A 10th-Grade Teacher Tackles a Classic
Early on a crisp November morning, Hillary Matthews sits at her desk and begins to prepare for the upcoming unit that she will teach in her fifth-period 10th-grade English class. She smiles because the novel on her syllabus is To Kill a Mockingbird (TKM), one of her favorite books. She takes out the district curriculum guide and, as she begins to thumb through the newly revised TKM unit, her smile slowly fades.
The curriculum objectives—identifying character traits, synthesizing significant ideas within the text and analyzing the author’s message—seem reasonable to Hillary. However, Hillary is very concerned about the instructional activities outlined in the lesson plans. Most involve the teacher lecturing about the plot and the important themes, and students filling out numerous worksheets. Hillary doubts that these instructional activities will engage her fifth-period class.
Hillary has another thought: Nearly all of the 25 students are African American. She is particularly concerned about the overt racism in the book. So many of the white characters use the “n” word. How will she and her students deal with this? The last time Hillary taught TKM, most of her class was white, and somehow the themes of race and racism were not discussed much. Hillary looks through the unit, but to her dismay, she finds just one activity that briefly mentions prejudice and discrimination. Hillary shakes her head and sighs, wondering how she will teach the TKM unit with her fifth-period class.
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