination. My favorite part, above all else, is how this feeling changes throughout the text. By the end, after bell ringers and discussions fostered by questions like those picture above and below, students feel that sense of empowerment I wish for them. Who knew bell ringers could be so powerful? :)
Quick Discussion Activities for To Kill a Mockingbird
As I introduce the To Kill a Mockingbird, I take students through an agree/disagree activity to help them sort their feelings on some of the issues that arise in the text. To begin the activity, I hang up posters, and I instruct students to move to the side of the room that represents their feelings to each statement I present. I am always looking for ways to get my students up and moving!
I want these statements to get students thinking deeply about issues that fall into social justice. I encourage students not to overthink the statements, and I reiterate throughout the activity that there is no right or wrong answer. My classroom is a safe place for students to explore their thoughts and opinions. An example of a statement might be, “If someone is on trial for murder, they are probably guilty.” Then, students move to the side of the room that best fits their opinion. While in that area, I might ask them to chat with a peer about why they think that way. Depending on the class, I can also ask students to then find someone who disagrees and have a quick, informal, and FRIENDLY debate. I do make sure to stress that this is just that, a friendly sharing of ideas because, once again, there is no right or wrong answer here.
Digital or distance learning options: This activity also works well as a Flipgrid activity or a daily question post on Google Classroom. I just set the multiple-choice options to Agree and Disagree. You can learn more about using Flipgrid in your digital (or traditional) classroom in my recent blog post.
Topic Tracker and Group Collaboration for To Kill a Mockingbird
Throughout the text I ask students track the social justice issues (i.e., racism, sexism, etc.) throughout the text by noting textual evidence of this theme topic. I like to push students to go a little further than just finding textual evidence, though. I challenge them to reflect on what the textual evidence they found means and why it matters.
In my class, students track the themes on their own, but they discuss their findings in groups (much like their literature circles). We expect everyone to bring something back to the group and use sticky notes to remember the exact location of the evidence they find. I have a handy little graphic organizer to help them organize their thoughts and responses.
What is most fun about this activity is listening to the students explore the “why it matters” piece of the puzzle. This question can create deep conversations, and I enjoy hearing the examples pulled from other texts or students’ own lives. It can create one of those magical real-world relevance moments that we all dream of for our classes.
To Kill a Mockingbird is an excellent novel that becomes more and more relevant all the time. I hope that through the real-world social justice discussions and activities, that I can teach my students the same kinds of lessons Atticus Finch taught Scout that fateful summer in Maycomb.
A Paired Passage to elicit conversations of social justice
I love bringing paired passages to longer novel units. A quick poem or nonfiction article that sparks deeper conversations about the novel are powerful tools in the ELA teacher bag of tricks. My favorite poem to include with To Kill a Mockingbird for eliciting conversations of social justice is “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar. I bring this text in just after chapters 12 and 13 in the novel. Scout visits Calpurnia’s church and begins to see the different ‘masks’ Calpurnia must wear within varying situations. She begins to better understand the world around her. This is the perfect time to read and discuss Paul Laurence Dunbar’s famous poem! Students can have rich conversations about these metaphorical masks and their impact on those forced to wear them.
Literary Analysis Prompts for Deep Thinking and Rich Discussions
I have 2o literary analysis prompts that I sprinkle all throughout the unit! I love bringing them in as bell ringers and/or exit tickets. They can be quick think, pair, share activities, or small group/class discussion starters. They, of course, can also be used to elicit literary analysis paragraphs and/or essays. These are an excellent way to keep that social justice conversation flowing throughout the novel.
