I spent the morning preparing ten days of at-home work for my English I Honors kids, who were scheduled to begin To Kill a Mockingbird this week. Who knows when we’ll be back in the classroom — but I’m not going to wait until we do to start this book…

What to do? Put it all online…

Day 1

Read the opening pages of To Kill a Mockingbird. The first time through, read it to yourself. You’ll notice there are a lot of allusions you don’t understand. Make sure you look them up. Add comments in the document that explain the allusions.

Days 2 and 3

As you read the opening pages of the novel, you likely noticed that your inner voice gradually took on a Southern accent as you read. This passages simply sounds Southern. Today and tomorrow, we’re going to figure out why.

Step 1

Re-read the passage from yesterday. As you read, listen along with the SoundCloud audio recording attached.

Step 2

Look for one example of each of the following (as noted in yesterday’s document):

  • Long sentences
  • Diversions
  • Dated language
  • Folksy-sounding language
  • Exaggeration/embellishment
  • Understatement/deprecation

You might not understand all these ideas. Google them and figure them out the best you can. Then go back through the opening pages and try to find at least 1 example of each in the passage. Mark and identify them by highlighting the passage and creating a comment “Long sentence” or “Diversion” or whatever you might be identifying. (I’ve attached another copy of the opening for you to do this on.)

Step 3

Try to write a short paragraph using these techniques. Try to sound Southern in your writing. You can write about whatever you choose, but you must do your best to sound Southern. Write this at the bottom of the opening pages doc (see above).

Day 4

Finish reading chapter 1 and read through chapter 4.

Day 5

The story is told from Scout’s viewpoint. It is written in the first person. This means that Scout uses the pronouns I, me and the possessives my, mine to refer to herself. She does not confine the narrative to things that she has directly experienced – for example she recounts stories from the history of Simon Finch and repeats what other people tell her.

Later in the novel, she will make comments about how reliable other people’s accounts are.

How reliable is she as a narrator? With your learning partner, discuss how reliable she is as a narrator. Is she believable? Justify your response with a good explanation about why she is or is not reliable.

You’ll discuss this on Moodle. Make sure you respond to at least 3 other people as well, and make sure at least one of them is not in your period.

Days 6 and 7

Atticus says that you never really understand a person “until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” Summarize the events in the novel that lead to this quote. In a separate paragraph, explain why you think climbing inside someone else’s skin may be a difficult task for Scout.

  • Summarize the Radley history. What can you infer about their standing in the town. What’s so spooky about them.
  • What does scout’s first day at school reveal about her personality?
  • How might scout have seen things differently if she’d walled around in others’ shoes? Whose shoes should she walked in?
  • What do you see in the interactions with the Radley house/family that the kids might not see?

Answer one question per day in a well-written paragraph, then respond to 3 other students’ ideas.

Days 8 and 9

Read through chapter 8 (i.e., finish chapter 8).

Day 10

Small towns thrive on gossip. A sensational trial like Tom Robinson’s will only add to the talk. Several of the older women in the novel categorize other citizens by social standing, heritage, etiquette, and manners, yet they rarely mention true moral or ethical values as the criteria for judging someone’s character. As a way to evaluate your own feelings about these characters, place them in rank order from the most moral to the least moral. Then write a paragraph explanation of why you placed him/her in the two extreme positions.

  • Mr. Dolphus Raymond
  • Miss Maudie
  • Aunt Alexandra
  • Reverend Sykes
  • Judge Taylor
  • Bob Ewell
  • Mayella Ewell
  • Heck Tate

Discuss your ratings with 3 others by responding to their ratings.

In the evening — something altogether different…