Printer-friendly versionThis year marks the 50th anniversary of the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. Harper Lee’s work is so powerful and popular that it has never been out of print, selling more than 30 million copies.
To Kill a Mockingbird was not just a hit at the bookstore. It quickly became a staple in classrooms worldwide. The book is written from the vantage point of a woman remembering her 8-year-old self in 1930s Alabama. “Scout,” as she’s called, uses simple and compelling language. The story, set against the backdrop of a racially charged rape trial, moves along briskly.
Despite its popularity, To Kill A Mockingbird can be a minefield for teachers. Much of the book deals with the matter-of-fact racism of the Jim Crow South. The n-word crops up from time to time. The few black characters—universally deferential—are portrayed sympathetically. But they are viewed as distant, inexplicable strangers—just as an 8-year-old white girl would have seen them. And today’s students (as well as some teachers) do not comprehend the explosiveness of accusing a black man of raping a white woman in that time and place.
These and other issues make To Kill A Mockingbird at once a valuable tool and difficult challenge in the classroom. Teaching Tolerance’s Teaching Diverse Students Initiative (TDSi) has produced a case study to help teachers with these problems. The case study is based on principles of culturally relevant pedagogy, an approach used to improve learning for students of diverse backgrounds.
The basic message of To Kill a Mockingbird is one of great tolerance. “You can never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view,” says Scout’s father, Atticus. That is what using cultural relevant pedagogy is all about—teachers walking in their students’ shoes.
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I wrote about this subject,
I wrote about this subject, albeit briefly and not as thoughtfully as I hope to in some future time, a little more than a year ago. Still,this may be of interest to readers: http://thinkingtom.edublogs.org/
My blog post is best characterized as a reaction/reflection piece after reading a Malcolm Gladwell article on Southern liberalism in the August 09 New Yorker.
Serendipitously, I made reference to my blog post today in a post-masters principal program at Antioch NE University, where I am most honored to be a student and fellow learner with Susan Dryer Leon: see http://tinyurl.com/39wh5n9. In retrieving a Paul Gorski article, I found your note. Bliss 2.0...
Perhaps my reaction to the Gladwell's article may provide or enable some other ways of shaping questions around the codes and norms of an America, partially past, partially present, that make the collective unpacking of our common history such a daunting and exhausting task. I believe not until we disassemble our collective past and reduce/simplify to foundation beliefs that all/most people hold in common - the goodness of virtue and an imperative for justice in democratic societies, that we will be relegated to an uncomfortable dance with strangers; perhaps intrigued and hopeful, but denied the satisfaction of movement, not adolescent, tentative, developing: but elegant and intimate in the manner we enjoy with kin.
Thanks for the forum to share these thoughts!
A few years ago, I was asked
A few years ago, I was asked to serve on a panel for "The Big Read" conference in St. Louis. The focus of the discussion was the relevancy of "To Kill a Mockingbird."
My opening remarks, which may interest some readers of this blog, can be found at http://msbaker.edublogs.org/2008/10/12/48-years-have-passed/
Thanks.
It is wonderful that our
It is wonderful that our schools/classrooms still see the relevance in "To Kill A Mockingbird." Times might have changed, but the issues remain the same, though not as overt. I remembered reading that book years ago and I watched the movie as well. I was enraged by the unfolding events in the book, but I was awakened to some socially stirring issues that we often ignore, but which we must continue to talk about. The real show of a sound education is a person's level of tolerance. Today tolerance is a hot-button issue in schools and in our society. There are a few 'bad' teachers who take with them to the classrooms -hidden curriculum and I agree with you that teachers should walk in their students shoes. Then and only then it becomes not only culturally relevant pedagogy, but critical pedagogy. Both of which we so desparately need in our classrooms.